Barstool's Dave Portnoy on Roger Goodell meeting: 'I'd be very surprised' if NFL allows it
Portnoy revealed earlier this week that he paid $250,000 to win a chance to watch a game with Goodell in his basement.
Barstool Sports founder Dave Portnoy is skeptical that he will actually get a chance to confront longtime foe Roger Goodell in person, even after he submitted a winning bid for the right to watch a “Monday Night Football” game with the NFL commissioner this fall.
Portnoy revealed earlier this week that he paid $250,000 to win a chance to watch a game with Goodell in his basement “fan cave.” The NFL auctioned off the event to benefit a number of charities in the fight against COVID-19, including the American Red Cross and Feeding America.
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“I’d be very surprised if they honored the agreement,” Portnoy said during an appearance on New York-based radio station WFAN’s “Boomer & Gio” show on Tuesday. Crazier things have happened -- we’re in a corona[virus] pandemic. That may be crazier. But other than that, I don’t know that anything would be more surprising than him actually honoring the agreement.”
The controversial media mogul has emerged as one of Goodell’s most outspoken critics in recent years, staging a number of stunts that poked fun at the commissioner’s handling of various hot-button issues in the NFL. Barstool Sports’ online store sells hats that say “Fire Goodell” and T-Shirts that depict the commissioner with a clown nose.
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NFL officials have rarely addressed Portnoy’s dispute with Goodell. In 2015, Portnoy was one of several Barstool employees arrested at a mock protest at the NFL’s headquarters in New York City. In February 2019. Portnoy was kicked out of Super Bowl LIII media events and forcibly removed from the stadium during the game itself later that week.
An NFL spokesman did not respond to a request for comment regarding Portnoy’s winning bid and his assertions. The auction page states that the winner will be subject to a background check.
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Portnoy, who made millions when casino chain Penn National purchased a 36 percent stake in Barstool earlier this year, has vowed to grill Goodell if the meeting moves forward.
“I don’t think he’s a man of his word,” Portnoy said. “I think he’s told, at least publicly, a million lies, and very rarely has he ever had, or given the opportunity to a reporter or anybody to ask him difficult questions, whether it be about Bounty-gate, Deflate-gate, concussions, he generally surrounds himself with softball questions. So I’d like to ask all the questions I feel like he’s either never been asked or outright not given an honest answer to.”