When Fox first added Dave Portnoy to its college football coverage, the idea was that the Barstool Sports founder would serve as the Big Ten’s version of Paul Finebaum.
It didn’t, however, quite work out that way — albeit not for a lack of effort from the Michigan alum.
Speaking to Front Office Sports’ Ryan Glasspiegel ahead of Super Bowl LX, the Boston native addressed his first season as a panelist on Fox’s Big Noon Kickoff pregame show. And in doing so, he likened the Big Ten’s attempt to embrace him to the recent thawing of his formerly frosty relationship with the NFL.
“I think that’s what Fox thought would happen. It didn’t. It’s very similar to what we just described. You know, when people turn to Barstool or what we do? When they need it,” Portnoy said. “When they’ve been arrogant for years. It started with sports talk radio, or like newspapers, when blogs showed up. Who are these guys in their parents’ basement? We don’t need to pay attention to them. We don’t need them. The world changes, and it’s like, Hey, we need these guys.”
But while that may have been the conference’s vision, some of the league’s schools weren’t so eager to go along with the plan. Especially in Columbus, where Portnoy was reportedly banned from being inside the stadium ahead of Ohio State’s Week 1 matchup against Texas, which doubled as his Big Noon Kickoff debut.
Nevertheless, Portnoy played his part as a Big Ten apologist throughout the remainder of the season — he even picked the Buckeyes to beat the Longhorns in Week 1 — but never quite caught on as a Finebaum-esque figure. Especially when compared to the connection he forged with the other major conference Fox is affiliated with, the Big 12, which eagerly embraced “El Presidente.”
“The Big 12, they need audience. Their commissioner [Brett Yormark] is progressive, and he knows they need to steal market share and get in front of young people,” Portnoy told Glasspiegel. “I think the Big Ten right now feels like ‘We’re the Big Ten. We have Michigan and Ohio State. We don’t have to change the way we do things.’ That type of attitude will always come back to bite you in the long run. It hasn’t [yet] in the Big Ten, but you have to adapt.”
With Indiana’s national championship marking the conference’s third in as many years, there’s no reason to think the Big Ten will change its thinking anytime soon. But if Portnoy is to be believed, it’s not a matter of “if” but rather “when” the league will have to adjust and embrace both him and Barstool in the same way the Big 12 has in recent months.
About Ben Axelrod
Ben Axelrod is a veteran of the sports media landscape, having most recently worked for NBC's Cleveland affiliate, WKYC. Prior to his time in Cleveland, he covered Ohio State football and the Big Ten for outlets including Cox Media Group, Bleacher Report, Scout and Rivals.