UP336 Barstool, Penn and Disney's bet on gambling convergence

Occasionally a story breaks that reveals the direction of travel for the rest of sports business.One such story is Disney-owned ESPN's move in to the US gambling market, courtesy of a $2billion, ten year deal with betting operator Penn Entertainment, which sold back its ownership stake in Barstool, with which it was previously building a sports and gambling offer.“We are confident that the combination of our unparalleled audience along with Penn’s operational expertise and state-of-the-art technology provides us with a tremendous opportunity to serve the ever-growing number of consumers interested in betting,” said Jimmy Pitaro, the Disney executive who oversees ESPN.But as today's conversation reveals, it ain't as simple as that.There are many questions facing Disney's new sports betting convergence play. How promiscuous are sports punters? Why will they move to ESPN's sports book and away from existing and well entrenched platforms such as Fan Duel and DraftKings, when they have patently not done so for Barstool?What is the role of fantasy games in the sports ecosystem, and how important is player data in the way today's sports fan engages with media outlets of all types?It's this type of detail we're able to access, in the company of one of the most interesting thinkers working in this space, Sam Sadi, CEO of LiveScore Group. This is a conversation about the economic model of professional sport. The traditional broadcast funded sports media bundle is under strain. Estimates of future media rights revenues are static or declining in many markets and across many sports.So different business models are being trialled. Retailers such as Fanatics and Amazon are now looking like broadcasters.Sports teams and leagues are acting like media platforms. And what of the gambling industry?What role will they play in the new converged sports economy?Our conversation today is a fascinating insight in to the opportunities and limitations of sports media to generate a return for its commercial partners, both now and over the next decade.Luckily, these themes will play a central role in our next public event.On September 28th we're hosting the Unofficial Partner Convergence Brainstorm, in partnership with LiveScore Group. The event takes place at the very top of the ArcellorMittal Orbit Tower at Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park in London. It's an iconic venue for an important conversation that will impact every stakeholder across the sports world. As a listener to Unofficial Partner, you can get one of the few remaining tickets via this link.Unofficial Partner is the leading podcast for the business of sport. A mix of entertaining and thought provoking conversations with a who's who of the global industry. To join our community of listeners, sign up to the weekly UP Newsletter and follow us on Twitter and TikTok at @UnofficialPartnerWe publish two podcasts each week, on Tuesday and Friday. These are deep conversations with smart people from inside and outside sport. Our entire back catalogue of 500 sports business conversations are available free of charge here. Each pod is available by searching for ‘Unofficial Partner’ on Apple, Spotify and every podcast app. If you’re interested in collaborating with Unofficial Partner to create one-off podcasts or series and live events, you can reach us via the website.