Football Fridays: Mickey All-In on Vegas?

Welcome to The Modern Day Renaissance Man newsletter. I, Trey Layton, write about the things that interest me, often covering topics such as startups, sports, and entertainment. If you'd like to receive these newsletters directly in your email a few times a week, go ahead and subscribe to never miss an email!

Happy Fricccccccccccccc.

Happy Saturday, folks.

I'm writing a day later than I had planned. Currently up in Portland, Maine, and I'm so fat and happy on lobster rolls and blueberry pie that I fell asleep on the keyboard, hence the more "C"s than a youngest child's report card.

In the sports world, it was a slightly slower week than normal. Apart from the world seeing firsthand the ineptitude of Justin Fields' supporting cast, the only big news was a report that the Big Twelve conference is finalizing its 2023 and 2024 football schedules. The big takeaway? Oklahoma and Texas were included in these plans, thus suggesting that league officials expect the divorce to wrap up after the 2024 season as initially planned rather than earlier via a buyout from their contracts.

As for the structure of the schedule, there will be nine conference games for each team, and in those two seasons, each team will play every other team at least once. The no division format will be maintained with the two teams with the top conference records at the end of the year getting trips to Arlington for the championship. Get your popcorn ready for those Texas-BYU and OU-Central Florida conference matchups... That feels wrong to even say.

In the sports betting world, there was also pretty big news with a bombshell report that ESPN might be nearing an expanded partnership with prominent sports bookie company DraftKings. It seems like even Mickey wants to cash in on your excommunicated uncle's gambling problem.

The details of this potential partnership are still unclear, as is information about when it might become more clear. However, what is clear is that when even the poster child for "family value" companies is tapping into an industry as controversial as sports betting, there is something there.

Gambling is already a huge industry worth upwards of $215 billion in the United States alone. Sports betting is still a fairly small share of this overall market, only making up about $12 billion of this number, but with an already large 12% CAGR, this industry will continue to make up a larger share of the overall market. Beyond the existing adoption trends, the number of states that allow for sports betting continues to grow. Thus far, only 30 states (and DC) have legalized and operating sports betting, though another three have legalized it but don't yet have operations. I think this is the part where I'm supposed to add a rocket emoji?

There is actually already an arrangement between the two companies, though it's expected that the updated partnership will be much more in depth than the current arrangement. Currently, ESPN has already selected DK as its platform of choice for fantasy football segments across the media giant's broadcasts and websites. This also comes with advertisements for the bookie on the ESPN website. However, while Disney has explicitly stated that it sees vast potentials for its brand in the betting space, King of Epcot Bob Chapek has also promised that the company's sports brands will never directly offer sports betting from owned websites. Unfortunately, that probably means that you can't bet the under on Iowa O/U 6.5 total points while watching Toy Story 3 and claiming that there's just something in your eye.

Investors believe in the partnership, too. Shares of DK ($DKNG) were up nearly 9% on the news. As mentioned, regardless of the actual terms of the partnership, Disney will not be handling any of the gambling itself, instead licensing out its brand and handing off the wagers to the bookie. With the cut of this that the betting platform will take and the increased traffic driven from the media company's massive base, revenue numbers are likely to receive a Barry Bonds level of Bugs' Special Stuff.

Interestingly, this decision from the House of Mouse is actually just the latest in a series of moves by the company to tap into the ever-promising "new adult" demographic. Disney acquired ABC in 1996. While ABC is a valuable broadcast network in its own right, the real gem of the deal turned out to be the 80% stake in ESPN that Walt assumed from ABC as a result of the acquisition. This gave the company access to the hundreds of millions of sports fans that tune into the network.

Internally, the company also started producing more movies in the PG-13 age range, like Prince of Persia and John Carter. Not content with these initial projects, the company also flexed its trust money with acquisitions of both Marvel in 2009 and Lucasfilm in 2012. The projects which have since been pumped out under each of these subsidiaries have kept older kids and adults alike entertained and subscribed.

Consumers in the 18-29 year age range often grew up with the Disney brand, watching the popular shows like The Suite Life of Zack & Cody and That's So Raven. They watched all of the movies like Monsters, Inc. and Cars. However, most have now grown out of their Disney World days. Cover your (Minnie) ears, Disney adults.

Now, this same demographic is increasingly entering the professional world. That means rather than just being the kids in Magic Kingdom throwing tantrums over wanting every single Pirates of the Caribbean costume at the gift shop, more and more of them also have the money to actually shell out on merch.

Pretty soon, they will be able to split their piggybanks between wearing this apparel and blowing their salary on doubting Kansas. Tbh, though, if they bet against America's team like that, they probably deserve it.

Just a week ago, I conceded a blowout defeat for the Ags. Instead, Jimbo decided to get the hopes up of every fan across the country before ripping their hearts out with a heavily criticized last play call. Regardless, the victorious Tide earned a few doubters after an uncharacteristically sloppy performance, hence a slight drop in the rankings to #3. The other movers:

• UCLA: #18 ➡️ #11 after topping then-11th Utah

• TCU: #17 ➡️ #13 after beating the Jayhawks :( Duggan for Heisman tho

• Mississippi State: #23 ➡️ #16 after blowing out Arky; still the most underrated team in the country

This weekend is juiiiiiiiiicy. Get up early, sports fans. It's the third weekend in October:

• #10 Penn State @ #5 Michigan at noon

• #3 Bama @ #6 Tennessee

• #8 Okie State @ #13 TCU

The slate is so loaded that ranked matchups like Syracuse and NC State, Mississippi State and Kentucky, USC and Utah, and a blueblood rivalry in Florida and LSU all missed the cut for the top three games... I love football.

This edition blended the football and movie worlds. As such, be prepared for an interesting topic on Monday which hasn't been given the intense investigative attention which it deserves... hint: hope you like pasta 😈

Cheers to another day,

Trey