Dave Portnoy Gifts $60K To Baltimore Pizza Place To Help Keep Them In Business

Barstool Sports founder Dave Portnoy continues to help small businesses. The brain behind Barstool has done pretty well for himself after building a media empire from the ground up. His days of hand delivering newspapers are far behind him, and he's now got plenty of money to throw around. Portnoy consistently posts about big sports bets he makes, and the Michigan grad most recently paid for a plane to fly over  Ohio State's College Football Playoff game with a sign that read "Extend Ryan Day." Because Ohio State and their head coach can't ever seem beat Michigan in football. Portnoy, despite his best efforts to create a culture and business that brings people entertaining content, is often a divisive figure. Some people think that "El Presidenté" is arrogant and has a big ego, while others believe he's just a quality businessman and entrepreneur who had to have some of those qualities to achieve success. To be frank, it could be a "Hate Us Cause They Ain't Us" situation. That's at least how I see it. Though some people might not see Dave Portnoy as "their cup of tea," one could make an argument that no one did more for small businesses during COVID and the lockdown than the President of Barstool Sports. Portnoy organized The Barstool Fund, which ultimately raised over $41 million and helped over 440 businesses stay afloat during the challenging financial time. Another way he's been able to help small businesses - specifically those that specialize in pizza - is through his "One Bite" pizza reviews. What started out as a video series that showed Portnoy trying slices and rating them has now turned into an app that people can utilize to seek out the best pizza in town - at least in the opinion of Dave Portnoy. His pizza review videos are simple and often hilarious. Portnoy grabs a pizza from a local place wherever he is, walks outside the establishment, takes "one bite" because those are the rules, and then gives it a rating out of 10. He's been doing it for years, and there have been plenty of stories where pizza places have seen an uptick in traffic after they are featured in the Portnoy's Barstool Pizza Review. So when the Barstool founder walked into Tiny Brick Oven in Baltimore, Maryland, he was hoping that he could help the place out by leaving them a good review - if their slice was to his liking. While he was in the shop picking up his pizza, he began talking to the store's owner Will, who informed Portnoy that his pizza place would be closing for good on Christmas Day. Dave asked why, and the owner proceeded to tell him that despite helping to feed the homeless in the city, raising money for veterans, and being a part of the Pay It Forward program that helps provide food for those in need, the city wouldn't approve their liquor license. Not being able to sell alcohol was hurting their business, and with not enough money coming in to cover the shop's expenses, they were being forced to close. Portnoy listened with open ears to the story, and after trying the pizza, he decided that it was good enough (it earned a 7.9 out of 10) for Tiny Brick Oven to deserve to stay in business. So Dave Portnoy donated $60,000 to help keep them afloat for a year, and the store's owner was incredibly gracious, as you'll see in the video below: https://twitter.com/stoolpresidente/status/1871329945487569018