Betting has become part of mainstream sports and media. What was once considered a taboo mingling is now the norm. Professional sports teams and multimedia networks now have corporate relationships with betting companies. Heck, some of these companies now have their own Internet/television networks.
From DraftKings to FanDuel to BetMGM to Caesars and more, we are living in a new world order for sure, one where odds and props are as important as opponents and points. It is only natural that sports conglomerate ESPN would jump into this fray with its own sportsbook powerhouse ESPN BET and a daily show ESPN BET Live.
The program featuring Tyler Fulghum, Erin Dolan, and Joe Fortenbaugh among others has made its mark on the sports betting landscape. It is a fun and informative watch for bettors and fans alike.
ESPN BET Live, seen on ESPN weeknights at 6:00 p.m. EST, benefits from solid lead-ins with NBA Today hosted by the terrific Malika Andrews and NFL Live with the equally talented Laura Rutledge at the helm. It is clever scheduling indeed. Viewers can get their dose of sports news and knowledge from those two shows and then combine that knowledge with the betting trends and data from ESPN BET Live.
The lively program begins with a segment called Opening Lines – essentially looking at the top sports stories from a wagering angle. On the Tuesday, January 9 edition the lead story was Ja Morant’s season-ending shoulder surgery. The on screen graphic not only gave the news, but also revealed that Memphis opened as a +5.5 underdog at Dallas that night, but with the injury news, moved to a +8.5 underdog.
This is the guts of ESPN BET Live, to use a baseball comparison, the story is the pitch and the gambling angle is the home run swing. Dolan delivered strong analysis of how the Morant injury will affect Memphis’s betting lines moving forward.
Fulghum discussed Steelers’ linebacker T.J. Watt being ruled out of the Wildcard matchup against Buffalo this Sunday due to a knee injury. The show offered a telling graphic showing the Steelers’ record as 69–33–2 with Watt and 1-10 without him. In days gone by, point spreads and injuries were presented as news, but were really betting guides in disguise. These days, the masks are off – it’s all about the bets.
Joe Fortenbaugh provided some real talk about the slumping Philadelphia Eagles stating that Philly has lost five out of the last six games and have not covered the spread in eight games. Despite this, the Eagles had moved from a 2.5 to a 3 point favorite against the Buccaneers.
Fortenbaugh is the unquestioned engine of the ESPN BET Live machine. This dude is Vegas personified. He is confident, direct, informed, and a bit of a wise ass in the best way possible. The cat is dressed to the nines, well-coiffed, and eternally pumped and ready to pounce on any subject with stats and information. He’s got game aplenty – the quintessential sports wagering guru.
Hailing from the working class community of Allentown, PA and a Penn State grad, Fortenbaugh is all showbiz now and brings experience as a sports wagerer and poker star himself. He also does excellent weekly turns on ESPN’s First Take with Stephen A. Smith and Molly Qerim.
Fortenbaugh continued to trash the Eagles saying that Nick Sirianni’s constant chatter of “We’re not going to quit.” is not a plan to get better. Even Dolan, an unabashed Eagles’ fan and fellow Nittany Lion who worked in the Philly TV market, admitted that the Eagles are a mess. In a humorous moment, Fortenbaugh stopped the onslaught and, with a sly smirk, put a positive spin on the Eagles-Bucs game which, lo and behold, is on ESPN.
One of the strengths of ESPN BET Live is that it provides updates on the betting lines for games as well as sports analysis. Dolan provided some telling statistics supporting her point that the Miami Dolphins cannot beat teams with winning records. She narrated a graphic showing that Miami scores roughly twice as many points and is 9-2 against losing teams as opposed to 1-5 vs. teams with winning records.
If Fortenbaugh is the star of ESPN BET Live, Dolan is the meteor. She is a captivating talent, and her enthusiasm and knowledge come through vividly. Dolan has been a consistent presence on social media and made her mark on ESPN with her Dolan Out Winners interstitial segment on SportsCenter.
She has found the perfect vehicle for her talent in ESPN BET Live. Dolan is knowledgeable, jump off the screen watchable, and pointed in her commentary – a rising personality in sports broadcasting for sure.
Like Fortenbaugh, she has found her niche in the white hot world of sports betting, but I can see her doing even more at ESPN as her career evolves. Like many talents at the network, she has wisely employed social media and video to connect with followers and give fans a behind-the-scenes glimpse of her career.
As the show continued, the conversation moved to basketball, and Fulghum did an expert job setting up Dolan and Fortenbaugh to keep the show moving at a relentless pace. Fortenbaugh talked about the Knicks feasting on losing teams while Dolan discussed the Lakers being a sluggish team since winning the NBA In Season Tournament.
I really like the fast paced, machine gun commentary by Fulghum, Dolan, and Fortenbaugh. They are all incredibly prepared and ready to give their viewpoints on each game and topic. On this episode, Fulgham introduced a Play or Procrastinate segment where the panelists decide if they are ready to place a bet on the game at that moment or wait for more information as the game gets closer.
It is a segment that hits at the heart of the bettors’ dilemma especially with the NFL having a season of injuries and last minute inactives and scratches. For the Steelers-Bills game, Dolan advised procrastination worrying about the large 10 point spread and preferring to look into some player prop bets for this game.
I like that ESPN BET Live doesn’t just handicap games, but also focuses on individual player props and their statistics. On this episode, the trio talked about Jaden Ivey of the Pistons and Desmond Bane of the Grizzlies.
ESPN’s Andrew Hopkins joined the panel in the second half of the show to provide some football insight to mix with the betting talk. He discussed the Jared Goff/Matthew Stafford soap opera with both quarterbacks facing their former teams in the Rams-Lions playoff game this weekend. Dolan chimed in with good questions to Hawkins about the Chiefs offense.
Variety is also a strength of the program. The show moved to golf, analyzing possible wagers on the SONY Open and the news that Tiger Woods has 20-1 odds to win a major championship this year. College basketball was up next with ESPN’s Dalen Cuff joining the panel.
The Prop Culture segment at the end of the program talked about the odds that Jim Harbaugh would return to Michigan with Fortenbaugh offering a 5% chance of Harbaugh’s return.
You can debate whether the rise of betting content and online betting itself is good for sports, but there is no debate regarding ESPN BET Live. It taps into the hardcore culture of betting with all of the facts, factors, and figures. When it comes to information, entertainment, and compelling wagering debate, ESPN BET Live is as close as bettors will get to a sure thing.
John Molori is a weekly columnist for Barrett Sports Media. He has previously contributed to ESPNW, Patriots Football Weekly, Golf Content Network, Methuen Life Magazine, and wrote a syndicated Media Blitz column in the New England region, which was published by numerous outlets including The Boston Metro, Providence Journal, Lowell Sun, and the Eagle-Tribune. His career also includes fourteen years in television as a News and Sports Reporter, Host, Producer working for Continental Cablevision, MediaOne, and AT&T. He can be reached on Twitter @MoloriMedia.
