Katie George with Champion Gaming.

The latest ESPN figure to gain a prominent side gig is Katie George. George has been with ESPN and ACC Network since that conference network’s 2019 launch, serving as a sideline reporter for ACCN Primetime Football broadcasts, for other ESPN college football broadcasts (she was on the sidelines for ESPN’s coverage of Auburn-LSU this week), and for coverage of other sports as well. Beyond that, she’s now joined Champion Gaming, where she’ll serve as a brand ambassador, host a weekly video podcast, and contribute other sports betting content to their sites Football Outsiders (which has a content partnership with ESPN) and EdjSports. Here’s more on that from a release:

ACC Network reporter and former University of Louisville volleyball star Katie George joins Champion Gaming as its first company brand ambassador, it was announced today by Ken Hershman, Co-Founder and CEO, of Champion Gaming. George will host a weekly video podcast in addition to other special projects and she will contribute sports betting content to EdjSports and Football Outsiders, a content partner of ESPN, as well as the company’s various social media channels. The weekly podcast will focus on betting and fantasy using proprietary EdjSports and Football Outsiders data and analytics.

“I’m so happy to partner with the Champion Gaming brand,” said George. “I’ve been a fan of Football Outsiders and its partnership with ESPN for years so this opportunity felt like a natural fit. As a Louisville native, how often do you get to work with a promising company that’s right in your backyard? I consider myself very fortunate to team up with Champion Gaming!”

“Katie brings a resume of experience covering sports at the highest levels, and will be an amazing addition to our team as we build out the sports wagering content offering across the Champion Gaming platforms and products,” said Hershman. “In the immediate term, we look forward to her helping the EdjSports and Football Outsiders brands continue to connect with their audiences in engaging and informative ways.”

As George says in that release, there’s certainly an advantage from a fit perspective to partnering with a local company. This move is also interesting as an illustration of the growing amounts of betting-focused podcasts with notable names from sports and sports TV attached. A few of the other places we’ve seen that recently include Blue Wire/WynnBET picking up Will Blackmon, Joe Fann and Claudia Bellofatto, NFL Network adding Rachel Bonnetta in a betting-focused role, and Cabral “Cabbie” Richards heading to (Canadian TV network) Sportsnet as executive producer of sports betting content. There’s been a lot of talk about the expanding legalization of sports betting’s impact on the sports landscape, and that’s gone well beyond just advertising; this is just the latest content created around betting, and it’s certain to not be the last.

[EdjSports]

 

 

About Andrew Bucholtz

Andrew Bucholtz has been covering sports media for Awful Announcing since 2012. He is also a staff writer for The Comeback. His previous work includes time at Yahoo! Sports Canada and Black Press.