Pat McAfee Takes Aim at ESPN Bet Again
For the second straight day, Pat McAfee went off on a tangent about ESPN Bet and it's become increasingly clear he's not a big fan. On Friday, during a discussion with Fox Sports' Chris Fallica on the Pat McAfee Show, the host hinted about the awful user experience of the app and its performance.
Here's McAfee discussing it, which starts off with him realizing ESPN Bet isn't available in Connecticut, where ESPN is based.
Pat McAfee has more thoughts on ESPN Bet in a conversation with former ESPN and now Fox Sports betting analyst Chris Fallica.
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) May 3, 2024
Points out ESPN Bet is not available in Connecticut (where ESPN is based). Hints user experience for newer sportsbooks could be improved. https://t.co/HKB3ePymqC pic.twitter.com/QWlolwmNLH
Yeah, he's not really masking how he actually feels about it.
On Thursday, ESPN Bet became a topic on the show after an ad popped up on McAfee's video feed. He quickly pivoted to discussing the app, and referred to things not exactly going well. On Thursday, Penn Entertainment (which runs ESPN Bet) tumbled after first quarter data was released. Revenue from the company's online business -- which includes ESPN Bet -- came in far lower than expected. It was the first quarter since Penn and ESPN agreed to a 10-year, $2 billion deal to partner.
McAfee joked about it before clarifying that everyone at his show wants anything that's part of ESPN to succeed. He then offered a quick pep talk to ESPN Bet to improve.
Here's video:
This is Pat McAfee laughing at ESPN Bet, saying "ESPN Bet's got a lot of room to grow," and then giving ESPN Bet a pep talk.
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) May 2, 2024
"We are on ESPN and obviously we're part of ESPN so we would like ESPN stuff to succeed."
Download the app today! pic.twitter.com/WayjxDUnfu
ESPN Bet is currently far behind its competitors in the marketplace, so a slow start was likely expected. But it's not an arena where a property can lag behind for long. It's probably not a great sign when one of the network's biggest stars is taking potshots at the product, either.