Clearly, I should have used a sarcasm tag for clarity. Anyone claiming “dog whistling” gets an automatic eye roll from me. As someone somewhere once quipped, if you keep hearing dog whistles, then you’re the dog.
Oh, and I can’t stand Miami or its fans because they have acted this way for way too many years, for whatever that’s worth. It’s a sad day when a bunch of entitled, crooked thugs can’t be called out because some of them might be ethnic.
I was watching ESPNews last night and 25-30% of the screen was covered in sports betting lines. I’m wondering how the House of Mouse likes this:
Taking bets and paying wagers are off the table for ESPN, according to Justin Connolly, executive vice president of affiliate sales and marketing at Disney and ESPN Media Networks.
"We are not interested in doing something in exchange for short-term revenue opportunities if it’s not right for the brand or the sports fan, " Mr. Connolly said.
ESPN parent Disney acquired a small stake in fantasy-sports operator DraftKings through its purchase of 21st Century Fox’s major entertainment assets, though a person familiar with the matter said ESPN isn’t involved with DraftKings’ daily operations.
DraftKings and FanDuel, both of which started out as fantasy-sports platforms, have emerged as two of the most popular mobile sports-betting services in the U.S. Both use geofencing, meaning they only accept bets where online sports-betting is legal.
Fox Corp. is looking to compete with apps including FanDuel and DraftKings directly by launching Fox Bet,
I’ve always preferred to keep my gambling restricted to Vegas road trips and the periodic dinner/drinks wagers with friends, so I’m not too pleased with how much it will encroach on my sports watching.
I hope they draw the line at loot boxes.
They actually have a show on (every day I think) in the mornings which is entirely about gambling. As does do the NBC Sports Networks and Fox Sports Cable.
ESPN is even doing a youth centered pop culture program on 11pm that is nothing like I have ever seen before (or want to see on my sports channel).
Well played, Yak.
The Dilfer exit:
Seriously, Herbstreit only uses a private plane to get from the College Gameday broadcast location that week to the primetime game of the week he’s calling that evening. Sometimes, Gameday takes place at the game he’s calling, but most weeks, he has to haul ass as soon as Gameay is over and fly (sometimes across the entire country) to get to the broadcast location in time.
It’s simply because he has to be in two locations on the same day, and it’s critical he be there.
Circling back to gambling, two things I’d observe is that Disney getting a piece of Draftkings doesn’t mean much since it’s a part of the larger deal, and Disney already withdrew from a co-branding agreement with Draftkings (and ESPN) several years ago because they weren’t sure about the business. I think for now they’ll be in a wait-and-see attitude regarding the fantasy sports market potentially dropping and sports betting picking up on a state-by-state basis.
Secondly, ESPN is definitely not doing away with information geared towards sports bettors. Information crosses paths between fantasy and sports bettors frequently, and there just happens to be a huge section on ESPN called Chalk which is all about gambling, picks, information and more. It’s not just stats, there’s a lot of wordy analysis in there. I think it’s in the ESPN+ umbrella but I don’t see it going anywhere anytime soon.
— Alan
ESPN2 has its own gambling show every morning. And regular ESPN shows use the host to comment about how current events may effect the odds on certain games.
Fox Sports is going big on that side. If they can’t ignore it, might as well compete.
Yesssssssss.
That’s an awful beard.
Looks like ESPN had their axe day. Le Batard and Papi are leaving. Another longtime writer tweeted he was suddenly axed, too. But he’s a writer, so he was let go immediately. Le Betard is camera talent, so they’re giving him a few weeks.
How long until he announces he’s setting up his own podcast network?
He already had (through espn, so who yet knows how that will break down) — Mina’s podcast, South Beach Sessions, Stupodity, etc.
I’m looking forward to the radio show that is unfettered by ESPN’s more-and-only-sports restrictions. My understanding is part of the negotiations to leave will allow existing ESPN talent/friends to guest or appear on what is next.
I imagine they’ll flock to Bill Simmons and have six-hour weekly podcasts on South Beach life.
— Alan
I think he was running his own show when ESPN first signed him up. Sorry to see him leave the network though as he was one of those guys who would tell you when he thought ESPN was doing something stupid. His show could also be funny as hell sometimes. He did manage to get himself suspended from his own show a few times.
Sorry to see him go but so many of the older hosts are just caricatures of their younger personas. ESPN is now serving youth.
SVP is the only good reason to watch ESPN. Plus Seth Greenberg during NCAA basketball season. But that’s pretty much it.