Dan Patrick has seen this movie before.
Fox brought Dave Portnoy to Big Noon Kickoff to take on ESPN’s College GameDay, and Portnoy made quite the entrance last week. He arrived in Columbus singing Michigan’s fight song, cut a WWE-style promo calling Ryan Day “soft,” and trolled Ohio State fans with replica gold pants charms while getting booed into oblivion.
Patrick watched it all and came away unimpressed.
“They want him in the McAfee role,” Patrick said of the Barstool Sports founder. “It was more WWE, it was more aggressive than it needed to be. Obviously, he went to Michigan, doesn’t like Ohio State, and wanted to rile up the fans there. Urban Meyer is not Nick Saban. Rob Stone does a great job. And you got [Matt] Leinart in there, Brady Quinn in there, Mark Ingram II in there. They’re trying. And they’re trying to go head-to-head with ESPN.”
The comparison to Pat McAfee makes sense on paper. Fox brought Portnoy in to be their version of GameDay’s biggest personality. But Patrick sees the flaw in that logic.
McAfee works because he’s part of a machine that’s been perfected over decades. Portnoy is trying to recreate that energy while working with people who don’t know how to handle it. Urban Meyer looked uncomfortable. Matt Leinart seemed genuinely annoyed by Portnoy’s USC jabs. It felt like one guy doing performance art while everyone else tried to figure out their role.
“It’s the same thing that happened when I was at SportsCenter. Keith Olbermann and Chris Myers went to Fox Sports, and they were going to develop their own SportsCenter,” Patrick continued. “And I’m like, man, good luck. My quote was, ‘Pack a lunch, dude. And you know what? Pack dinner as well.’ Because you have a head start on people with your viewing patterns, and it’s rare when you change your viewing patterns.”
Patrick’s talking about more than just personnel here. He’s talking about time. GameDay has had decades to refine its formula, determine what works, and create appointment television that fans plan their entire Saturdays around. Big Noon Kickoff is asking viewers to change habits that have been ingrained for years.
Two seasons ago, Fox actually had something. Big Noon Kickoff was occasionally competitive with GameDay in the ratings. It felt like a real alternative. Then they seemed to lose focus, prioritizing Big Ten games they were broadcasting over the biggest matchups in college football. Meanwhile, GameDay hit all-time highs thanks to Pat McAfee and Nick Saban.
Now, Fox is trying to get that momentum back with Portnoy’s chaos. But stunts only work if you have the foundation to support them.
“Now, what helps Fox is they did have that big game,” Patrick said of Texas-Ohio State. “And you’re tuning in. And maybe you tune in and see something, and maybe you tune in for a little longer the next time. You’ve got to play the long game, and TV people don’t play the long game. They’re like, ‘Nope, that didn’t work. Let’s change it.'”
That’s the problem Fox will face. Television executives don’t have patience for long-term building. They want immediate results. If Portnoy’s act doesn’t move the needle quickly, they’ll pivot to something else.
But beating GameDay requires exactly what Patrick is describing: patience, strategy, and a willingness to stick with something even when it’s not working immediately.
“But if you’re going to go after ESPN and College GameDay, that’s been a staple for decades, you’ve got to be strategic and you’ve got to be willing to be in for the long haul, because it’s not going to happen overnight,” Patrick said. “I don’t care who you have in there; it doesn’t happen overnight.”
Portnoy’s Michigan shtick played well in Columbus because Ohio State fans are programmed to hate everything about Michigan. But Fox can’t go to Columbus every week. How does that act work in Iowa? In Wisconsin? What about when they venture into SEC territory, where fans don’t care about Big Ten rivalries?
The sustainability question matters because Portnoy isn’t just another personality. He’s Fox’s big swing at changing the dynamic with GameDay. If this doesn’t work, what’s next?
Fox tried to beat SportsCenter in the ’90s with talented people and a clear strategy. It didn’t matter. Viewers had their habits, and changing those habits takes time that television rarely allows.
“GameDay knows what they’re doing,” Patrick said. “They’ve got the formula. They’ve created the formula. It’s Coca-Cola versus Pepsi, and Fox is hoping they’re Pepsi to Coke, because ESPN does a wonderful job.”
Patrick has seen enough television wars to know how this plays out. The challenger makes noise, gets some attention, maybe even scores a few wins. But the incumbent has built-in advantages that are almost impossible to overcome.
Portnoy brought energy to Big Noon Kickoff. Whether Fox has the patience to build something sustainable around that energy is another question entirely.
About Sam Neumann
Since the beginning of 2023, Sam has been a staff writer for Awful Announcing and The Comeback. A 2021 graduate of Temple University, Sam is a Charlotte native, who currently calls Greenville, South Carolina his home. He also has a love/hate relationship with the New York Mets and Jets.