“Why Now?” Bob Iger Comments on Sports Betting Update With ESPN

It’s safe to say that Disney has undergone some serious changes within the past few months.

Cinderella Castle

We’ve seen job cuts, a mass restructuring throughout the company, and even news about the company’s search to find a business partner in managing ESPN. Disney recently announced that ESPN would be entering into a partnership with PENN Entertainment to launch ESPN BET. This will become the home for ESPN sports betting. We were hoping to hear more on the subject during the earnings call for the third quarter of fiscal year 2023 on August 9th, and we weren’t disappointed.

During the Q3 earnings call, we learned a bit more about Disney’s plans for ESPN in collaboration with PENN.

ESPN Wide World of Sports

Though Iger seemed more hesitant to get involved in the world of sports betting initially, his predecessor — Bob Chapek — was a BIG champion of getting ESPN more involved in sports betting. And Iger did ultimately acknowledge that Disney would likely inevitably have to get involved with it.

©Disney

When asked why Disney has chosen NOW to launch ESPN BET and the vision behind the platform, Iger said that the subject of entering the world of sports betting has been in discussion among the company for a long time.

Iger shared that one of the main appeals behind sports betting was the ability to grow engagement with young customers, and PENN made an “aggressive offer” that was better than the other offers by far.

©ESPN

Iger said that Disney believes and trusts in PENN’s ability to grow this partnership.

We’re very interested to see this partnership play out and what will come of ESPN BET. We’ll continue to keep you updated with any and all Disney news, so make sure to follow along for more!