ESPN is partnering with Caesars Entertainment to open its own television studio inside The LINQ Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas. The new set will be used to produce sports betting content for Daily Wager and other network programming. Caesars also becomes ESPN’s official odds data provider.
Connor Schell, ESPN’s EVP of content, said at a news conference Tuesday that the aim for the studio is to create a “better foothold to serve sports fans interested in betting content.”
The studio is expected to open in 2020 and play a role not only in betting-related segments but also for covering an increasing number of sports events hosted in Vegas. The NFL Draft will take place in Vegas next year. The NHL’s Golden Knights already play in town and will be joined by the NFL’s Raiders in 2020. The NBA Summer League calls the city home, and major boxing and UFC bouts often take place there. ESPN+ has a major rights deal with UFC.
“We’re really excited about the long-term value this collaboration with ESPN will create and thrilled that, starting immediately, ESPN’s platforms will begin featuring odds information generated by Caesars Entertainment,” said Chris Holdren, EVP and CMO at Caesars, in a statement. “Millions of sports fans look to ESPN as a sports authority, and Caesars is honored to have been selected for having the best odds to serve those fans.”
In a news release, ESPN cited a survey conducted by Langer Research Associates noting that more than two-thirds of avid sports bettors already watch the network.
SportTechie Takeaway
Though sports betting has been legalized by a growing number of state legislatures, its ancestral home in the U.S. will always be Las Vegas. That’s why media companies are staking their turf at Strip casinos to produce related content. VSiN and Bleacher Report have already done so, and this new announcement by Disney owned ESPN cements sports betting’s newfound acceptance in this country.