The Big Lead

NFL Says Dave Portnoy Failed Background Check, Won't Watch Game With Roger Goodell

By Ryan Phillips

Dave Portnoy at the 2020 Pegasus World Cup Championship Invitational Series - Pegasus LIV Stretch Village
Dave Portnoy at the 2020 Pegasus World Cup Championship Invitational Series - Pegasus LIV Stretch Village / Johnny Louis/Getty Images
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Dave Portnoy won't be watching a Monday Night Football game with NFL commissioner Roger Goodell after all. The founder of Barstool Sports, won a charity auction a few weeks ago that would have allowed him the opportunity to watch a Monday Night Football game in Goodell's man cave. The league is now claiming Portnoy failed a background check and his auction win has been nullified.

Portnoy announced he won the auction in a tweet on May 10:

He claimed to have spent $250,000 to win the auction and a chance to hang out with a man he considers a nemesis.

If you're not aware of Portnoy's longstanding feud with Goodell and the NFL, here is a brief summary from our own Kyle Koster in an article about Portnoy's winning bid:

"Barstool Sports founder Dave Portnoy is not the biggest fan of Roger Goodell. One could look back on some historical events like the blogger's arrest outside of NFL headquarters back in 2015 when he and fellow comically Bostonian colleagues staged a protest against Tom Brady injustice or the time he was booted from Super Bowl LIII. A lazier person could simply realize he's the guy behind the very popular Goodell Clown Nose shirt and make an informed guess from that sartorial statement."

Sports Business Daily reported the NFL's rejection of Portnoy and has the league's reasons for the decision:

"Portnoy, who won the auction with a $250,000 bid, failed a background check that was a precondition to follow through on the invite to Goodell’s home for a game, NFL VP/Communications Brian McCarthy said. The background check noted Portnoy’s multiple encounters with NFL security and the '11 incident in which he posted a nude photo of Tom Brady’s then-2-year-old son on Barstool."

The article continues:

"The league also pointed to his arrest in '15 for trespassing at the NFL’s Park Avenue HQ during the Deflategate scandal, and trespassing in '16 that he posted online. Also, the league noted incidents at Super Bowl LIII week in Atlanta '19, including falsifying credentials for the opening night media interviews, and then violating a ban by attending the game itself later that week."

I guess we may never get a chance for Portnoy and Goodell to sit down and hash out their differences.