The newly minted Fox-Barstool college football partnership already has some drama even before the first game.
Ohio State is barring Barstool Sports from campus and its founder Dave Portnoy from entering Ohio Stadium for the school’s huge opening-week matchup against Texas on Saturday, sources told Front Office Sports.
Portnoy will still appear on Fox’s Big Noon Kickoff, but not for the end of the show inside the stadium, a source said.
The Barstool College Football Show, which on a number of occasions will lead into Big Noon, will no longer run as Barstool previously planned, a source said. In announcing the partnership, Fox said that the Barstool show will be on the road with Big Noon for “select” dates.
One source said Fox anticipated having issues with Portnoy and Ohio State and that the network’s original plan did not include him entering the stadium.
Former Ohio State linebacker Bobby Carpenter said on his Columbus radio show Monday that there were a lot of folks from his alma mater who are “not all that happy about [Portnoy] being hired” at Fox, and co-host Austin Ward added that Portnoy is “not welcome inside the Horseshoe.”
A spokesperson for Fox Sports declined to comment, and a rep for Ohio State football did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Portnoy is a Michigan grad and has been a persistent troll of Ohio State and head coach Ryan Day, ratcheting up his remarks over the last several years amid the Wolverines’ winning streak over the Buckeyes.
Portnoy also joined Oracle founder Larry Ellison, his partner and Michigan grad Keren Zhu, and Tom Brady in wooing five-star quarterback Bryce Underwood to Ann Arbor.
This predicament with Ohio State figures to be a recurring one as the school usually hosts multiple Big Noon games a year.
