Portnoy rejects $10 million to attend Saudi boxing event, Big Cat says

Dave Portnoy, founder of Barstool Sports, reportedly turned down a $10 million offer to attend a boxing match in Saudi Arabia, according to Barstool personality Dan Katz, known as Big Cat. Katz said on Barstool Yak that Saudi boxing officials had reached out with the offer, but Portnoy and Katz felt it did not meet their price.

There was also talk of a separate, earlier discussion about a different event, Katz added, noting they requested around $15 million to cover two people and travel costs. The Saudis offered $10 million, which was rejected, Katz said. It remains unclear which specific boxing event they were referring to.

Saudi boxing chief Turki Alalshikh has long invited celebrities to Riyadh Season events as the kingdom asserts itself more prominently in the boxing landscape. Riyadh Season is an annual festival of cultural and sporting events tied to Saudi Vision 2030, designed to showcase economic, social, and cultural diversification.

In recent weeks, the trend of high-profile appearances continued on the back of promoter Turki Al-Sheikh’s efforts. Just last week, before Terence Crawford’s unanimous-decision victory at Allegiant Stadium, boxing legend Mike Tyson and YouTuber MrBeast were enlisted to hype the bout on social media. MrBeast joked that Tyson was about to punch him, saying that Riyadh Season was helping make Canelo-Crawford happen, alongside Tyson and Al-Sheikh. The moment went viral on social media and underscored the growing celebrity footprint at Riyadh Season events.

Back in the United States, Portnoy’s brand has faced its own headwinds. The Barstool Morning show Wake Up Barstool, launched to fill a timeslot previously occupied by Fox Sports 1’s Undisputed, posted dismal first-week numbers. In Week 1, episodes from Tuesday through Friday aggregated about 20,000 total views across the period. In Week 2, audiences shrank further, averaging roughly 12,000 viewers, with several shows drawing as few as 7,000. Portnoy acknowledged some dissatisfaction with the product during his Monday appearances, though he noted Monday tends to attract the strongest audience, with about 23,000 viewers tuning in on the second Monday of Week Two.