Fox Pulls Dave Portnoy From Big Noon Kickoff, Portnoy Blames Ryan Day While Fox's Own Sources Say It Wasn't One Thing

Dave Portnoy is out at Fox's Big Noon Kickoff, and he wants everyone to know exactly who he thinks did it.

The Athletic's Andrew Marchand reported Saturday, October 3, that Portnoy and Barstool Sports would no longer appear on the pregame show. Portnoy says he found out by phone call from Fox that Thursday, before Marchand's story even ran. He wasn't asked for comment first, and he made sure to get his version out immediately on X.

"Ohio State and Ryan Day bitched and moaned to the Big 10 and threatened Fox till they had no choice," Portnoy wrote. He added that the arrangement wasn't "worth the squeeze" for Fox given the money at stake in its Big Ten television contract, and called Day "Cryin Ryan" for what he described as repeated complaints about Portnoy's commentary.

Portnoy's Account, In Detail

In a separate interview with Front Office Sports' Ryan Glasspiegel, Portnoy laid out a longer timeline. He says the friction started the moment Fox and Barstool announced their partnership before last season, and that Ohio State showed Fox executives a 30-to-45-minute highlight reel of Portnoy ripping the Buckeyes and Day.

Portnoy says the pattern repeated itself for two years: complaints routed through Big Ten commissioner Tony Petitti to Fox and then to him, benchings from several Big Noon Kickoff broadcasts, and a last-minute order to stay home from a planned Columbus trip two weeks before his removal because, he says, Ohio State threatened not to cooperate with the show if he showed up.

Ohio State has previously disputed part of that account. Before the Buckeyes' August 30, 2025, season opener against Texas, Portnoy said he was banned from Ohio Stadium. Ohio State said at the time only its main broadcast desk crew, which never included Portnoy, had stadium access during those planning meetings, according to the Associated Press.

The "Doxxing" Claim

Portnoy also told Front Office Sports that Day believes Portnoy doxxed him, a claim Portnoy calls absurd. He points to two episodes. One involves an On3 report, which Portnoy says he didn't originate, about Day's brother allegedly running a counter-surveillance operation during the Connor Stalions sign-stealing scandal involving former Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh. The other is Portnoy calling Day a "scared little chicken boy" this past summer after Day moved Ohio State's Senior Day to Week 1, a move that traditionally falls during the Buckeyes' final home game and sometimes coincides with the Michigan rivalry game. Portnoy noted Day was on Nantucket at the time buying property, but did not publish an address or other identifying details.

Doxxing, as commonly understood, means publishing private identifying information to enable harassment, and nothing in the record shows Portnoy did that. At the same time, a football coach watching a prominent media figure publicly track his personal real estate dealings and family members during an already bitter rivalry is not an unreasonable thing to be unhappy about, even if the legal and technical definition of doxxing doesn't apply. Day has not spoken publicly about any of this, so his actual reasoning remains Portnoy's characterization, not his own words.

What Fox's Own Sourcing Says

Marchand's reporting at The Athletic, which broke the news, described no single triggering event. His sources called it a persistent mismatch between Fox's traditional pregame format and Barstool's brasher style, not a specific ultimatum from Columbus. BroBible and Yahoo Sports both flagged that distinction directly, noting Portnoy's account and the network's background sourcing tell different stories.

Fox Sports has not commented publicly. Ohio State referred all questions to Fox, according to the Associated Press. The Big Ten declined to comment for Front Office Sports' story, and representatives for Ohio State and Fox did not respond to that outlet's requests either.

The money at stake is real. Fox pays the largest share in a seven-year, multinetwork Big Ten media deal that also includes NBC and CBS, and Fox owns a 51% stake in the Big Ten Network, per the AP. That gives weight to Portnoy's argument that Fox would rather smooth things over with a conference partner than defend one on-air personality, even without confirming his claim that Ohio State issued explicit threats.

Portnoy's weekday morning show, "Wake Up Barstool," remains on FS1 and is unaffected by the Big Noon Kickoff decision. Barstool's broader college football coverage continues as well, with Portnoy saying he may still show up in Columbus.

Michigan and Ohio State are scheduled to meet again during Thanksgiving week, a rivalry that, according to multiple outlets covering this story, is only getting more personal off the field. Whether Fox addresses Portnoy's version of events before then, or whether Ryan Day or Ohio State respond on the record at all, remains an open question as of this week.