For nearly a decade, the feud between Dave Portnoy and the NFL has lived in a strange gray space. Loud. Personal. Never officially acknowledged. Never formally resolved.
That’s what made Portnoy’s question land the way it did.
“Dear @nflcommish, am I still banned from the Super Bowl?” he tweeted, a simple line carrying nearly ten years of tension behind it. It wasn’t sarcasm. It was a check-in.
Portnoy’s issues with the league trace back to 2015, when he was arrested while protesting outside NFL headquarters during Deflategate. What followed was a slow burn that turned into a full standoff.
In 2019, Portnoy was removed from Super Bowl Media Night after using fake credentials. Days later, despite having a valid ticket to Super Bowl LIII, he was dragged from his seat by security and ejected from the game entirely.
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From there, the “ban” became part of the mythology. Never clearly defined. Never officially documented. Just enforced.
Fast forward to now.
As the New England Patriots returned to the Super Bowl, Portnoy once again found himself in the center of the conversation, pushing back on criticism of the team’s offense and reminding skeptics how often doubt has followed New England into February.
Then came the update that shifted everything. Reports surfaced that the NFL had informed Portnoy he would be allowed to attend the Super Bowl as a paying fan.
Big news @stoolpresidente!
I have received word from the @NFL that you could “buy a ticket and attend the Super Bowl.”@barstoolsports https://t.co/fwLIjzqzZG
— michael j. babcock (@mikejbabcock) January 26, 2026
No credentials. No access. But entry.
Not long after, Portnoy tweeted that his and the broader ban on Barstool Sports appeared to be lifted. No formal announcement. No victory lap. Just the sense that something long frozen had quietly thawed.
The NFL, as expected, hasn’t commented. Neither has Roger Goodell. And maybe that’s intentional. This feud was never going to end with a press release.
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It was about power. About whether the league could freeze out a personality it didn’t like, and whether that personality would ever stop pushing back.
Now, without a word, the league seems to have stepped aside.
The feud may not be over in name, but in practice, it feels like the NFL quietly decided it was easier to open the door than keep pretending Dave Portnoy wasn’t standing outside.
