$150 Million College Football Analyst Ranked No. 1 Sports Influencer

The 2025 college football season gave social media nonstop material, from Indiana’s surprise run to the CFP final, capped by a title win over Miami, to nonstop debate about CFP expansion, and several high-profile eligibility and NIL disputes, keeping X flooded with breaking takes, clips, and memes.

Those moments fed creators a constant stream of viral content they could turn into huge reach and real influence. That trend got a new data point on Wednesday when On3’s Nick Schultz ranked the top college-sports influencers, brands, and creators on X for 2025, putting Dave Portnoy at No. 1 with 4.51 billion impressions.

This stands as a significant development because Portnoy’s jump from blog founder to frequent TV presence shows how massive social reach can translate into mainstream media opportunities.

His Barstool persona crossing over into TV, including recurring spots on FOX’s Big Noon Kickoff through a Fox-Barstool content partnership, is exactly the type of move that turns impressions into institutional clout.

Barstool Sports founder and pizza influencer Dave Portnoy. — Barstool Sports founder and pizza influencer Dave Portnoy went on a four-shop tour of RI pizza places and stopped at Francesco's on Hope Street after owner Frank Schiavone got Portnoy's attention with some confident signage. | Eric Rueb/Providence Journal / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Portnoy launched Barstool Sports in 2003 as a Boston-area pop-culture newsletter and turned it into a digital media empire built on sports, gambling, humor, and viral stunts. He expanded Barstool through podcasts, signature franchises like his “One Bite” pizza reviews, and a stable of personalities that pushed niche content into the mainstream.

Portnoy has since leveraged that audience into major distribution deals and on-air crossovers, evolving from blog founder to frequent TV presence, even as controversy over his blunt style and business dealings followed him.

Despite ownership changes and public disputes, his ability to command attention has kept Barstool culturally relevant and commercially strong, cementing his status as both a creator and media entrepreneur with real influence in sports and digital media.

That rise has also made him one of the wealthiest figures in sports media, with an estimated net worth of around $150 million, a number that fluctuates due to private company valuations, real estate, and his 2023 dealings with Penn Entertainment.

The recent ranking from On3 reinforces what brands already knew: massive reach on X translates into real commercial power, and influence has effectively become its own currency in college sports.

Programs and leagues can monetize that attention through clips, sponsorships, and studio partnerships, but they also risk letting strong personalities shape narratives around NIL, eligibility, and access.

In short, in today’s landscape, talent still wins games, but creators increasingly determine how those wins resonate.

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