After home purchase, Dave Portnoy explains Barstool’s possible future in Dade
Since COVID-19 hit, Barstool Sports founder Dave Portnoy has been an increasing presence around Miami-Dade — so much so that he even reviewed stalwart haunt Pizza Rustica (he liked the taste but found it “too greasy,” in a video review that has racked up nearly 200,000 views).
Now, Portnoy says he is taking his talents here, at least for the warm parts of the year — confirming a Wednesday New York Post report that he is in the process of closing on a home in Miami-Dade. (He declined to say exactly where).
“I’ve been coming to
Miami for awhile, and with COVID I started coming here more and doing a lot remotely,” he told the Miami Herald.
Portnoy, 44, founded Barstool, a sports website and entertainment brand, in Boston in 2003. The company, now based in New York City, is co-owned by The Chernin Group and publicly traded Penn National Gaming. Barstool’s most recent valuation was $450 million.
While it was the sunshine and climate that might have initially brought him to the Magic City, it was cold hard tax calculations that ended up keeping him.
“You’d have to be a moron to pay New York taxes,” he said. “We’re a successful company now and going to be getting more money, and to just give some of it back to
New York doesn’t make sense. And I realized if I could still have my job but make my residence Miami and pull it off, it would be a no-brainer. So it was the tax issues, the fact that I could work remotely, and the fact that I love it here.”
And where Portnoy goes, Barstool follows — to a point. While Portnoy said there might end up being an office outpost here, there was little chance of the company moving outright.
For one thing, he doesn’t trust some of his own employees to be able to handle Miami living.
“I don’t know if some of us have the willpower,” he said. “I don’t know what half the people in Miami do — it seems like few have to be at work the next day after a night out. We do. We’re still normal guys, built for cubes, working from 9 to 5. And if you’ve been up till 5 a.m., that’s hard to do.”
Whatever the extent of the final migration, do not expect Portnoy to transfer his infamous sports loyalties.
“I’m still a Boston guy,” he said, adding he still plans to spend much of his summers in the northeast. “You’re not going to catch me in Heat colors or Dolphins colors. When the Patriots come to play, I hope they beat the Dolphins by 100, and when
the Celtics come I hope they beat the Heat by 100.”
That said, Portnoy said he has a good relationship with Dolphins coach Brian Flores — and expects big things from the former Patriots assistant.
“I’m not surprised he turned around the Dolphins,” he said. “They’re going to be around for awhile.”