Barstool Sports founder Dave Portnoy donates $60,000, saves Baltimore pizzeria TinyBrickOven from closing

‘Tis the season for giving!

Barstool Sports founder Dave Portnoy gave $60,000 to save a struggling veteran-owned Baltimore pizzeria from closing permanently as customers have since flooded the store with orders.

Portnoy was traveling to Maryland for Army-Navy football in mid-December when he made a pit stop at TinyBrickOven in the Federal Hill neighborhood to wrap up a day of filming his viral pizza reviews, according to his producer Austin Jenkins.

Store owner Will Fagg, a Navy veteran, was working behind the counter when the pizza fan arrived, and he said his beloved store closed for good on Christmas Day.

Fagg said the store’s inability to acquire a liquor license and cash flow problems forced him to close.

“We can’t get our liquor license here,” Fagg told Portnoy in a video uploaded Monday. “Our politicians gave this market down here their liquor license, but they won’t give us ours … it’s really disappointing.”

“We’re going to have to keep this place open,” the Barstool Sports founder said as Fagg unwrapped the pizza.

Stepping outside to rank the pizza, Portnoy took a bite, complimented the pizza highly, and was even more amazed that they were preparing to close.

“This is thin New York style. I really like it,” Portnoy said in his review. “There’s no way this place should go out of business. No.”

He then read from a sticker on the box explaining that the business was closing and that “every purchase supports a veteran.”

Portnoy then met Fagg at the door and asked him “how much money” he needed to stay open for another year.

Fagg, taken back by the question, wasn’t sure how to answer.

“Well, if there’s somebody super rich right in front of your face who’s in the pizza business and serendipity is like, ‘What do you need to stay open for a year,’ then you’ve got to give him a figure , because then he will go away,” Portnoy said.

“I know. Look, I think we could probably get our liquor license and stay open if we had $60,000,” Fagg said.

“Done,” Portnoy replied, immediately shaking his hand to confirm the deal.

Portnoy agreed to exchange information with Fagg and told him he rated the slice a 7.9 out of 10 – a sold score for the pizza grader.

The viral review has been viewed over 12 million times on Portnoy’s X page since it was published, and Fagg told CBS News that business at TinyBrickOven had exploded.

“We’ve never had a crowd like this,” the veteran said, noting he had a line out the door and the store’s phone was ringing nonstop on Christmas Eve.

Fagg also shared that a fundraiser already set up before the pizza review had raised over $50,000 within 24 hours of hitting the internet.

“People say it’s a Christmas miracle,” he said. “It feels a bit like a Christmas miracle!”

Fagg opened TinyBrickOven in Baltimore in 2019 and has often used his business to help others.

Months after he opened, Fagg heard about a disabled Vietnam veteran who lost his home in a house fire, and even as his business was taking off, he donated 20% of his store’s earnings a week to help with repairs.

“I’m a Marine, and Marines and Marines have a long history of helping each other, so when I saw this story, it really broke my heart and I wanted to do something to help,” he shared WMAR in 2019.

According to the pizzeria websitehe has also used his business to feed the homeless and raise money for the Maryland Food Bank.