Barstool's Dave Portnoy Wins Auction To Visit Roger Goodell's House For Monday Night Football
BOSTON (CBS) -- The NFL released its schedule for the 2020 season last week, planning out every detail while also planning ahead for several different contingencies. Suffice it to say, the league never saw this wrinkle coming.
Barstool Sports founder Dave Portnoy announced Sunday evening that he has won the auction to spend an evening watching Monday Night Football with Roger Goodell in the commissioner's basement. For Goodell, that's going to be a difficult commitment to honor.
Portnoy first announced his involvement with the raffle during the NFL Draft, when he put down a $50,000 bid for the prize. With the money from the Draft-A-Thon going toward COVID-19 relief efforts, Portnoy vowed that he was willing to go to seven figures "without blinking."
It didn't quite require seven digits, but Portnoy said his final price was $250,000.
"Guess who won the auction. This guy. 250 grand, quarter milli, that's how much it cost me," Portnoy said in a video posted to Twitter, in which he's wearing a Goodell clown nose shirt and a Fire Goodell hat. "Great charity. I'm happy to give the money. Let's f------ help people. Let's go watch some football, Roger."
Portnoy has long been a thorn in Goodell's side, ever since the NFL took on Tom Brady in the lengthy battle known as "DeflateGate." Portnoy, along with three other Barstool employees, were arrested for their sit-in protest at NFL headquarters in the summer of 2015. Two years later, Portnoy created and distributed tens of thousands of towels depicting Goodell with a clown nose prior to the NFL's season opener at Gillette Stadium.
Goodell briefly made an appearance that night.
Barstool employees have also been banned from official NFL events, including the media center during the week leading up to the Super Bowl each year. When asked directly about the Barstool ban, Goodell pleaded ignorance, saying he was "not familiar with this" and that he had no control over which organizations were credentialed and which were not.
Portnoy got kicked out of Super Bowl Media Night in Atlanta in February 2019 after sneaking in with a disguise, and he was thrown out of the Super Bowl during halftime later that week when he was a paying customer.
Clearly, Portnoy has expended quite a bit of energy to get Goodell's attention. Now equipped with some deep pockets following Barstool's partnership with Penn National, he's ponied up the dough to get some long-awaited face time with the commissioner. Portnoy promised that he won't be pulling any punches, while also vowing to be "a walking go pro when I visit with Roger."
"I got some questions. We've got a whole day," Portnoy said. "Football takes, what -- three, four hours? No handcuffs, no jail. I paid fair and square, I won. Quarter milli. Me and you, Roger. Let's put that money to good use. I'm happy to donate it. Let's talk. I'm looking forward to it, Roger. Call me. Man cave, your place, Monday Night Football. Let's do it, buddy."
