Why Did Barstool Sports Founder Dave Portnoy Get Kicked out of the Super Bowl in 2019?

Barstool Sports founder Dave Portnoy is known for stirring up controversy. He's a guy's guy with a penchant for big sports predictions, a team of huge personalities, and a no-holds-barred approach to delivering sports world news.

But unfortunately for Dave, his bigger-than-life approach to things backfired when it came to the Super Bowl in 2019.

The influencer and sports world celebrity was kicked out of the 2019 Super Bowl, and the entire incident was captured on video. Here's what we know about why he was kicked out, and what he has said in the aftermath.

When it comes to controversies, Dave Portnoy is no stranger. Yet he probably did not anticipate how far-reaching the consequences would be after an NFL-related stunt caused him to be banned from games and physically removed from the 2019 Super Bowl.

Back in 2015, "Deflategate" was all the rage. People were accusing Patriots QB Tom Brady of ordering the deflating of balls used when his team won against the Colts during the 2014 AFC Championship Game.

Ultimately, Tom was suspended from four games, the Patriots were fined $1 million, and they forfeited two draft picks in 2016.

Dave and his colleagues felt that the NFL, led by the league's commissioner Roger Goodell, hadn't done enough to address fan concerns that the Deflategate scandal had influenced the outcome of the season.

So Dave and three other employees handcuffed themselves together outside of NFL headquarters, staging a protest during which they were arrested.

They ordered and passed out 70,000 towels that depicted the commissioner's face wearing clown makeup. Dave also later faked press credentials to get into the 2018 Super Bowl media day.

Ultimately, Dave and a colleague were slapped with criminal trespassing and banned from NFL games. When he tried to attend the 2019 Super Bowl, he was forcibly removed and placed in a holding cell, which obviously didn't sit well with the internet personality.

Dave shared a video of himself ranting after he was released from holding, and it was clear he was shaken by the incident. With a raspy voice, Dave growled at the camera, "Hey Roger. I bet you didn't f--king see this f--king mug today. Dragged me out of there in cuffs. Ripped my jeans. You ripped my skinny jeans, Roger."

He then went on to rant that Roger knew he couldn't jail Dave because there would be "an uproar." The rant continued before he concluded, "Deal with it," and cut the camera.

During a 2019 video addressing being removed from media day and slapped with criminal trespassing, Dave said that Roger was "making a mockery of himself" by pursuing Dave, and he seemed to be playing the innocent victim by acting as though his behavior was not, at best, disruptive.

Dave's run-in with the law over the NFL isn't his only experience. He faced sexual misconduct allegations in 2021 after three women claimed he had choked them during rough sex and filmed them without their consent. He denied the charges.

Regardless of Dave's feelings about his innocence, he isn't likely to be welcomed into another Super Bowl any time soon.