Dave Portnoy claims that he was supplied an official authorities place.
Whereas questioning how Elon Musk is ready to proceed as CEO of Tesla whereas performing his duties with the Division of Authorities Effectivity beneath President Donald Trump, Portnoy — the founder and proprietor of Barstool Sports activities — revealed that the administration needed him to work within the Division of Commerce beneath Secretary Howard Lutnick.
However it could have required him to step down from his roles at Barstool Sports activities.
“I got a call, I don’t know, a couple of months ago, I don’t know when I got the call,” Portnoy mentioned on his “Davey Day Trader Global” present on Tuesday. “And it was like ‘hey, would you have any interest, Dave, in joining the Department of Commerce, Commerce Secretary under [Howard] Lutnick, or the guy working under him.’
“They usually’re like ‘but a caveat of joining the government is somebody would have to run Barstool. You can’t run Barstool and work for the federal government.’ I suppose Elon doesn’t have a particular title, however you sort of need your CEO with the attention on the ball.
“By the way even if I wanted to do that, they never followed up. They’re like ‘let us know if you could find somebody to run Barstool and you’re interested in it. And if you are interested, we’ll schedule a call in a week to go over the next steps.’ That never happened. It was weird.”
He didn’t reveal who particularly known as him with the provide.
Portnoy based Barstool in 2003, although he bought a majority of the corporate to The Chernin Group in 2016 earlier than Penn Nationwide turned majority proprietor in 2023.
Portnoy purchased again the corporate from Penn Nationwide for $1 later in 2023 and has since mentioned he received’t promote Barstool Sports activities once more.
That got here simply months after Penn Nationwide paid $550 million to amass one hundred pc of the corporate, hoping it could increase its sports activities betting enterprise.
However it created extra issues for Penn Nationwide than advantages.
“We got denied licenses because of me,” Portnoy mentioned when he reacquired Barstool Sports activities. “You name it. So the regulated industry probably not the best place for Barstool Sports and the content we make.”
Penn Nationwide subsequently made a take care of ESPN to rebrand their failed Barstool Sportsbook to ESPN Guess.
Portnoy is an outspoken supporter of Trump and interviewed him in 2020 on the White Home on the finish of his first time period in workplace.
