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Dave Portnoy Calls Brooks Koepka ‘Mentally Weak’

“The contentious chirp was elicited after Varney asked Portnoy about his upcoming charity golf match against Koepka.”

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Barstool Sports founder Dave Portnoy made an appearance on Fox Business Network’s Varney and Company on Monday morning to discuss a variety of topics.

During the show Portnoy and host Stuart Varney had a very transparent discussion about several recent breaking news stories that included the news that Barstool Sports had inked a sponsorship with the Arizona Bowl and the story that PENN National Gaming/Barstool Sports acquired theScore app last week for $2 billion in cash/stocks; however, Portnoy’s controversial comment that PGA golfer Brooks Koepka was “…mentally weak” stole the show and captured the headlines today.

The contentious chirp was elicited after Varney asked Portnoy about his upcoming charity golf match against Koepka. Portnoy confirmed the charity event by simply saying “yes”, which then prompted Varney to follow up by asking “Wait a second. He’s going to play left handed, right?” 

A wise man once said “some things are bigger than sports” and Portnoy’s response indicated that this charity golf match against Koepka was one of those things.

He began the chirp at Koepka by answering, “Correct. Well Stuart, I’m very confident in myself, but I know I can’t beat him if he’s playing as — I mean, he’s won a ton of majors. So I did win the U.S. Open, and let me clarify, they said I couldn’t beat the U.S. Open score with unlimited mulligan, which I did.

“So I declared myself champion. Brooks started chirping that I had terrible left-handed swing. Next thing I know, we have a $250,000 bet. The winner gets to choose the charity, and he plays lefty and I am a lefty”. 

The electric conversation continued with Portnoy saying “Now he may have been sandbagging me a little bit, but let me say this about Brooks Koepka and I hope people clip this, he’s mentally weak and I’m mentally strong. So golf, you know, golf for all those country club kids, they’re not used to people being in their kitchen, in their brain. So yes, Brooks Koepka against other soft golfers, we’ll see how he does when the pressure’s on”. 

Varney decided to add fuel to the fire by replying  “See — this is, this is Dave Portnoy at his best. He is mentally weak. Now there’s a headline that everybody’s going to grab hold of immediately, and you got a grudge match. Before you know where you are, it’s a grudge match”.  

Portnoy wrapped the topic up with a controversial, calculated, and cold-blooded statement. He simply said “Well, he is mentally weak”. 

It is clear that both men are battle tested with Portnoy battling NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell and Koepka conflicting with rival golfer Bryson Dechambeau; but when an immovable object meets an unstoppable force at a charity golf tournament, then any outcome is possible.

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Dave Portnoy: I Trust Penn Entertainment as Much as Ever

“Dave Portnoy is still an employee of Penn Entertainment. However, he has said publicly that he is unsure if the arrangement will continue after his contract expires in 2025.”

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Dave Portnoy may have had some public disagreements with Penn Entertainment, but he says that he still trusts the company to run Barstool. He took to Twitter earlier this week to dispel the myth that he is in a feud with the company.

“By the way everything I say or do nowadays is construed as me having beef with @PENNEntertain I 100% do not. Most of my net worth is still tied to $penn. The corporate woke overlord narrative is bullshit. They woulda never bought us in 1st place if that was true. I trust them now as much as when they bought us.”

Portnoy has not been shy about criticizing the company’s decision to fire Ben Mintz after Mintz said the n-word while reading rap lyrics. Several supporters, including Dana White, noted that it is the kind of decision that only happens when corporations take over creative enterprises.

Earlier this week, Dave Portnoy announced that he had hired Ben Mintz as the first employee of Brick Watch Company. Mintz was emotional in making the announcement. The decision was not made to stick it to Penn Entertainment according to Portnoy. 

Penn first acquired a stake in Barstool in 2020. It invested $163 million at that time for a 36% stake. Earlier this year, it completed its acquisition, investing an addition $388 million for the remaining 62% of the company.

Dave Portnoy is still an employee of Penn Entertainment. However, he has said publicly that he is unsure if the arrangement will continue after his contract expires in 2025.

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Multiple State Regulators Push Back on Effort to Legalize Gambling on WWE

“In March, Alex Sherman of CNBC reported that WWE had meetings with regulators in Colorado and Michigan.”

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Despite speculation over allowing sports bettors to wager on WWE, there doesn’t appear to be much support at the state level to add it to sportsbook offerings.

Earlier this year, WWE officials had discussions with accounting firm Ernst and Young to secure pre-determined match outcomes in order to allow betting on events. But many states where sports betting is legal have restrictions on wagering on scripted events.

In March, Alex Sherman of CNBC reported that WWE had meetings with regulators in Colorado and Michigan.

“The Colorado Division of Gaming is not currently and has not considered allowing sports betting wagers on WWE matches. By statute, wagers on events with fixed or predicted outcomes or purely by chance are strictly prohibited in Colorado; this includes wagers on the Academy Awards,” Shannon Gray of the Colorado Division of Gaming told Sports Betting Dime.

In Ohio, the same rules apply. The Ohio Casino Control Commission has not fielded any requests to add WWE. Officials in Kansas haven’t received requests either by their residents.

Elsewhere, Maryland sees keeping WWE out of betting offerings as a way to keep the integrity of legal sports betting.

“Maryland’s sports wagering law and regulations prohibit forms of wagering that are contrary to public interest or unfair to bettors,” Seth Elkin of the Maryland Lottery and Gaming Control Agency added. “We’ve determined that it is unfair to bettors and therefore not in the public’s interest to accept wagers on sports entertainment events that have scripted or predetermined outcomes, like professional wrestling.”

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Former Twitter Sports Boss TJ Adeshola Joins Arctos Partners

“We’ve been fortunate to have TJ as an Operating Advisor for the past three years, and we are thrilled to have him play a larger role as an Operating Partner.”

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Less than two months after TJ Adeshola announced his exit from Twitter, he has resurfaced. Arctos Partners, a firm that he had been advising, named Adeshola an operating partner on Thursday.

In the new role, Adeshola will be much more hands-on with the firm, a private investment company that focuses its investments in the sports world. The firm says it focuses on unlocking “non-obvious opportunities long before others have noticed the market need or opportunity”.

TJ Adeshola’s digital sports marketing expertise will certainly come in handy with that.

“We believe TJ is an innovator in emerging digital and sports media trends, and his wealth of knowledge is a tremendous resource for our Arctos Operating Platform, the value-added capabilities we provide to our franchise partners,” Arctos’s Jordan Solomon said in a press release. “We’ve been fortunate to have TJ as an Operating Advisor for the past three years, and we are thrilled to have him play a larger role as an Operating Partner.”

During his decade with Twitter, Adeshola served as the Head of U.S. Sports Partnerships. His title was Head of Global Content Partnerships at the time of his exit.

He is credited with securing broad strategic partnerships with the NBA, NFL, NHL, MLB and MLS as well as NASCAR, esports, college, and high school sports. He helped the platform grow the engagement and audience for those entities.

“I’m thrilled to expand my role with Arctos as an Operating Partner,” Adeshola added. “As the first investment firm to invest across multiple North American sports leagues, Arctos is an innovator and disruptor in the sports landscape. And true to form, the Arctos team recognizes the power of digital media as a tool for growth and an opportunity to drive value for its franchise partners.”

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