(WHTM)– Another massive change for PENN Entertainment, formerly known as Penn National.
It just made a $2 billion deal with ESPN, to launch an ESPN-branded Sportsbook this fall, replacing Barstool Sportsbook.
As part of this deal, PENN will sell the Barstool Sports brand back to founder Dave Portnoy, who will have complete control of his company.
But if he were to sell Barstool again in the future, he would have to give PENN Entertainment half of the proceeds.
“Our primary focus is always to serve sports fans and we know they want both betting content and the ability to place bets with less friction from within our products,” said Jimmy Pitaro, Chairman, ESPN. “The strategy here is simple: to give fans what they’ve been requesting and expecting from ESPN. PENN Entertainment is the perfect partner to build an unmatched user experience for sports betting with ESPN BET.”
Jay Snowden, Chief Executive Officer and President, PENN Entertainment said: “This agreement with ESPN and collaboration on ESPN BET allows us to take another step forward as an industry leader. Together, we can utilize each other’s strengths to create the type of experience that existing and new bettors will expect from both companies, and we can’t wait to get started.”