One of the biggest stories this year in sports media is ESPN finally diving headfirst into the sports betting waters with the launch of the new ESPN Bet platform. ESPN is licensing their brand to Penn Entertainment after the gaming operation ended its partnership with Barstool Sports and what once was the Barstool SportsBook.
The ESPN Bet deal is worth up to $1.5 billion over the first 10 years to Bristol and comes at a time where the company is in crisis mode trying to find new sources of revenue with their entire business model at an impasse with cable subscriptions continuing to decline.
ESPN has the advantage of being the biggest sports brand in the country, but will face an uphill battle given the entrenched market share already enjoyed by sports betting powerhouses like FanDuel and DraftKings. But now we finally have a launch date for ESPN Bet with the platform going live on November 14th as Penn announced this morning.
ESPN Bet plans to launch in all states where Barstool Sportsbook was in operation, subject to final approval from the individual states where sports betting is legal.
PENN CEO Jay Snowden statement on ESPN BET launch on November 14 $Penn#ESPNBET pic.twitter.com/oAY9adJq0S
— Bill Speros (@billsperos) November 2, 2023
ESPN has also started an ad campaign featuring Mr. Bad Beat himself, Scott Van Pelt. ESPN will also begin using ESPN Bet odds across all its platforms, which should give a huge boost to the visibility of the brand. The company has also released their first promo, a chance to visit ESPN headquarters for those who sign up.
https://twitter.com/ESPNPR/status/1719813047168938134
It’s a new day for ESPN and sports betting as the company goes all-in on their new strategy. Expect to see a lot of promotion in the days and weeks to come as Bristol looks to make up for lost time and become a major player in the sports betting space.
