“I’ve said it many times: we’re going to create an (athlete). We’re going to take people’s money. Let’s identify lines, margins and probabilities. That’s what we’re doing,” said Jimmy Pitaro, director of ESPN. President of Sports and Content.
What was reported in October, that ESPN and DraftKings were close to a partnership that would involve the “world leader” in legal sports betting, has now become “nothing imminent,” according to recent comments made through ESPN.
ESPN president of sports and content Jimmy Pitaro said Wednesday that while his network (and parent company Disney) are exploring concepts, lately there is no deal in the works that would attach them to online sports sites (or turn them into an entity). At that time.
“We’ve had conversations with all the same old suspects, in what could be the next logical step for us,” Pitaro said at the Sports Business Journal Media Innovators convention in New York City. “I’ve said it many times: we’re not going to create an (athlete). We’re not going to take people’s money. We will not identify lines, deviations and grades. That’s not what we’re doing. “
Shares of DraftKings were up 14% on the day of Bloomberg’s October report, and it would have been a big blow for the Boston-based sportsbook to strike a deal with ESPN (particularly rival FanDuel), but recent tweaks at ESPN are more sensible than they can simply replace the network’s selected address.
Two months ago, then-Disney CEO Bob Chapek made comments to Bloomberg suggesting Disney was “working very hard” on a sports betting app that could potentially have been connected to ESPN.
Chapek was fired on Nov. 20, however, with the return of former Disney CEO Bob Iger after a three-year hiatus, leaving pictures for Pitaro and Iger on what role the Disney-owned sports company should ultimately play in the future. Sports betting industry.
“The concept of leaning a little bit more here, creating a more fluid experience is something that’s definitely on the table,” Pitaro said. “For the third time, I apologize for repeating myself, but Bob will eventually have to dig me. We’re going to have to go down. I’m going to have to consult him through that.
“He’s not just through the lens of ESPN. Look, of course, through the lens of the Walt Disney Company. “
ESPN owns a 5% stake in DraftKings and features its daily content on the site, while also having a partnership with Caesars Sportsbook.
Although Bloomberg described the potential October deal as “significant” just two months ago, expansion appears to have stalled for ESPN.
That said, Pitaro admits that the sports betting audience is “very attractive”, but we will have to wait and see where Iger stands and what he and Pitaro are willing to do with ESPN and their sports betting interests.