Dave Portnoy

David Scott Portnoy (born March 22, 1977) is an American businessman and social media personality. He is the founder and owner of sports and popular culture company Barstool Sports.

Early life

Portnoy was born and raised in Swampscott, Massachusetts, the son of Michael, a lawyer, and Linda, a high school teacher. He is Jewish. After attending Swampscott High School, where one of his classmates was ESPN's Todd McShay, Portnoy graduated from the University of Michigan with a degree in education. While at Michigan, Portnoy founded thegamblingman.com, a website where he published his sports betting picks.

Career

Barstool Sports

After college, Portnoy moved to Boston and began working at Yankee Group, an IT market research firm. In 2004, Portnoy left the Yankee Group and founded Barstool Sports. The early iteration of Barstool was a four-page sports newspaper that Portnoy handed out on subway platforms and street corners in Boston. The paper was meant to appeal to young men and rejected political correctness. Early advertisers in the newspaper included offshore betting websites such as partypoker, which was operating in the United States illegally. The contents of the newspaper was originally solely written by Portnoy, but freelance writers, including Todd McShay, joined the paper. At first, the paper struggled, but gained traction in 2004 when Portnoy began placing photos of women in bikinis on the front page of the newspaper. In 2007, Barstool expanded to a blog.

Portnoy gradually cultivated his persona as "El Presidente", a blunt and candid character. His writing was well-received among young men and the publication subsequently became a mainstay of bro culture. Peter Chernin's The Chernin Group purchased a majority stake of Barstool in January 2016. In 2020, Penn Entertainment purchased a 36% stake in Barstool Sports for $163 million, including $135 million in cash and $28 million in Penn non-voting convertible preferred stock. Penn acquired the remainder of the company in February 2023 for $388 million. Portnoy re-purchased Barstool in August 2023 for one dollar, non-compete agreements in the gambling space, and a clause that if Barstool were to be sold again Penn Entertainment would take 50%.

The "Dave Portnoy Show with Eddie & Co." was a podcast hosted by Dave Portnoy and Eddie Farrer that aired on Barstool Sports. In October 2022, the show was placed on indefinite hiatus after Portnoy said that the show had become "terrible" and lacked fresh content. Following the failure of the revived Barstool Radio, Portnoy announced the launch of "The Unnamed Show" in January 2024, along with Ryan Whitney and Kirk Minihane.

Labor relations

In 2019, in response to employees of '' The Ringer'' trying to start a union, Portnoy satirically tweeted a threat to fire any employee at his blogging company who sought advice on forming a union. No employees were actually trying to form a union, but the New York State Department of Labor took his joke seriously and released a statement saying, "We say no way, no how to intimidation, threats and union busting. It is illegal to take any unfavorable action—including termination—against employees for union-related activities under the National Labor Relations Act. New York is a proud union state." U.S. Representative Alexandria Ocasio Cortez tweeted in response to Portnoy, "If you're a boss tweeting firing threats to employees trying to unionize, you are likely breaking the law & can be sued, in your words, 'on the spot.' ALL workers in the US have the protected freedom to organize for better conditions." The National Labor Relations Board investigated Portnoy in 2019 for threatening to fire his workers if they unionized. That December, Portnoy reached an informal settlement with the Board, which required him to delete his threatening tweets and remove any potential anti-union material created by Barstool Sports. The settlement also noted that the Twitter account originally encouraging employees to unionize was actually owned by Barstool in an attempt to out labor organizers. Portnoy also released a T-shirt with his face on it that read " Union Buster".

Pizza reviews

''One Bite Pizza Reviews'' is an internet show by Portnoy, in which he reviews pizza from restaurants around the world, ranking it on a scale of 0–10. The show started as a bet between Portnoy and Barstool employee Dan Katz ("Big Cat") over who could eat only one thing the longest. Portnoy thought he could solely eat pizza and Big Cat thought he could solely eat burritos. Portnoy ultimately won the bet and thus began his pizza reviewing venture.

Portnoy began his show with the goal of reviewing every pizza place in Manhattan in 2017. In addition to Portnoy, some reviews feature celebrity guests. Portnoy rarely ranks a pizza above 9.0, but some of those he praised have experienced a transformative growth in popularity, going "viral, becoming a can't-miss attraction for legions of young, loud, and often inebriated Barstool diehards." In October 2023, ''The New York Times'' called Portnoy "one of the most influential people in the world of food social media," with the ability to "change the fate of a pizzeria with a single utterance."

In August 2023, Portnoy was involved in an altercation with Charlie Redd, the owner of Dragon Pizza in Somerville, Massachusetts, after criticizing the pizzeria's pizza as "a floppy mess." Portnoy and Redd then entered into an expletive-laden exchange.

Portnoy and Barstool Sports hosted the first One Bite Pizza Festival in September 2023 in Brooklyn, New York. The One Bite Pizza Festival is a joint-venture with Medium Rare. For the second year of the festival, Portnoy donated all proceeds from the festival to Al Santillo, the owner of Santillo's Brick Oven Pizza, which had burned down earlier in the year. A GoFundMe campaign started by Portnoy raised more than $32,000 to help with rebuilding Santillo's. In 2025, one of his Pizza reviews in Toronto, Ontario got notability when a heckler yelled "fuck the Jews" towards Portnoy.

Politics

Portnoy's popularity and influence, specifically in politics, has been referred to as Barstool conservatism. Portnoy identifies as "socially liberal" and "fiscally conservative". He has been described as a "Trump booster" by ''Politico''.

Portnoy opposed COVID-19 lockdowns. He said "When did this become...'flatten the curve' to 'we have to find a cure or everyone's going to die?

In a 2015 blog post, Portnoy said: "I am voting for Donald Trump. I don't care if he's a joke. I don't care if he's racist. I don't care if he's sexist. I don't care about any of it. I hope he stays in the race and I hope he wins. Why? Because I love the fact that he is making other politicians squirm. I love the fact he says shit nobody else will say, regardless of how ridiculous it is." He endorsed Trump for the 2016 Presidential election. In 2020, Portnoy interviewed Trump at the White House. In 2024, he supported and voted for Donald Trump for president.

Portnoy criticized the June 2022 '' Dobbs v. Jackson'' Supreme Court decision, which overturned ''Roe v. Wade'', saying "It makes no sense how anybody thinks it's their right to tell a woman what to do with her body." He said it is "dangerous" to vote for Republicans because they will appoint justices who are too conservative to the U.S. Supreme Court.

In response to Signalgate, Portnoy called on President Trump to remove Mike Waltz from office, saying it was a "fuck-up of epic proportions."

In April 2025, Portnoy criticized tariffs in the second Trump administration saying "Welcome to Orange Monday," on his apolitical "Davey Day Trader" financial livestream after immediately losing $20 million or 15 percent of his net worth in the aftermath of Liberation Day. However, Portnoy said that he plans to keep supporting Trump calling him "a smart guy." and added "I think they’re smarter than me when it comes to these tariffs. I also think he’s playing a high-stakes game here, I'm gonna roll with him for a couple days, a couple weeks, see how this pans out."

2013 Boston mayoral campaign

In 2013, Portnoy ran for mayor of Boston after Mayor Thomas Menino retired. During the 2013 Boston mayoral election, Portnoy identified as a libertarian. After raising more than $17,000 in campaign contributions, he failed to submit enough nomination signatures to qualify for the ballot.

Personal life

Relationships

Portnoy married his wife Renee in 2009, and they separated in 2017. From March 2021 to November 2023, Portnoy dated model Silvana Mojica.

Finances

In 2004, Portnoy filed for bankruptcy protection after large gambling losses. He owed $59,000 to credit card companies and $18,000 to his father. In January 2020, a tax lien for $11,795 was filed against Portnoy by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

In 2019, Portnoy said his net worth was around $100 million, which was before he received his payout from Penn Entertainment.

Residences

Portnoy owns 4 personal residences worth a total of $65 million. His purchase of a 5,200 square foot residence in Nantucket for $43 million in 2023 was the highest price ever paid for a residence in the state of Massachusetts. In 2021, he bought a 6,000 square foot waterfront house in Miami for $14 million and a 5,700 square foot house in Montauk, New York for $9.8 million. He bought a fourth residence in Saratoga Springs, New York, a 1,522 sq. ft. house sitting on a 7,402 sq. ft. lot. He bought the house in March, 2023, for $1.4 million.

Philanthropy

In 2020, Portnoy donated $500,000 to the Barstool Fund, a relief effort for small businesses affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. Through May 2021, the campaign raised over $39 million for 348 businesses. In 2024, Portnoy donated $277,000 to the LifeLine Animal Project, an animal shelter in Atlanta, Georgia. The money was generated from t-shirt, hoodie, and hat sales on the Barstool Sports website themed after Miss Peaches, a dog Portnoy adopted from the shelter. After NYPD officer Jonathan Diller was killed on duty in March 2024, Portnoy raised more than $1.5 million for Diller's family, including $750,000 raised through a T-shirt sale on the Barstool Sports website and a $750,000 matching donation from Portnoy.

In May 2025, High Noon (seltzer) introduced ''Lucky One Lemonade,'' a line of vodka-based canned lemonade, through a partnership with Portnoy and his rescue dog, ''Miss Peache''s. A portion of all sales from the drinks will go to support rescue dogs. Through this partnership, Portnoy and High Noon have a goal to raise $1 Million Dollars to support rescue animals, by the end of Summer 2025. They have joined with LifeLine Animal Project and Best Friends Animal Society as part of the “Our Pack Gives Back” initiative, running through September 1, 2025.

Controversial comments

Critics allege that comments posted on Barstool Sports by Portnoy and others normalize rape culture. Comments that have sparked debate include a post on a 2010 blog in which Portnoy said though I never condone rape if you're a size 6 and you're wearing skinny jeans you kind of deserve to be raped right?" When confronted with his statement by Lisa Guerrero of ''Inside Edition'', Portnoy said: "Correct. I stand by that. I think it's a funny joke." Guerrero asked, "Do you know how offensive that is?" He responded, "No, I obviously don't."

In 2020, multiple videos of Portnoy surfaced that showed him using the N-word or joking about blackface. ''Business Insider'' reported that Portnoy had made multiple "unprovoked, personal attacks online", including frequent "sexually harassing comments" toward ''Deadspin'''s Laura Wagner. Portnoy has defended himself from allegations of sexism, saying: "I gave two girls their own radio show. We have hired girl after girl. They say it's a great place to work."

NFL-related Legal issues

Portnoy has twice been detained in NFL-related incidents. On May 12, 2015, he was arrested after he and three Barstool employees handcuffed themselves to each other on the floor of NFL headquarters in Manhattan and demanded to speak with NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell to protest Deflategate. He was arrested again in 2019 when he was placed in a holding cell at Mercedes-Benz Stadium for a portion of Super Bowl LIII after creating fake passes to attend a press event the day before. He was prohibited from attending the game.

Sexual assault allegations

In November 2021, a ''Business Insider'' exposé alleged that Portnoy had engaged in violent and aggressive sexual encounters with three women and that he had filmed the women without their consent. He claimed the sex was consensual. Portnoy called the article a "hit piece", claiming that ''Business Insider'' tried to find evidence of wrongdoing by him for approximately eight months. In February 2022, more sexual assault and harassment claims by young women were published in a second ''Business Insider'' article.

On February 7, 2022, Portnoy announced a lawsuit against Business Insider and several of its employees. A federal judge dismissed the lawsuit in November. Portnoy filed an appeal of the dismissal. In February 2023, he dropped his appeal.

See also

* Barstool conservatism

References

External links

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Portnoy, Dave
1977 births
21st-century American businesspeople
21st-century American Jews
21st-century American philanthropists
American Internet company founders
American male bloggers
American podcasters
American restaurant critics
American video bloggers
American YouTubers
Anti-union sentiment
Barstool Sports people
Jewish American sports journalists
Jewish YouTubers
Living people
Massachusetts Libertarians
People from Swampscott, Massachusetts
Pizza in the United States
Sportspeople from Essex County, Massachusetts
University of Michigan School of Education alumni