Dave Portnoy, founder and owner of Barstool Sports, is thinking about putting a lot of his money behind his words. After some recent comments about paying up to $3 million in NIL funds to Michigan’s future quarterback – which most found colorfully hollow – it appears he means business.

During a conversation on a Barstool podcast, El Presidente spoke with Michigan head coach Sherrone Moore about a possible trade deal, but there’s a catch. Portnoy doesn’t want to deal with the NIL collective in Michigan.

“My problem with the NIL is that it’s a lot of money to just throw out the window, but I’m willing to do it happily,” Portnoy said. “I don’t want to talk to other people. I don’t want to – I’m not trying to get into the middle of zero, I don’t want people I don’t know calling me, I don’t want to talk to this guy. I don’t want any emails from this guy. I don’t want any of it. I don’t want any of it.”

In short, Portnoy wants to skip the nonsense, negotiate directly with Moore, or whatever quarterback Michigan is pursuing in the portal, and make a deal.

“I had Daniella, my assistant, ‘Someone in Michigan wants to -‘ no. I don’t want to talk to any of you,” Portnoy said. “I spoke to Sherrone. I spoke to him. I have his number, we talked. He told me the only guy I could talk to. A guy you can talk to, I haven’t spoken to this person yet. I will, and then we’ll see.”

However, there is another variable that reinforces Portnoy’s distrust and dislike of Michigan’s NIL collective.

“But I’m not going to be like – I said this, the collective. “There’s a company involved in the Michigan collective that I fucking hate,” Portnoy said. “And I had bad experiences with them with Barstool. I will never have anything to do with this company so they are almost out. So, I’ll have to see. And I don’t want any middlemen. I don’t want any of it. I want the quarterback’s cell phone number just because it’s like we have to set a schedule for when we do our tasks at Barstool. That’s it. So we’ll see.”

Apparently, Portnoy wants to know exactly where his money is going – no channeling, no intermediaries and no “middlemen,” as he put it. Perhaps Portnoy could fund his own Michigan Barstool NIL collective, but the legality and viability of an alternative solution remains to be seen. However, anything is possible in the Wild West era of NIL.

What do you think of Portnoy’s zero negotiations with the Michigan Wolverines? Let us know in the comments below.