The college football regular season officially comes to an end this weekend. Championship weekend is built for the conferences to crown their best, while the country debates who should participate in the playoffs. The allure of championship weekend has dwindled over the years as the number of bowl games rises and the playoff itself takes center stage.
This weekend, FOX Sports’ Big Noon Kickoff will air its season finale live from the Big Ten Championship in Indianapolis as Ohio State takes on Indiana. The top two teams in the nation will square off for conference supremacy and playoff seeding.
What’s missing from FOX’s Big Noon Kickoff is the biggest signing of the offseason. Barstool Sports founder Dave Portnoy announced following Ohio State’s beating of Michigan last week in Ann Arbor that he won’t be present for the broadcast. The crescendo of the college football season missing its most attention-drawing element is puzzling. Was this the plan all along?
When FOX Sports announced the partnership with Barstool Sports back in July, the deal was hailed as a “one-of-a-kind” brand that connects with a new generation of sports fans. Barstool Sports has undoubtedly built that following with a combination of sports commentary and a multiplatform approach.
It’s no secret that younger audiences prefer personalities over analysis. Fun over substance. At the time, I called Portnoy’s signing by FOX Sports the most important network television signing of the entire calendar year.
Now it’s December, and the Big Ten Championship is Saturday. Portnoy won’t be showing up. Was this planned all along? Was this Portnoy’s call, or did the conference step in and force FOX Sports’ hand?
Going into the partnership, Portnoy turned the announcement into a two-minute PSA for the Michigan Wolverines. He bashed Ohio State and nearly every other school in the conference because they aren’t wearing the maize and blue.
This season, Portnoy was reportedly barred from the stadium at Ohio State for the biggest game on FOX’s calendar. He also hinted that the Big Ten Conference leveraged its influence with FOX to keep him off-site. Portnoy had public back-and-forths with Big Noon Kickoff talent, including Mark Ingram and Matt Leinart.
I questioned last month whether Portnoy had worn out his welcome with FOX Sports’ Saturday pregame show. Partnerships require time to grow. From every indication, FOX Sports and Portnoy didn’t allow enough time to prepare for his role or to build rapport with the current staff.
Oil and water never mix. So, you have to wonder whether FOX Sports was satisfied with the outcome in its first year.
The positives were evident. Viewership increased throughout the season, and the social traction between FOX Sports and Barstool Sports accounts brought in additional impressions and engagement. Big Noon Kickoff became a weekly talking point in more sports media spaces than ever before. Portnoy’s presence always draws attention, and attention was certainly gained.
However, with new measurement metrics from Nielsen and trends in football viewership, can you call Portnoy a traditional ratings draw? Was a quarter-hour segment noticeably stronger because of him?
The better question is: without Portnoy, would Big Noon Kickoff see those same spikes in viewership?
Moreover, closing the season without Portnoy says more about FOX Sports than it does about him. The network’s partnerships with the conferences are far more important to its current and future health than anything involving Barstool Sports.
The last thing FOX needs is Portnoy going off about the conference during its championship game. Conversely, the last thing Portnoy needs is a presence on FOX Sports during championship weekend.
In the end, this decision works for both parties. FOX Sports wanted a spark, and they got it. Some fires they put out, others they couldn’t. It’s not that Portnoy didn’t belong on the program; the recap should be more focused on the wins for both parties.
Did Barstool Sports get more presence on traditional network television? Yes, but how much does that help their bottom line and brand reach?
Did FOX Sports get a bump in interest, viewership, and digital growth from the partnership? Surely. But at what cost to the network’s relationship with the Big Ten?
The fact that Portnoy won’t be part of the network’s coverage of the championship game highlights the fine line FOX continues to walk.
The partnership isn’t ending as the college football season winds down. FOX Sports and Barstool Sports will also contribute to college basketball coverage, including the College Basketball Crown, a postseason tournament launched by FOX this past April.
Neither FOX nor Barstool has revealed the details of this partnership. If the football season is any indication, though, who’s making the call on how much and where? Is it FOX Sports, Portnoy, or the conferences themselves?
At the end of the day, the FOX-Barstool experiment this season showed both the upside and the limits of pairing a digital disruptor with a traditional sports network. Attention was gained, conversations were sparked, and younger viewers took notice. But the absence of Dave Portnoy from the Big Ten Championship weekend serves as a reminder: in the high-stakes world of college sports, network strategy—and conference relationships—still outweigh individual personalities.
The partnership remains intact, but the first season made clear that balancing innovation with tradition is a delicate act. How FOX and Barstool navigate that line next season will determine whether this is a fleeting spark or the start of something far bigger.
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John Mamola is Barrett Media’s sports editor and daily sports columnist. He brings over two decades of experience (Chicago, Tampa/St Petersburg) in the broadcast industry with expertise in brand management, sales, promotions, producing, imaging, hosting, talent coaching, talent development, web development, social media strategy and design, video production, creative writing, partnership building, communication/networking with a long track record of growth and success. He is a five-time recognized top 20 program director in a major market via Barrett Medi’s Top 20 series and has been honored internally multiple times as station/brand of the year (Tampa, FL) and employee of the month (Tampa, FL) by iHeartMedia. Connect with John by email at John@BarrettMedia.com.
