Will Fagg was waiting for a Christmas miracle.

The owner of Federal Hill pizzeria, TinyBrickOven, Fagg was getting ready to close his shop on Christmas Day after being unable to secure a liquor license. But now, the family-run pizza business is set to remain open for another year after Dave Portnoy, the founder of Barstool Sports, said he would give the shop $60,000.

Portnoy visited Tinybrickoven earlier this month to review its pizza and met Fagg, who said the pizzeria would close unless it obtained a liquor license.

In a video posted to social media Monday, Portnoy praised the pizza, describing it as “thin, New York kind of style” with a “good undercarriage.”

“There’s no way this place should be going out of business, none,” Portnoy said in the video.

When Fagg came outside to shake Portnoy’s hand, the social media personality had one question for the pizza shop owner: how much would he need to stay open for another year?

“I think we could probably get our liquor license and continue to stay open if we had $60,000,” Fagg said in the video.

“Done,” Portnoy said, reaching out for a handshake.

Fagg was in disbelief.

“Wow,” he said. “I’m gonna cry, man, I’m gonna cry.”

The slice of cheese pizza earned a 7.9 out of 10 on Portnoy’s scale. The review posted to YouTube has racked up more than 220,000 views in less than 24 hours.

The pizza shop has asked the community to write to Senate President Bill Ferguson and Del. Luke Clippinger, both Baltimore Democrats, to voice support for the business. Portnoy’s review has also spurred an outpouring of support on social media.

Bill Ackman, founder of Pershing Square Capital Management, a hedge fund, called on Gov. Wes Moore to help in a post on X, formerly Twitter.

“How about fast-tracking Tiny Brick Oven’s liquor license so they can stay in business and serve customers?” he wrote on the social media site Tuesday morning. “It would be a wonderful holiday gift and a good demonstration of efficient and responsive government.”

A GoFundMe created by Fagg to support the shop’s pay it forward program, an effort to provide free pizza to people in need, had raised nearly $60,000 as of Tuesday afternoon.

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