Rob Stone doesn’t have any complaints about working with Barstool Sports this season. In fact, he thinks they’ve been a perfect addition to Big Noon Kickoff.
When asked about the partnership with Dave Portnoy and company, Stone’s response made clear what he values most about having them on the show.
“What’s cool about the Barstool guys is they have a bit of a longer leash than we have,” Stone said. “They can say things that I think our executives would say, ‘Hey, why? Why did you go there, and what did you say? And I love it. It just kind of frees some things up. They have great perspective, great energy. They relate to the college campus communities very well. They’ve been an awesome addition.”
That rings true because we’ve seen exactly what that longer leash looks like in action.
When Dave Portnoy went on his rant about lightning delays, suggesting fans should sign waivers accepting the risk of getting struck just so games don’t get interrupted, it was Stone and Brady Quinn who had to moderate. Quinn suggested that maybe Portnoy should experience a lightning strike firsthand before making such suggestions, while Stone quickly reminded viewers to go inside their cars when lightning is in the area.
That’s become the dynamic this season. Portnoy gets to make the inflammatory statements, and the traditional broadcast crew gets to react.
The arrangement has produced tangible results. Big Noon Kickoff saw significant year-over-year viewership increases in both Week 1 and Week 2 after adding Portnoy to the show. Fox Sports CEO Eric Shanks has already declared the partnership a success, claiming that there’s no better voice of the fan than Barstool when it comes to college football coverage.
The longer leash Stone referenced has certainly been on display.
Portnoy picked Washington to upset defending national champion Ohio State, explaining that nobody panics and pees down their leg faster than Ryan Day and the Buckeyes when things get tough. Never mind that Ohio State had just won a National Championship by defeating five straight Top 10 teams. Portnoy said it anyway because that’s the lane Fox brought him in to occupy.
The Ohio State situation has also revealed some of the complications of this setup.
Before Portnoy’s Big Noon Kickoff debut, the Michigan alum claimed he was banned from appearing inside Ohio Stadium, though Buckeyes AD Ross Bjork disputed the characterization. The Barstool College Football Show was also not welcome on Ohio State’s campus for the season opener, and the whole thing became the dominant storyline in the lead-up to what should have been a celebration of the defending National Champions hosting the top-ranked team in the country.
The Big 12 took a completely different approach. Ahead of Big Noon Kickoff’s visit to Iowa State, the conference’s athletic directors and commissioner Brett Yormark joined Portnoy for a 40-minute call, offering him what amounted to a blank canvas for engagement opportunities across their campuses.
That contrast illustrates what Fox is navigating with this partnership. Some schools and conferences see Barstool as an opportunity. Others see them as a headache. Fox gets the ratings boost either way.
The integration has evolved beyond just Portnoy’s provocations. The Barstool College Football Show received an entire segment on Big Noon Kickoff featuring Kayce Smith, Portnoy, Dan Katz, and Brandon Walker alongside Urban Meyer and Mark Ingram.
The segment worked well when the group debated topics like Michigan quarterback Bryce Underwood’s freshman potential or teased Mark Ingram about the current state of Alabama’s program. There was actual chemistry when Portnoy and Urban Meyer could go back and forth, beyond just the typical Michigan-Ohio State trash talk.
Barstool can take positions and make statements that would prompt uncomfortable conversations for Fox’s traditional broadcast talent. Whether that’s Portnoy’s lightning delay rant, his continued needling of Ohio State, or the unfiltered approach Barstool brings to sports coverage, there’s an understanding that they operate with different parameters than Stone, Quinn, or the rest of the Big Noon crew.
Fox isn’t pretending Barstool is there for expert Xs and Os analysis. They’re there to say what Fox’s contracted talent won’t, while the network collects the engagement and ratings that come with controversy.
Shanks addressed potential concerns about how the partnership might affect Fox’s relationships with league partners, noting that the network wasn’t trying to poke anybody but instead make their sports more popular.
“We do view ourselves as kind of the unpaid marketing arm for all of our partners,” Shanks explained. “We use our best judgment for what we think can make their sports more popular.”
While Wake Up Barstool on FS1 has struggled from a ratings perspective, the college football integration appears to be delivering what Fox wanted. Stone’s comments suggest Fox is satisfied with what Barstool brings to the show, even if it means he and his colleagues occasionally have to step in when Portnoy takes things too far.
About Sam Neumann
Since the beginning of 2023, Sam has been a staff writer for Awful Announcing and The Comeback. A 2021 graduate of Temple University, Sam is a Charlotte native, who currently calls Greenville, South Carolina his home. He also has a love/hate relationship with the New York Mets and Jets.