Following news of PENN Entertainment and Disney terminating their ESPN BET deal just two years into a 10-year deal, theScore founder John Levy wasn’t short on words regarding PENN’s management decisions, both north and south of the 49th parallel.
Key Takeaways
- The former theScore CEO lambasted PENN following news of its surprising split from ESPN.
- Levy heavily criticized PENN for mismanaging theScore, claiming the company never respected or invested in his former brand.
- According to Levy, internal dysfunction and poor collaboration led to a host of squandered assets, including Barstool Sportsbook.
Levy joined Steve McAllister on the "Gaming News Canada Show," offering his thoughts on PENN's failed ESPN BET project.
"It was a lack of behavior on the part of PENN. ... It wasn't pushed by PENN. ... The core of the problem here is the management at PENN really has had difficulty throughout the whole process in dealing with the acquisitions that they've made."
Notably, Levy sold his brand, theScore, to PENN back in 2021, with PENN then slashing roughly 75 jobs related to its media app earlier this year.
“It’s just nuts. And quite frankly, from a personal perspective, it’s a bit hard to take,” Levy said of PENN and its relationship with theScore following the $2-billion acquisition in October 2021. “It was our family. ... They never respected the brand, never invested in the brand, and they never listened to us.”
Levy continued, “And now (PENN CTO) Aaron LaBerge has got a Score hat on. That’s kind of funny, kind of weird, kind of contradictory to everything else they’ve been doing.”
Amid the fallout of the Disney-PENN divorce, theScore Bet will take over branding for PENN’s existing ESPN BET app. It’ll mark PENN's third attempt at online sports betting in less than five years, given its previous partnership with Barstool.
“When you look at it from 60,000 feet, when (PENN purchased theScore) they had all the elements there,” Levy added, noting theScore’s strong technical team and brand presence in an emerging Canadian market for sports betting. “But almost as soon as we did the deal, it was kind of like, s--t fell apart.”
Levy: Mismanagement rife at PENN
The former theScore CEO noted that collaboration was at a minimum, with PENN’s background in retail casinos often leaving them behind on the digital side of matters.
“I kind of thought what was originally going to be this collaborative effort of smart people dealing with smart people. ... Unfortunately, it was right from the get-go that there were kind of two teams in place.” Levy said.
Levy didn’t stop there, noting the mismanagement of PENN’s Barstool Sportsbook asset, which he explained was allowed to deteriorate before it was ultimately sold back for $1.
The lack of management and coordination, Levy says, was present throughout his time in the C-suite following theScore's acquisition until he finally exited the company alongside his sons in 2024.
“You would think we might be involved (in the ESPN discussion),” Levy shared. “We get a call from (PENN CEO and President) Jay (Snowden) that he’s coming up to Toronto. ... We sat in this hotel in Toronto, and he says, ‘We just did a deal with ESPN, a big deal. ... We want you guys to have this wrapped up and converted in the next 30 days.’”
Levy left no shred of doubt that he, as well as others around the company, felt things went sideways.
“This thing hasn’t been managed properly,” he said. “That's what everybody says under their breath, and outwardly now.”
