'A colossal f**k-up'
Plus: RIP ESPN BET (kinda), the rise of antennas, and Trump Stadium?
Back by popular demand, here are six sports business items worthy of your attention at the start of the week…
Sportico Story of the Week 🎰: ESPN Bet is dead. (Well, ESPN Bet the brand is actually still around, but…). Eben explained how the deal signals the end of an era of sports betting, just as sports betting seems to be seeping into everyday sports culture, for better and for worse.
Non-Sportico Story of the Week 📺: Antennas exist. Pay-TV providers like YouTube TV might not want you to remember that. Neither would content owners like ESPN, given how much sports content is now available for free over-the-air. Picture quality can actually be worse with antenna ears, but there is usually less delay, fewer invasive ads, and a pretty intuitive user experience once you’re set up. So it’s no wonder that, as the YouTube TV-ESPN fight drags into an unprecedented third week, fans are rediscovering the beauty of OG TV.
What Got the Office Talking 🃏: It was weird enough when Stephen A. Smith announced his sponsorship of the Solitaire Cash App via an AI-infested ad last Monday.
Then ESPN colleagues who should’ve known better got involved with the company that is facing a lawsuit over allegedly defrauding customers—and competitors. Over the weekend, one of those ESPNers, Mina Kimes, admitted “I didn’t spend any time looking into the whole thing, and that’s 100% on me. Thought it was just typical marketing work, and I’m deeply embarrassed I didn’t vet it. A colossal f***-up on my part.”
Let this be a reminder that sports properties and personalities are frequently used by companies looking to boost their credibility, despite the fact that the vetting process is often less-than-rigorous or even non-existent altogether.
What Intrigued Me 🏀: Around the start of the NBA season, ESPN debuted a new box score design in its app and on its website. The most important metrics, minutes and points, are now flush left, but details like shooting percentage have been expelled to the far right (online) or behind a toggle (on mobile). A little thing. But people definitely noticed.
What Made Me Laugh (and Cry) 😂: President Donald Trump would like the Washington Commanders to name their new stadium after him. “That would be a beautiful name,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told ESPN. Real quote. Real life.
Meanwhile, I think Trump should stick to his day job.
What I Heard from Matt 🏈: The Giants don’t care about kicking.
In 2020, his first year with the New York Giants, Graham Gano almost had a perfect placekicker season: 31/32. He went on to kick at a 91.8% success rate through the 2020-2022 seasons, helping Giants fans move past the 63-yard game winner he had nailed against the team as a member of the Panthers back in 2018. Since the 2022 season, however, Gano has been:
placed on injured reserve 2 days before a game in 2023 with no backup kicker on the roster
been injured in pregame warmups in Week 2 in 2024—but then tried to play and promptly put a kickoff out of bounds
injured again in pregame warmups in Week 3 of 2025!
The G-Men have opted to not kick, have the punter kick, or sign someone off of Pat McAfee’s kicking contest in all of these instances, instead of just investing in a good, young leg à la Brandon Aubrey, Eddy Piñeiro, Cam Little or the like.
The numbers don’t exactly support how bad this actually feels from a Giants fan POV, but it seems like every time Big Blue needs a Big 3, they don’t get it. Meanwhile, division opponents seemingly kick career-long for-the-win FG’s against New York on the regular (See: Brandon Aubrey 64yds FTW, Jake Elliot 61yds FTW). Technically, the Giants are just mediocre at kicking. However, when the eye test sees “26 yard punt” in the box score as your team blows another double-digit fourth-quarter lead, it looks like the Giants just don’t care about kicking.
—Matt Palacio
Club Sportico is a community organized by Sportico, a digital media company launched in 2020 to cover the business side of sports. You can read breaking news, smart analysis, and in-depth features from Eben, Jacob and their colleagues at Sportico.com, and listen to the Sporticast podcast wherever you get your audio. Contact us at club@sportico.com.