In the wake of developments around the relationship between ESPN and DraftKings, the LSR podcast discussed what this deal could entain.

Referring to Bloomberg’s recent article about a “large new partnership” in the works between Disney-owned ESPN and DraftKings, Legal Sports Report co-host Dustin Gouker criticised the lack of details around the news.

“We don’t have any idea what that means,” Gouker said. “People have been talking about this because of Disney telling us that it is getting into the sports betting space.”

Taking a shot in the dark, as so far it can be only speculated, Gouker predicted that things will definitely not come to DraftKings rebranding as an ESPN sportsbook, as this would counter all efforts put in by the company to establish its image. 

The deal could also be about more money moving into Disney’s ESPN coffer, which according to Gouker is “not quite as exciting” as ESPN fully getting into sports betting. 

As pointed out by Gouker’s co-host Matt Brown, the ownership of College GameDay, SEC broadcasts and other sports franchises gives ESPN the ability to expand into multiple different networks and channels through a DraftKings deal.

Chipping in with his comments, third LSR co-host Adam Candee said that there are many questions to be brought up from the deal, but attention should be directed specifically towards Caesars and what it would mean for them.

“Caesars has been up front here with ESPN for a while. It’s not like DraftKings hasn’t had a presence with ESPN but it’s been Caesars Sportsbook that has been providing the odds. 

“Then again, why have we not heard anything else since Bloomberg’s report? You would think that if this was a real deal, behind-the-scenes DraftKings would be saying to everyone they’ve got the ESPN deal. 

“I wonder if maybe Bloomberg got a little bit ahead of themselves with the idea of what a partnership would look like. To me, a lot of initial excitement now has been taken away from this and we don’t necessarily know what comes next.”