When the NFL recently acquired a ten percent stake in ESPN, it quietly made a bit of history. It turns out that in purchasing that small slice of America’s biggest sports news outlet, the venerable NFL also picked up a small share of the ESPN BET Sportsbook. In doing so, the NFL went from being one of the loudest voices against regulated sports betting in the United States to being a minority stakeholder in that very same business.
While the NFL is set to profit handsomely from its ESPN purchase and its obvious benefits to the League, no one at the organization is talking about its new sportsbook ownership.
ESPN Chairman Jimmy Pitaro recently discussed the deal with CNBC, and failed to mention this important aspect saying, “By combining these NFL media assets with ESPN’s reach and innovation, we’re creating a premier destination for football fans. Together, ESPN and the NFL are redefining how fans engage with the game—anytime, anywhere. This deal helps fuel ESPN’s digital future, laying the foundation for an even more robust offering as we prepare to launch our new direct-to-consumer service.”
Pitaro’s words seem light years from NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell’s 2017 take on sports betting, which was less enthusiastic. “We still strongly oppose legalized sports gambling. The integrity of our game is No. 1. We will not compromise on that,” he said at the time.
Of course plenty has changed since 2017. Most importantly, the NFL has embraced regulated sports betting (though it never made a distinction between black market and regulated gambling prior to 2019) in a big way. And with the League predicted to purchase another ten percent of ESPN in the future, their interest in gambling will only grow.