In order to help small businesses that have been negatively affected by the pandemic, Barstool Sports founder Dave Portnoy created a fund to raise money for the cause and personally made an initial donation of $500,000.
Created less than two weeks ago, the Barstool Fund has raised nearly $8 million, received backing from more than 70,000 supporters to help out 30 businesses thus far.
An outspoken critic of New York Governor Andrew Cuomo and New York City Mayor Bill DeBlasio, Portnoy got the idea for the fund after NYC ordered a halt to indoor dining at restaurants following a second spike of coronavirus cases in the city.
“How do you expect these people to survive?” Portnoy said. “How are restaurants going to survive? Nobody in the government seems to care. Or at least no one is acting like they care.”
To qualify for the Barstool Fund, a business is required to still be paying its employees. If that requirement is met, any gym, restaurant or bar that’s not going to be able to survive the next few months is welcome to apply for help.
“I didn’t think I’d be the guy doing it,” Portnoy said during an appearance on Tucker Carlson’s show. “I’d rather be sitting on a beach, betting on horses, drinking, but nobody else is going to do it. We have this big platform, so we’re going to try to help as many small businesses as we can.”
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