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Fox Sports is poised to make another big bet on Big Noon.
The network is nearing an expansive deal with Barstool Sports founder Dave Portnoy that would include him appearing on its college football pregame show. The deal would also involve Barstool content being featured on FS1, sources told Front Office Sports.
The deal has not been finalized, and a Fox Sports spokesperson declined to comment.
Fox introduced its Big Noon college football window in 2019. Traditionally, all the best college football games had been stacked in windows later in the afternoon and evening. Seeing the annual ratings success of Michigan–Ohio State, Fox posited that it could garner higher viewership for its top Big Ten or Big 12 game of the week by programming it against lesser competition from rival networks. At the same time, it launched the Big Noon Kickoff pregame show to go head-to-head with ESPN’s College GameDay.
Portnoy would join Urban Meyer, Matt Leinart, Brady Quinn, Mark Ingram, Chris “The Bear” Fallica, and host Rob Stone on Big Noon. Charles Woodson also appears on the show on special occasions.
Portnoy and Barstool Sports have always done well with the coveted 18-to-34 demographic, and Fox would be betting on this move being a counterpunch to Pat McAfee—who started his media career at Barstool after retiring from the NFL—on GameDay. Portnoy is a Michigan grad and has appeared frequently on Fox News and Fox Business Network programming for the past several years.
Earlier this week, The Athletic first reported that FS1 would have sweeping cancellations, with Breakfast Ball, The Facility, and Speak coming to an end.
Barstool content is expected to fill some of this FS1 airtime, likely via a licensing agreement. Details were not immediately available about which Barstool personalities will be included for this deal, or whether this would mean a new show or existing franchises, such as Pardon My Take, get repopulated onto the network. The Twitter/X account BackAftaThis first suggested that Barstool personalities would be appearing on FS1.
