Mark Shapiro has been watching ESPN\u2019s morning programming long enough to know what he no longer wants to see.<\/p>\n
The TKO Group Holdings president and former ESPN exec told Sports Business Journal<\/a> he hopes the Worldwide Leader\u2019s decision to terminate its ESPN Bet partnership<\/a> with Penn Entertainment means the end of the constant sports betting content that has saturated the network\u2019s programming this football season.<\/p>\n \u201cI just hope that this means we will not have to endure sports betting conversation infiltrating ESPN\u2019s programming in the way it has, especially this football season,\u201d Shapiro said. \u201cIt\u2019s just bad programming. Of course, young sports fans are betting. But they are not tuning in from an appointment perspective to see non-stop conversation on every game with props and parlays and over-unders. It\u2019s just not the case. In fact, it\u2019s a total turnoff.\u201d<\/p>\n ESPN and Penn Entertainment announced Thursday morning that they had mutually agreed to end their 10-year, $1.5 billion deal less than two years after launching ESPN Bet.<\/p>\n The termination freed ESPN to sign an exclusive multiyear sponsorship and promotion deal with DraftKings<\/a>, which will become the network\u2019s official sportsbook and odds provider. DraftKings will be integrated into ESPN\u2019s betting tab and app, with special promotions for ESPN Unlimited subscribers. ESPN BET will continue as a content brand, anchored by the ESPN BET Live show, which airs weekdays at 6:30 p.m. ET on ESPN2.<\/p>\n Whether ESPN BET, as a content brand, will dial back the constant gambling talk remains to be seen. Shapiro seemed particularly irked that Get Up had leaned in so heavily into sports gambling content.<\/p>\n \u201c[For Greenberg] to have to sit next to a sports betting expert and talk about props and betting non-stop just so they can truly accomplish what they\u2019re really trying to do, which is push people to ESPN Bet, is abysmal,\u201d Shapiro said. \u201cI just hope this new DraftKings arrangement doesn\u2019t call for this to continue.\u201d<\/p>\n The ESPN Bet partnership was doomed<\/a> from the start. Three months after the November 2023 launch, Penn\u2019s stock tumbled<\/a> when the rollout lost $334 million. By May 2024, Pat McAfee was openly mocking the sportsbook<\/a> on ESPN\u2019s own airwaves. The product never distinguished itself from DraftKings (37 percent market share outside Nevada) and FanDuel (35 percent) despite heavy promotion from network personalities.<\/p>\n The deal also created ethical complications<\/a> that became impossible to ignore. ESPN\u2019s Get Up erased an ESPN Bet banner<\/a> from its screen in October while covering FBI arrests of Heat guard Terry Rozier and Trail Blazers coach Chauncey Billups on gambling-related charges, highlighting the conflict of interest that existed when the network was promoting its own branded sportsbook while covering betting scandals.<\/p>\n