Ohio State’s Dave Portnoy drama is just good publicity for Fox

When I first heard that Ohio State had “banned” Dave Portnoy from appearing inside of Ohio Stadium during Big Noon Kickoff on Saturday, my initial reaction was that it had to be a stunt.

Maybe this OSU alum of an author is still too much of a homer, but I just couldn’t bring myself to believe that the Buckeyes were actually this soft. As for Portnoy and Fox, they couldn’t have asked for better publicity heading into the Barstool Sports founder’s highly anticipated network pregame show debut.

In the hours that have followed, the situation has become more complicated than it was first portrayed. In multiple statements, Ohio State has denied banning Portnoy, passing the buck to Fox. The Big Ten, meanwhile, has backed up the defending national champions’ claim, insisting that the Boston native’s Big Noon duties won’t include him appearing inside of any conference stadium this season.

Still, it’s tough to ignore that all of this began with reporting from Ohio State beat writer Austin Ward and ex-linebacker Bobby Carpenter, who were adamant the Buckeyes didn’t want Portnoy on their premises. Add it all up and the truth seems to be somewhere between Ohio State saying, “Dave’s not allowed in the Horseshoe” and Fox replying, “that was never the plan in the first place” — although Portnoy insists that he was, in fact, banned, along with Barstool’s own pregame show.

But regardless of how we got here, my conclusion remains the same: publicity stunt or not, Fox couldn’t have asked for a better Week 1 news cycle.

While the initial announcement of Portnoy’s addition to the Big Noon Kickoff cast attracted plenty of fanfare, the buzz that followed had seemingly fizzled out. In fact, the primary promotion of his presence on the show has come via his own self-produced video packages, with even the 48-year-old admitting that he wasn’t sure what his role would ultimately be.

“I don’t know that I’m on the panel,” Portnoy said during an episode of The Unnamed Show earlier this month. “I’m going to be there every week. I will say, it appears to me by the media coverage people think I am the center of attention, but I don’t think that’s how it’s going. I don’t know how we’re being used yet.”

Portnoy’s belief that he wouldn’t be front and center was seemingly confirmed by Big Noon Kickoff‘s gambling guru Chris “The Bear” Fallica, who told You Better You Bet‘s Nick Kostos that El Presidente wouldn’t be a full-time fifth analyst on the show.

Reading between the lines, it appears that Portnoy will be closer to a Clay Travis replacement than Fox’s version of Pat McAfee. But while that might seem underwhelming to some, the intrigue in his Big Noon Kickoff role has now been reignited thanks to the perception — real or imagined — that he’s so controversial that Ohio State wouldn’t dare let him inside its sacred stadium.

What will Dave Portnoy do now? Troll Buckeyes fans on the street? Will he rally the Texas faithful who made the trip to Columbus or even wander over to the set of ESPN’s College GameDay, crashing Lee Corso’s farewell in the process?

It’s all in play — or at least that’s the perception — even if this was the plan for his pregame show duties all along. Make no mistake, Corso’s sentimental sendoff will still get the most attention on Saturday. But if we’re being honest with ourselves, there’s now far more intrigue in seeing how Dave Portnoy will respond to his belief that he’s been banned by the program he’s built his college football persona on trolling over the years.

Regardless of what happens on Saturday, this isn’t a story that will be going away anytime soon as Columbus has effectively become Big Noon Kickoff‘s homebase since its inception in 2019. Whether that’s something Fox considered when it brought Dave Portnoy on board remains unclear. Either way, people are talking. And that’s more than you could have said about the network’s pregame show in recent years.