How Much Money Did Penn Entertainment Lose Investing In Barstool Sports?
Dave Portnoy may have pulled off the heist of the century when he somehow acquired a $500+ million company for one singular dollar. There are stipulations involved with that, but I’m sure he’s not complaining after pocketing that much money while getting his company back. However, there is still one facet of this deal that needs to be talked about.
How much money did Penn Entertainment actually lose investing in Barstool Sports? The number will shock you. Check out this Tweet from Front Office Sports.
How many people inside the Penn office hate Barstool? $850 million is $850 million. That’s a lot of money to throw in the garbage. Talk about a mistake. Did anybody at Penn lose their job for the decision because that type of loss can’t go unanswered? Somebody has to pay the consequences for that.
Penn is doubling down on the content game and will spend even more money on the deal with ESPN. DraftKings and FanDuel already have a stranglehold over the market. Also, nobody really considers ESPN cool anymore to the point where they’re willing to exclusively bet through them. Say what you want about Barstool, but they have a loyal fan base. I’m not sure even the existing customer base will just carry over. Investing this much money in ESPN just to finish third in a best-case scenario feels like an enormous risk.
Let’s hear from you in the comments. Are you eager to make bets on Bet ESPN or will this deal prove to be another flop for Penn Entertainment? If it is a flop, can they financially recover from this mistake after the last one?
