Adam Schefter appears to have cashed out from the billion-dollar sale of a popular sports betting company.
The ESPN NFL insider was an “early-stage investor” in Underdog, which began as a daily fantasy brand, later added a content network, and has since morphed into a sports-focused prediction market. Underdog confirmed Schefter’s investment to Front Office Sports on Friday, after the company sold for a reported $1.3 billion to IG Group Holdings.
Underdog laid off staff and axed its content network this year as it morphed into a prediction market that was reportedly the fourth-most popular market in the U.S. Earlier this year, per Sportico, it raised $70 million on a $1.2 billion valuation. The FOS report cites sources claiming Schefter’s stake in Underdog was “small,” but given Underdog’s rapid growth, it could lead to a significant windfall. FOS suggested Schefter’s investment could have increased by as much as 300 percent.
This is not the first time Schefter’s investment in a gambling business has come to light. In 2021, Schefter was among the initial investors in the digital casino firm Boom Entertainment.
For years, Schefter has faced criticism over both the subjective commentary he provides on his own reporting and the way he uses his feed on X to advertise products, both overtly and, sometimes, seemingly covertly. Just this month, Schefter came under fire for his role in how the story around severe injuries suffered by San Francisco head coach Kyle Shanahan in a car accident was reported.
All of which is to say that Schefter is not only an enormously influential news-breaker for the biggest U.S. sports network covering the biggest U.S. sport, but he also consistently directs the audience’s attention toward his own side projects and the information his sources want out there. Someone with that role in the media having a vested financial stake in a company like Underdog, where people can wager money on the news he reports, is clearly a conflict of interest, even if FOS reports that Schefter’s stake in the company was small and his involvement was limited.
About Brendon Kleen
Brendon is a Media Commentary staff writer at Awful Announcing. He has also covered basketball and sports business at Front Office Sports, SB Nation, Uproxx and more.