Dave Portnoy just bought a ‘massive’ home in Miami. Is Barstool Sports moving too?
He’s threatened to buy a home with his “many, many millions” before, now he’s gone and done it.
Barstool Sports founder Dave Portnoy is officially a South Florida resident. The 44 year old Massachusetts native bought a mega mansion on the water, Page Six first reported.
WARNING: VIDEO CONTAINS EXPLICIT LANGUAGE.
Portnoy addressed the big change Wednesday, telling the Miami Herald the move is a tax play and confirming a New York Post report that he’s in the process of closing on a home in Miami-Dade. (He declined to say where, but The Real Deal reports it’s in Morningside.)
Since COVID hit, Portnoy has been an increasing presence around Miami-Dade — so much so that he even reviewed stalwart slice haunt Pizza Rustica (he liked the taste but found it “too greasy”, in a video review that has racked up nearly 200,000 views).
The controversial blogger has spent much of the winter here, laying his head at 1 Hotel South Beach while helping out restaurants with his Barstool Fund and munching on pizza for his One Bite reviews.
“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 currently 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 may have initially brought him to the Magic City, it was cold hard tax calculations that ended up keeping him.
“You’d have to be 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 may 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 ‘til 5 a.m., that’s hard to do.”
Whatever the extent of the final migration, do no 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 Head 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.”
So where is the carb-loving bachelor’s place? That’s still unclear. A few weeks ago, while out doing pizza reviews in the area, Portnoy told his fans he was looking to buy in the downtown area, but when he visited Coral Gables’ Terre del Sapore on Giralda Avenue, he gushed about that area as well.
He called the City Beautiful “fancy” in the start of the review.
“Seriously, the Gables is [bleeping] awesome! I didn’t know that,” he said before sitting outside to eat. “ Why didn’t anyone tell me that Coral Gables is [bleeping] like awesome? It’s super nice!”
Portnoy is worth more than $100 million, in part due to his numerous savvy investments.
This story was originally published March 24, 2021 at 11:45 AM.
