Colin Cowherd praises Fox deal with Dave Portnoy: ‘Never thought Barstool was a good fit with ESPN’

As Fox aligns with Barstool Sports, Colin Cowherd has a new colleague in Dave Portnoy.

He thinks it’s a great fit.

In the wake of FS1 canceling three shows from its weekday lineup, Fox and Barstool Sports have announced a new partnership that will see Portnoy create content for the network, as well as join Big Noon Kickoff. Nearly eight years after Barstool infamously attempted a small-scale collaboration with ESPN, they’re returning to mainstream sports media by way of Fox, and Cowherd is expecting a different outcome.

“I’ve never thought Barstool was a good fit with ESPN,” Cowherd recently said on his podcast for The Volume. “I just never thought it was a good fit. I didn’t think that show [Barstool Van Talk] was going to last 15 minutes.”

It actually lasted exactly 22 minutes. In 2017, Barstool Van Talk, featuring Dan “Big Cat” Katz and PFT Commenter (Eric Sollenberger), premiered on ESPN, but was promptly canceled after just one episode due to internal pushback over criticism of the Barstool brand. Portnoy and Katz have both insisted joining Fox will be different than ESPN, and Cowherd agrees, citing the company’s willingness to absorb criticism.

“I think it works at Fox because Fox News and the New York Post are owned by the Murdoch family,” Cowherd continued. “They have strong convictions on the right. You can call them whatever you want; they don’t care. And so, Fox Sports…to some degree is not protected, but we’re under sort of the umbrella of Fox News and the New York Post. The Murdoch family is very comfortable with you having lots of opinions.”

And Cowherd should be rooting for those opinions to generate interest because Barstool content will soon serve as a lead-in to his FS1 show. Portnoy previously announced that Barstool Sports will have a daily show from 8 to 10 a.m. The ET show on FS1 will then re-air from 10 a.m. – noon, before Cowherd’s daily show. However, of the reasons Fox sought to partner with Barstool Sports, Cowherd believes the FS1 show is at the bottom of the list.

“My take is, of the three things they were brought into Fox for, I think Big Noon and digital were more important,” Cowherd said. “My guess is, based on what I’m hearing about Portnoy, Pardon My Take guys, they’ll do a two-hour show and then they’ll run it again as a replay. So, that’s not necessarily a dynamic lead-in, but I think it is a cost-effective measure and it makes us younger on FS1, which I’m for.”

Cowherd was very supportive of the partnership, partly because he had helped craft the idea. According to Cowherd, Fox asked for his opinion on adding Portnoy to Big Noon Kickoff six months ago. Not only did Cowherd suggest bringing Portnoy in to let him be himself, but he also suggested hiring Pardon My Take for a daily show on FS1.

Six months later, Cowherd saw headlines about Fox adding Portnoy to Big Noon Kickoff and partnering with Barstool Sports for a new daily show on FS1, and he still sounds pretty supportive of the decision.