Dan Le Batard: Fox is getting exactly what it wants with Dave Portnoy’s Ohio State ban

Dan Le Batard and Dave Portnoy are never going to share a slice of pizza in the heart of Miami, despite both calling South Beach home. The Barstool founder has dismissed Le Batard as part of the “broken brain” crowd and called him a “self-righteous jackass.”

Le Batard isn’t fond of Portnoy either, but he can still recognize smart business when he sees it.

Fox executives, along with Big Ten leadership, view Portnoy as a potential “on-air fanboy” for the conference. He just won’t be allowed to be an on-air fanboy inside the Horseshoe. That’s because Ohio State effectively banned Portnoy from entering Ohio Stadium ahead of Saturday’s Texas-Ohio State kickoff. The Athletic Director attempted to place the onus on Fox, as did the Big Ten, but Portnoy redirected the spotlight back to the Buckeyes.

In addition to being kept off the stadium set — which Brady Quinn says has plenty of space — Barstool also wasn’t allowed to bring its own pregame show to Columbus.

For Fox, this couldn’t have gone better if they had scripted it themselves.

“When you talk about the games we’re heading into this weekend, Fox and Big Noon are getting exactly what they want out of Dave Portnoy,” Le Batard said on Tuesday. “Because there are reports that Dave Portnoy has been ‘banned’ from participating. It seems all of this would be created to create noise and controversy. I believe Portnoy and Barstool will be good about attracting attention, particularly of young people, to rival Lee Corso’s departure on ESPN.”

That’s exactly the point. Fox has spent years being ESPN’s inferior knockoff, and now it’s finally trying something different. Instead of chasing respectability, it’s chasing attention and controversy.

“I don’t believe creatures like Dave Portnoy have ever existed in the history of these shows,” Le Batard explained. “This is how a network that is struggling with its sports programming, this is how they get into the game by trying to do something different.”

Le Batard sees this as Fox finally abandoning its strategy of being ESPN’s punching bag. Instead of trying to recreate the magic of Corso putting on headgear — the moment that traditionally starts football weekends for millions — Fox is betting that Portnoy’s manufactured controversy can capture attention spans that traditional pregame shows have lost.

Fox is betting that Portnoy’s ability to create viral moments will eventually replace Corso’s headgear as the moment that starts people’s football weekends. Whether that gamble pays off depends on whether controversy can create the same kind of appointment television that tradition built. But at least Fox is finally trying something different instead of playing second fiddle in the college football pregame space.