Social media was abuzz in early August of this year when the corner of the internet frequented by sports fans and media members caught fire over a paradigm shift that promised to change the face of sports media.
PENN Entertainment, a media conglomerate that covers the bases of entertainment, sports and gambling, broke free from an initial sponsorship deal with Barstool Sports, shifting tactics and doing much the same thing with ESPN, the foremost brand in the North American sports entertainment market.
While the buzz seems to have died down a bit since then, as two months is roughly equivalent to a lifetime in our screen addicted, goldfish attention span having world, those business deals, brokered over the course of a couple days in August, have the potential to shake up the future of sports media and sports betting forever. It’s all too easy to speak in sweeping terms, so here’s a look at how the merger between PENN and ESPN looks to change the face of the industry.
Second Time’s the Charm
The relationship between PENN and Barstool failed the first time around for a number of reasons, many of which coincide with why PENN and ESPN seem like they’re here to stay as partners for the foreseeable future.
Barstool, for all its power as a controversy causing, headline grabbing powerhouse, doesn’t have the same degree of legitimacy in the world of sports that ESPN does. Its decentralized brand, focused on a bunch of bros sitting on their titular barstools and talking sports, is both its biggest strength and weakness. People largely don’t go to Barstool for nuance or good reporting, they turn to it because it stands outside of the establishment media.
That’s excellent for the Barstool brand, but it hamstrings them when it comes time to act like a legitimate sports media entity. Barstool founder and owner Dave Portnoy said as much in a video statement posted to X, formerly known as Twitter, as the news broke that PENN and Barstool were going their separate ways.
“Every time we did something, it was one step forward, two steps back. We got denied licenses because of me. You name it. So the regulated industry is probably not the best place for Barstool Sports and the type of content we make,” Portnoy said. “For the first time in forever we don’t have to watch what we say, how we talk, what we do, it’s back to the pirate ship.”
ESPN, on the other hand, has that legitimate brand that Barstool lacks: they’re The Worldwide Leader in Sports, after all, and their professional conduct should prevent them from shooting themselves in the foot in the method that Portnoy alluded to.
No News is Good News
Right now, there isn’t a whole lot going on in terms of headlines as the two parties work to get things up and running… which is sort of funny, given the rush of headlines when the news first broke. The launch date for the new platform, ESPN BET, is tentatively penciled in for Thanksgiving next month.
That would make sense given trends in the industry, where betting platforms try to time their release date around major sporting events like the Super Bowl or March Madness: with increased eyes on the sporting world, they’re more likely to bring in a flood of new customers with promotions like ESPN Bet Promo Codes a strategy that is particularly pertinent as the launch is anticipated this coming November.
Watching football on Thanksgiving is a tradition that dates back more than half a century, whether it’s the games hosted by the Detroit Lions and Dallas Cowboys, or the start of rivalry week as the college football regular season concludes, so it fits into that tactic perfectly.
Behind the Scenes
There’s a world of considerations that go into getting a sportsbook up and running, whether it’s ethical concerns or ensuring compliance with various states — each one operates differently, and those differences can be considerable — and federal regulations. That’s why we sit in a sort of calm before the storm right now, while all the details get hashed out.
One thing that caused quite a bit of uproar when the news was first announced is how ESPN’s journalists will fit into the picture. An endorsement deal is a partnership, of course, and many people were worried that top ESPN news breakers like Adam Schefter and Adrian Wojnorowski could be tempted to give their scoops to PENN before breaking them to the public.
That’s because Schefter and Wojnorowski often break news regarding player injuries and trades, details that could substantially change the outlook for a game… information that PENN would love to know before the general public as they set their betting lines.
ESPN BET Executive Mike Morrison did what he could to put those fears to bed earlier this week, saying that “There will be no connection between ESPN insiders such as Schefter and Wojnowrowski, reporters, and newsdesk with the PENN Entertainment risk room.”
