Schefter-Kraft investment raises conflict questions
ESPN’s most famous NFL reporter and one of the NFL’s most prominent owners are in business together. The NFL scoop industry was already built on a symbiosis between reporter and subject, but Adam Schefter and Robert Kraft are co-investors in a gambling app, according to a Bloomberg report on Thursday.
Schefter and Kraft have both sank money into a company called Boom, which had actually announced their investment in a press release on Monday. Boom currently makes various sports gambling apps that allow users to win money on in-game contests, including for NBC Sports, Barstool, the MSG Network and YES Network. The company says it its plan is to “unveil its first wave of casino games to select partners in the coming months, and will launch its proprietary sports betting games and product offerings to partners shortly thereafter.”
(The Daily News has various print and online gambling content syndication deals, including one with the Action Network and FanDuel.)
The investment is so rife with conflicts of interest that it basically renders the concept meaningless. The obvious one is that much of Schefter’s reporting centers on injuries and player transactions, central to any gambling line. But a reporter literally being in business with the owner of the Patriots sounds like a fever dream cooked up by a conspiratorial Jets fan.
An ESPN spokesman declined to comment but told the Daily News that they “Will get in touch with any upcoming announcements in the betting space.”
When asked by Bloomberg, ESPN wouldn’t comment. They pointed reporter Timothy O’Brien to recent comments from Disney CEO Bob Chapek. “Let’s just say that our fans are really interested in sports betting,” Chapek said at a conference on Tuesday. “Let’s say that our partners — with the leagues — are interested in sports betting. So we’re interested in sports betting.”
ESPN’s journalism has always walked a tightrope. Long before the widespread legalization and increased acceptance of sports gambling, the company’s news division has had to navigate the reality that it pays leagues billions of dollars to televise their games.
In this case, Schefter isn’t reporting on the NFL’s various public health crises or real estate gambits, but the reporting he does happens to have a direct impact on various forms of football betting. Schefter’s last-second injury reports are critical information for gamblers and fantasy football players; it’s clear his bosses don’t mind him getting a cut of that action.