Dave Portnoy and Tom Brady dispute Saudi Arabia payment Edit by Liam McGuire
By Drew Lerner on

Tom Brady is looking to set the record straight.

The future Hall of Fame quarterback recently took what we can all agree is likely a ginormous sum of money to participate in a flag football tournament hosted by Saudi Arabia next March. That ginormous sum hasn’t been officially reported. However, Barstool Sports founder Dave Portnoy revealed “[he] was told” Brady is getting $75 million for his efforts on Monday’s edition of Wake Up Barstool.

“$75 million he got paid to do this,” Portnoy said. “The fastest growing game in the world, flag football. Question obviously is, how much for each of you?” Portnoy asked of his two guests, current Fox NFL analyst Greg Olsen and former NFL head coach Jon Gruden.

Putting aside the tough spot that Portnoy put both Olsen and Gruden in there (who would want to name their price on such a controversial topic?), it didn’t take Brady long to take exception with the Barstool founder. On Monday afternoon, Brady took to social media to dispute Portnoy’s claims of a $75 million payday.

“Are we just picking numbers out of a hat and reporting them?” Brady wrote. “While we’re breaking news… Elvis is doing the halftime show, and babe Ruth is gonna sign some autographs for fans. Also I heard Dave prefers floppy pizza. Who cares about facts right?”

Five minutes later, Portnoy responded, claiming that he invited Brady onto the show to discuss.

“That’s the number I was told. Let the record show we did ask you to come on Wake Up Barstool to discuss. The door is always open,” Portnoy wrote, adding in another post, “By the way wouldn’t that be a compliment to Tom Brady? Nobody would turn down 75 million. What do we think the real number is then? I feel like I trusted the people who told me but either way I’d rather the number in public be higher rather than lower.”

There’s a lot to unpack here. For one, this is two current Fox-associated stars in a public back-and-forth over how much one of them is getting paid by a foreign government to participate in a flag football event. Moreover, this comes just days after Barstool star Dave “Big Cat” Katz revealed that he and Portnoy turned down $10 million to attend a boxing match in Saudi Arabia, but would have accepted $15 million. This likely shaped Portnoy’s question towards Olsen and Gruden, with his thinking being that everyone has a price.

Second, it’s worth noting that the $75 million figure Portnoy was told isn’t wildly out of line with what Saudi Arabia is paying other athletes. Numerous LIV Golf stars have received contracts for several hundred million dollars, and soccer star Cristiano Ronaldo recently signed a two-year, $700 million deal to stay with Saudi side Al Nassr. $75 million for the most famous football player in the world is entirely within the realm of possibility.

However, even so, Portnoy throwing out an unverified number on Fox Sports’ airwaves about the network’s highest-paid employee (Brady is reportedly earning $37.5 million per year to call NFL games) is sure to irk the seven-time Super Bowl champion quarterback. No doubt, Brady is likely asking his Fox bosses why Portnoy is spewing unverified information about his personal business dealings on the same network that employs him.

One could easily draw parallels between this situation and several instances on Pat McAfee’s ESPN show, in which the host or his guests disparaged Disney employees on air. It’s the price of doing business when networks cede editorial control to talent that has little or no loyalty to the company. You can bet no one on Breakfast Ball or The Facility was going to stir up drama about Brady and Saudi Arabia. But with Portnoy and Barstool in the fold, nothing is off-limits.

Lastly, there’s Portnoy’s suggestion that Wake Up Barstool invited Brady on to talk about the flag football deal. That may well be true, but even if Brady declined the invite, that doesn’t make it acceptable to tout unverified claims about his compensation from Saudi Arabia.

The whole incident is a perfect example of just how messy today’s media landscape can be. Fox gives Portnoy a platform to be himself, just as he’d be on any number of Barstool podcasts, but the network’s biggest talent is caught in the crossfire. All the while, another Fox talent, Olsen, is peppered with an uncomfortable question about how much he would require from Saudi Arabia to participate in a flag football event. Meanwhile, Fox itself is currently in business with Saudi Arabia via a media rights agreement with LIV Golf.

Portnoy’s premise throughout all of this would seem to indicate he believes there is something morally questionable about doing business with Saudi Arabia. After all, he declined a $10 million payday to work with them years ago. So, not only is Portnoy potentially spreading misinformation about Fox’s biggest star, but he’s also undermining the network’s own business dealings with Saudi Arabia in the process by insinuating that the ethics of doing business with the country are murky.

Obviously, any network getting into business with Portnoy and Barstool knows it’ll need to have some level of tolerance for this type of thing to happen. You just prefer these incidents not involve your most recognizable talents.

It’s unclear whether Fox will decide to address the matter internally to prevent similar situations from arising in the future, though it’d seem wise to have at least a conversation with Portnoy about topics he should and shouldn’t broach regarding Fox employees. A Fox Sports spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment before publication.

About Drew Lerner

Drew Lerner is a staff writer for Awful Announcing and an aspiring cable subscriber. He previously covered sports media for Sports Media Watch. Future beat writer for the Oasis reunion tour.

View all posts by Drew Lerner