Barstool Sports founder reveals he was offered a job with Trump

“The one thing that I do wonder with Elon, and he’s the CEO of Tesla, obviously,” Portnoy said. “He’s doing all this DOGE stuff, which I think is good, like get rid of government waste. I’m for that, but how do you run Tesla when you’re working on DOGE 24/7?”

“I got a call a couple months ago that was like, ‘Hey, would you have any interest in joining the Department of Commerce under Secretary Lutnick?’” Portnoy said. “A caveat of joining the government is that someone would have to run Barstool.” ©2025 Advance Local Media LLC. Visit pennlive.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

According to People, Barstool Sports was founded in 2004 by Portnoy to help others with fantasy sports picks in a weekly print publication. In 2007, the brand went digital. In the video, Portnoy brings up another point, wondering how Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla, is able to handle running that business and still keep up with all of the work involved in his newest venture, DOGE, a.k.a. the Department of Government Efficiency.

“They’re like, ‘Let us know if you could find somebody to run Barstool, and you’re interested, and if you are interested, we’ll schedule a call in a week to go over the next steps.’ That never happened.” In a March 11 video posted to X, Portnoy revealed President Donald Trump offered him a role in the new administration. Trump had offered Portnoy the opportunity to serve in the Commerce Department, working under Secretary Howard Lutnick.

Dave Portnoy, the founder of Barstool Sports, had the opportunity to get a government job, but it would have required him to step away from running his brand focused on gambling, sports, and pop culture. Today, the brand is most known for its presence on social media, with numerous accounts for colleges and a focus on content related to sports and pop culture-related topics. “You can’t run Barstool and work for the government,” Portnoy said. “By the way, even if I wanted to do that, they never followed up.