Dave Portnoy

David Scott Portnoy was born on March 22, 1977, in Swampscott, Massachusetts, and was raised there. His parents were Michael Portnoy, a lawyer, and Linda Portnoy, a high school teacher. He attended Swampscott High School, played baseball, and won the league batting triple crown as a junior.

Portnoy graduated from the University of Michigan in 1999 with a degree in education. While at Michigan, he founded thegamblingman.com, a website devoted to his sports betting picks. After college, he moved to Boston and worked for Yankee Group, an information technology market research firm.

Portnoy left Yankee Group in 2004 and founded Barstool Sports. The company began as a four-page sports newspaper that he distributed on Boston subway platforms and street corners. Its early content focused on sports, gambling, and fantasy tips, with a deliberately blunt style aimed at young male sports fans. Freelance writers, including Todd McShay, later joined the publication.

Barstool expanded into a blog in 2007 and eventually developed into a broader digital media company featuring sports coverage, lifestyle content, video, and podcasts. Portnoy cultivated the public persona of “El Presidente,” also known as “El Pres” and “StoolPresidente.” His work as a producer, writer, and director has included The Barstool Rundown: Live from Houston, Barstool Sports Advisors, Barstool Yak, and The Dave Portnoy Show with Eddie & Co.

The podcast The Dave Portnoy Show with Eddie & Co., hosted with Eddie Farrer, aired from 2020 to 2022. In 2024, Portnoy announced The Unnamed Show with Ryan Whitney and Kirk Minihane. He also became associated with Fox Sports through a partnership involving Barstool Sports and an analyst role on Big Noon Kickoff.

Portnoy is the creator and host of One Bite Pizza Reviews, an internet series in which he visits pizzerias and scores their pizza on a scale from zero to ten. He began the project in 2017 with the goal of reviewing every pizza place in Manhattan. The informal format, repeated phrase “One bite, everybody knows the rules,” and strong reactions made the series a major part of his public identity.

His reviews have had a substantial effect on the restaurants featured. Pizzerias that receive favorable scores have experienced sudden increases in attention, with Portnoy’s influence often described as the “Barstool Bump.” He appeared in the 2019 documentary Pizza: A Love Story, where he declared New Haven the “Pizza Capital of the United States,” a position he repeated publicly in 2021.

Portnoy and Barstool Sports hosted the first One Bite Pizza Festival in Brooklyn in September 2023. The festival was created as a joint venture with Medium Rare and became an extension of the review series’ focus on independent pizzerias.

Portnoy has described himself as socially liberal and fiscally conservative. His political profile has been associated with “Barstool conservatism,” a style of politics connected to the audience and culture surrounding Barstool Sports.

He supported Donald Trump in the 2016 and 2024 presidential elections and interviewed Trump at the White House in 2020. Portnoy also opposed COVID-19 lockdowns and criticized the Supreme Court’s 2022 decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, arguing that the ruling improperly restricted women’s control over their bodies.

In 2013, Portnoy ran for mayor of Boston after Thomas Menino announced his retirement. He identified as a libertarian during the campaign, but failed to submit enough nomination signatures to qualify for the ballot.

Portnoy established the Barstool Fund in 2020 to assist small businesses affected by pandemic restrictions. The campaign raised support for hundreds of businesses and became one of the most prominent charitable initiatives associated with Barstool Sports.

He has also led fundraising campaigns connected to public safety officers’ families and animal rescue. In 2024, he supported LifeLine Animal Project through merchandise featuring his rescue dog, Miss Peaches. A later partnership involving Miss Peaches and High Noon directed a portion of sales from Lucky One Lemonade toward rescue dogs.

Portnoy married Renee Satterthwaite in 2009, and they separated in 2017. He later dated Silvana Mojica from 2021 until their breakup in 2023. Portnoy explained that he ended the relationship with Mojica because he did not believe he could give her what she deserved.

He confirmed in 2025 that he was dating Camryn D’Aloia, after the pair had been seen together at a Miami basketball game in 2024.

Portnoy and Barstool Sports have faced criticism over material described as sexist, racist, and hostile toward women. In 2019, he threatened on social media to fire employees who sought advice about unionizing. The National Labor Relations Board investigated the matter, and a settlement required him to delete the threatening posts and remove potentially anti-union material.

Portnoy was arrested in 2015 after he and three Barstool employees handcuffed themselves together inside the NFL’s headquarters to protest Deflategate. In 2019, he was detained at Mercedes-Benz Stadium after using fake passes to attend a Super Bowl press event and was prohibited from attending the game.

Business Insider published articles in 2021 and 2022 concerning sexual misconduct allegations involving Portnoy. He denied the claims and sued Business Insider and several employees. A federal judge dismissed the lawsuit in 2022, and Portnoy dropped his appeal in 2023.