{"id":245772,"date":"2022-11-30T16:24:11","date_gmt":"2022-11-30T22:24:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?p=245772"},"modified":"2023-01-03T05:35:09","modified_gmt":"2023-01-03T11:35:09","slug":"espn-boss-jimmy-pitaro-says-no-sports-betting-deal-happening-soon","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/espn-boss-jimmy-pitaro-says-no-sports-betting-deal-happening-soon\/","title":{"rendered":"ESPN Boss Jimmy Pitaro Says Sportsbook Deal Not Happening Soon"},"content":{"rendered":"

ESPN <\/em>Chairman Jimmy Pitaro said the sports media giant remains interested in the sports wagering<\/a> industry, but it won\u2019t be announcing a related deal anytime soon.<\/p>\n

\"ESPN
ESPN<\/em> Chairman Jimmy Pitaro. He said the company remains interested in sports betting, but no deal is imminent. (Image: Hartford Courant<\/em>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Pitaro\u2019s comments, which were made at the Sports Business Journal <\/em>conference in New York on Wednesday, throw cold water on long-running hopes that the \u201cworldwide leader in sports\u201d was close to announcing a partnership<\/a> with DraftKings (NASDAQ: DKNG).<\/p>\n

Pitaro noted that ESPN<\/em> has been in talks with \u201call the usual suspects\u201d regarding the network\u2019s path forward in sports wagering, and reiterated the point that the broadcast entity will not operate a sportsbook.<\/p>\n

We\u2019re not going to take people\u2019s money. We are not going to set lines and spreads and odds. It\u2019s not what we do. But the idea of leaning in a bit more here and creating a more seamless experience is something that\u2019s definitely on the table,\u201d<\/strong> Pitaro said at the conference.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

ESPN <\/em>is a unit of Walt Disney (NYSE: DIS). Currently, the sports broadcast behemoth has agreements with DraftKings and Caesars Entertainment (NASDAQ: CZR). Some industry observers believe Caesars, in an effort to reduce sports betting spending, would happily be bought out of its ESPN<\/em> accord<\/a> if Disney makes an adequate offer.<\/p>\n

Iger Needs to Be Brought Up to Speed<\/h2>\n

Pitaro\u2019s comments at the conference come barely more than a week after Bob Iger returned to the helm of Disney, removing Bob Chapek from the chief executive officer role.<\/p>\n

Iger left the role in 2020<\/a> and in the two-plus years since he\u2019s been gone, the regulated sports wagering industry rapidly evolved. While Iger wasn\u2019t overtly opposed to ESPN<\/em> being involved with sports betting, Chapek was more vocal about it, and recently teased a major announcement to that effect — one that didn\u2019t arrive.<\/p>\n

\n

Given that Iger is barely more than a week into the job and that Disney has other issues to deal with, Pitaro noted he needs to get his boss up to speed on the changing sports betting landscape. Pitaro added he\u2019ll be presenting Iger with a broader ESPN <\/em>update at a meeting on Thursday.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\u201cWe have a very good relationship. I trust him. I feel like he trusts me. But most important, fast forward to today in terms of looking through the sports lens, he\u2019s just got great sports instincts. He really understands this industry,\u201d Pitaro said.<\/p>\n

ESPN Spinoff Decision Rests with Iger<\/h2>\n

In August, Third Point founder Daniel Loeb pushed Disney to consider spinning off ESPN<\/em>, arguing that it could better take advantage of the sports wagering opportunity set as a standalone entity. The hedge fund manager changed his mind<\/a> about the spinoff a month later.<\/p>\n

Pitaro noted that any decision to separate the sports network from the parent company rests with Iger. The ESPN boss highlighted the benefits of the network remaining part of Disney, including crossover programming and marketing opportunities tied to the popular ESPN+ and Disney+ streaming services.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Pitaro added that the sports betting audience is \u201cvery attractive\u201d to ESPN because that demographic is usually devoted to watching sports and has higher levels of disposable income.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

ESPN Chairman Jimmy Pitaro said the sports media giant remains interested in the sports wagering industry, but it won\u2019t be announcing a related deal anytime soon. Pitaro\u2019s comments, which were made at the Sports Business Journal conference in New York on Wednesday, throw cold water on long-running hopes that the \u201cworldwide leader in sports\u201d was […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":46,"featured_media":245773,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[33810,1,1074],"tags":[81898,81967,80968],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nESPN Boss Jimmy Pitaro Says No Sports Betting Deal Happening Soon<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"ESPN boss Jimmy Pitaro said it could be awhile before company announces a sports betting deal.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/espn-boss-jimmy-pitaro-says-no-sports-betting-deal-happening-soon\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"ESPN Boss Jimmy Pitaro Says No Sports Betting Deal Happening Soon\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"ESPN boss Jimmy Pitaro said it could be awhile before company announces a sports betting deal.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/espn-boss-jimmy-pitaro-says-no-sports-betting-deal-happening-soon\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Casino.org\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Casino.OrgNews\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2022-11-30T22:24:11+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-01-03T11:35:09+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/JP.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"2000\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1473\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Todd Shriber\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@etfgodfather\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@Casino_Org\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Todd Shriber\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/espn-boss-jimmy-pitaro-says-no-sports-betting-deal-happening-soon\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/espn-boss-jimmy-pitaro-says-no-sports-betting-deal-happening-soon\/\",\"name\":\"ESPN Boss Jimmy Pitaro Says No Sports Betting Deal Happening Soon\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/espn-boss-jimmy-pitaro-says-no-sports-betting-deal-happening-soon\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/espn-boss-jimmy-pitaro-says-no-sports-betting-deal-happening-soon\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/JP.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2022-11-30T22:24:11+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-01-03T11:35:09+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/f4cecf70a5032bc4e60eb73fc86d4a85\"},\"description\":\"ESPN boss Jimmy Pitaro said it could be awhile before company announces a sports betting deal.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/espn-boss-jimmy-pitaro-says-no-sports-betting-deal-happening-soon\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/espn-boss-jimmy-pitaro-says-no-sports-betting-deal-happening-soon\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/espn-boss-jimmy-pitaro-says-no-sports-betting-deal-happening-soon\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/JP.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/JP.jpg\",\"width\":2000,\"height\":1473,\"caption\":\"ESPN Chairman Jimmy Pitaro. He said the company remains interested in sports betting, but no deal is imminent. (Image: Hartford Courant)\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/espn-boss-jimmy-pitaro-says-no-sports-betting-deal-happening-soon\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"News\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Sports Betting\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/sportsbetting\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":3,\"name\":\"ESPN Boss Jimmy Pitaro Says Sportsbook Deal Not Happening Soon\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/\",\"name\":\"Casino.org\",\"description\":\"Latest Casino and Gaming News\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/f4cecf70a5032bc4e60eb73fc86d4a85\",\"name\":\"Todd Shriber\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/cropped-11-96x96.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/cropped-11-96x96.png\",\"caption\":\"Todd Shriber\"},\"description\":\"Todd Shriber is a senior news reporter covering gaming financials, casino business, stocks, and mergers and acquisitions for Casino.org. Todd got his start in financial markets as a reporter with Bloomberg News. Later, he became a trader at a Southern California-based long\/short hedge fund, where he specialized in the trading sector and international ETFs leading up to and during the financial crisis. He joined Casino.org in 2019. Currently, Todd analyzes, researches, and writes on ETFs for various web-based publications and financial services firms. Shriber has been featured and quoted in Barron's, CNBC.com, and The Wall Street Journal. His work can also be found on Benzinga, ETF Daily News, ETF Trends, MarketWatch, Fox Business, and Nasdaq.com. He currently resides in Las Vegas, where he enjoys golf and taking his black lab to the dog park. He's also an avid sports fan and likes to wager on college football and the NBA. You can also find him at the three-card poker and roulette table, even though he knows better. Contact Todd at todd.shriber@casino.org.\",\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/muckrack.com\/todd-shriber\",\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/toddshriber\/\",\"https:\/\/x.com\/etfgodfather\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/author\/todd-shriber\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"ESPN Boss Jimmy Pitaro Says No Sports Betting Deal Happening Soon","description":"ESPN boss Jimmy Pitaro said it could be awhile before company announces a sports betting deal.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/espn-boss-jimmy-pitaro-says-no-sports-betting-deal-happening-soon\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"ESPN Boss Jimmy Pitaro Says No Sports Betting Deal Happening Soon","og_description":"ESPN boss Jimmy Pitaro said it could be awhile before company announces a sports betting deal.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/espn-boss-jimmy-pitaro-says-no-sports-betting-deal-happening-soon\/","og_site_name":"Casino.org","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Casino.OrgNews","article_published_time":"2022-11-30T22:24:11+00:00","article_modified_time":"2023-01-03T11:35:09+00:00","og_image":[{"width":2000,"height":1473,"url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/JP.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Todd Shriber","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@etfgodfather","twitter_site":"@Casino_Org","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Todd Shriber","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/espn-boss-jimmy-pitaro-says-no-sports-betting-deal-happening-soon\/","url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/espn-boss-jimmy-pitaro-says-no-sports-betting-deal-happening-soon\/","name":"ESPN Boss Jimmy Pitaro Says No Sports Betting Deal Happening Soon","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/espn-boss-jimmy-pitaro-says-no-sports-betting-deal-happening-soon\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/espn-boss-jimmy-pitaro-says-no-sports-betting-deal-happening-soon\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/JP.jpg","datePublished":"2022-11-30T22:24:11+00:00","dateModified":"2023-01-03T11:35:09+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/f4cecf70a5032bc4e60eb73fc86d4a85"},"description":"ESPN boss Jimmy Pitaro said it could be awhile before company announces a sports betting deal.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/espn-boss-jimmy-pitaro-says-no-sports-betting-deal-happening-soon\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/espn-boss-jimmy-pitaro-says-no-sports-betting-deal-happening-soon\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/espn-boss-jimmy-pitaro-says-no-sports-betting-deal-happening-soon\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/JP.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/JP.jpg","width":2000,"height":1473,"caption":"ESPN Chairman Jimmy Pitaro. He said the company remains interested in sports betting, but no deal is imminent. (Image: Hartford Courant)"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/espn-boss-jimmy-pitaro-says-no-sports-betting-deal-happening-soon\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"News","item":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Sports Betting","item":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/sportsbetting\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"ESPN Boss Jimmy Pitaro Says Sportsbook Deal Not Happening Soon"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/","name":"Casino.org","description":"Latest Casino and Gaming News","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/f4cecf70a5032bc4e60eb73fc86d4a85","name":"Todd Shriber","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/cropped-11-96x96.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/cropped-11-96x96.png","caption":"Todd Shriber"},"description":"Todd Shriber is a senior news reporter covering gaming financials, casino business, stocks, and mergers and acquisitions for Casino.org. Todd got his start in financial markets as a reporter with Bloomberg News. Later, he became a trader at a Southern California-based long\/short hedge fund, where he specialized in the trading sector and international ETFs leading up to and during the financial crisis. He joined Casino.org in 2019. Currently, Todd analyzes, researches, and writes on ETFs for various web-based publications and financial services firms. Shriber has been featured and quoted in Barron's, CNBC.com, and The Wall Street Journal. His work can also be found on Benzinga, ETF Daily News, ETF Trends, MarketWatch, Fox Business, and Nasdaq.com. He currently resides in Las Vegas, where he enjoys golf and taking his black lab to the dog park. He's also an avid sports fan and likes to wager on college football and the NBA. You can also find him at the three-card poker and roulette table, even though he knows better. Contact Todd at todd.shriber@casino.org.","sameAs":["https:\/\/muckrack.com\/todd-shriber","https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/toddshriber\/","https:\/\/x.com\/etfgodfather"],"url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/author\/todd-shriber\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/245772"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/46"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=245772"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/245772\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/245773"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=245772"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=245772"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=245772"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}