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There Are Odds on Whether Barstool’s Dave Portnoy Will Watch MNF with Rodger Goodell in Commissioner’s Basement

David Golokhov

by David Golokhov in NFL Football

Updated May 19, 2020 · 10:43 AM PDT

Roger Goodell at a speaking event.
Will Commissioner Roger Goodell allow Dave Portnoy into his house for Monday Night Football? Photo by USMA (Wikimedia).
  • Barstool Sports founder Dave Portnoy won a recent auction to watch Monday Night Football at NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell’s house
  • Barstool Sports and the NFL have a history – including the NFL banning all Barstool employees from official NFL events
  • Will the two sides mend the fences or will the friction only grow after the latest events?

The NFL ran an auction to raise money for COVID-19 relief efforts with the prize being the opportunity to spend a night at commissioner Roger Goodell’s house to watch Monday Night Football. The league didn’t anticipate that Barstool Sports founder Dave Portnoy would win the auction and put the commish in a precarious position.

Will the league actually allow the Portnoy-Goodell Monday Night Football extravaganza to happen or will they find a way out of it? Let’s take a closer look at the odds.

Roger Goodell – Dave Portnoy MNF Odds

Will Dave Portnoy Watch MNF Game With Roger Goodell in the Commissioner’s Basement in 2020? Odds
Yes +200
No -300

Odds taken May 15

Portnoy Wins NFL’s Monday Night Football Auction

The NFL wanted to raise some funds to help COVID-19 relief efforts and the way they decided to do it is by dangling a prize of spending one night with Commissioner Goodell in his fan cave watching Monday Night Football. On the surface, that’s a great idea but the reality has created quite the conundrum.

With Barstool Sports getting involved, Portnoy ended up being the highest bid in the silent auction. He got involved right away, bidding $50,000 right off the bat and stating that he’d go as high as seven figures. He didn’t have to go that high, though, as his final, winning bid was just over a quarter of a million.

Portnoy, Goodell Have a History

One of the main reasons there’s controversy here is because Portnoy and the NFL have a history. It mostly started back when the league took on Tom Brady for “DeflateGate” and Barstool employees staged a sit-in at NFL headquarters during the 2015 offseason.

In 2017, Portnoy distributed thousands of towels at a Patriots game which had a picture of Goodell with a clown nose. Fans were waving them around during the game – a game in which Goodell actually made a brief appearance.

The NFL has hit back as the league has banned all Barstool employees from official NFL events. What was even more bizarre is that when Goodell was asked about this, he pleaded ignorance, saying he basically had no idea about this and also didn’t control who was credentialed and who wasn’t.

In 2019, Portnoy ended up buying a ticket to the Super Bowl but was eventually dragged out – literally – by security when they discovered him at the game. Clearly, there’s a history here and some bad blood. That’s what made this such a quandary.

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What’s the Best Bet?

The NFL’s in a tough spot here because if they reject Portnoy, they have to return his money and then re-do the auction for COVID-19 relief efforts. They could risk raising fewer funds and Portnoy might also sue. On the other hand, if they accept his money, it puts Goodell in an awkward position where Portnoy might do all sorts of things he’s not up for.

Portnoy has already stated that he’s going to be a “walking GoPro”, which means the Stoolies will get to see all sorts of things in Goodell’s life that he’s not interested in sharing. Some of it could be personal and private – even things like his address. He might not want that exposed.

At this point, I would bet that the league allows him in – as long as he agrees not to record any footage. This can allow them to mend the fences and stop this problem from getting even worse. Portnoy now has very deep pockets and can make things uncomfortable for the league.

For Portnoy, he wants the publicity, so he’ll obviously want as much footage as possible. He won’t get everything but maybe a one-on-one with the commissioner and a few clips is enough to satisfy him. At +200, I would take a flier on the two sides finding some way to make this happen, so that the funds go to a good cause.

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