Barstool Sports and FOX Sports are officially entering into a partnership. Barstool Sports founder Dave Portnoy made the announcement via The Unnamed Show featuring Ryan Whitney and Kirk Minihane, as the digital sports giant is teaming up with its second national television network on a three-year agreement. This follows their short-lived 2017 partnership with ESPN.
Portnoy expressed his satisfaction with the deal, saying FOX Sports is “embracing” the Barstool Sports brand. He referenced FOX Sports CEO and Executive Producer Eric Shanks flying to meet him in Nantucket to discuss the collaboration as a sign of the network’s desire to team with the Barstool Sports.
“The Fox Sports deal is official. Been in the works for a long time,” said Portnoy. “This has the potential to be really good for both parties. They want our audience, but they know what audience we have. We’re going to try to come up with a bunch of things with them, but it’s a wide ranging relationship.”
As part of the partnership, Portnoy will appear on FOX Sports’ Big Noon Kickoff as a regular contributor. According to a FOX Sports release, Big Noon Kickoff will also feature appearances from a variety of Barstool personalities – including Dan Katz, widely known as “Big Cat.”
Additionally, Barstool College Football Show, the Barstool-produced program will join Big Noon Kickoff on-location for select games throughout the college football season. Barstool College Football Show is set to air across Barstool-owned channels from 9:00-9:45 AM ET as well as across FOX platforms including Tubi, the FOX Sports App and Foxsports.com, and will feature appearances from FOX Sports Big Noon Kickoff talent.
In addition, Portnoy announced that Barstool Sports will debut a two-hour daily program on FS1 from 8 a.m. to 10 a.m. However, no official start date or talent lineup has been confirmed but Portnoy referenced the show “could” start near the beginning of the college football season in late August.
Portnoy stated that FOX Sports will be building a set for the show at the Barstool Sports headquarters in Chicago where the show will air from. According to FOX, the program will be produced and delivered by Barstool Sports and will feature popular Barstool personalities and FOX Sports talent guest appearances.
“We are going to do an 8am-10am daily show on Fox Sports One. It’ll be like a Barstool Breakfast Show. Barstool Wake Up,” said Portnoy. “I’m going to do Mondays. We’ll have an office in Chicago. It’ll be different characters. They want a taste of the Barstool world.”
Fox Sports CEO and Executive Producer Eric Shanks shared his excitement about the new partnership.
“We’re excited to welcome Dave Portnoy and Barstool Sports to the FOX Sports family. Dave has built a one-of-a-kind brand that connects with a new generation of sports fans – authentic, bold, and original. Their unique voice and loyal fanbase makes them a natural fit for our evolving multiplatform content strategy,” said Eric Shanks, CEO & Executive Producer, FOX Sports.
Ahead of the 2025-26 season, Barstool Sports is also set to contribute to FOX Sports’ college basketball coverage, including the College Basketball Crown – a postseason tournament launched by the network last year, coming off its successful debut in April 2025.
Portnoy emphasized that he’s extremely happy to work with FOX Sports, highlighting their understanding of the Barstool brand—something he felt was missing during the previous ESPN partnership in 2017.
He added that discussions around this new partnership have been ongoing for the past six to seven months.
Finally, the announcement from Barstool and FOX Sports comes just days after the network shook up FS1’s weekday lineup. Earlier this week, FOX Sports canceled three programs—Breakfast Ball, The Facility, and Speak—with no word yet from the netwok on what will replace The Facility or Speak.
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