TLDR
- DraftKings has sold VSiN back to Musburger Media for an undisclosed price.
- DraftKings originally purchased VSiN in 2021 for about $70 million.
- Brian Musburger and Bill Adee, VSiN’s original founders, will lead the company again.
- VSiN says viewers should not expect any changes to programming or coverage.
- DraftKings will continue to advertise on VSiN despite the sale.
DraftKings has sold the Vegas Stats & Information Network (VSiN) back to Musburger Media. This move comes just three and a half years after DraftKings bought the sports betting media company.
VSiN, which provides 24/7 sports gambling coverage, was first launched in 2017 by Brian Musburger and Bill Adee. In March 2021, DraftKings purchased VSiN for about $70 million. Now, Musburger Media has bought it back for an amount that has not been made public.
Brian Musburger, who is the nephew of famous sports broadcaster Brent Musburger, will once again lead VSiN along with Bill Adee. They plan to keep running the company as they did before.
“While a lot has changed in the sports betting industry over the past three-and-a-half years, our original vision for VSiN still holds,”
Brian Musburger said. He added that they want to keep giving sports bettors trustworthy information and analysis.
For viewers and listeners of VSiN, not much should change. The company has said that there won’t be any breaks in its shows or news coverage because of the sale.
Even though DraftKings is selling VSiN, it’s not cutting all ties with the network. Stephanie Sherman, the chief marketing officer at DraftKings, said the company will keep advertising on VSiN.
This sale is part of a bigger trend in the sports betting world. Many gambling companies that had been creating their own content are now stepping back from those efforts. For example, Penn Entertainment sold Barstool Sports back to its founder last year. BetMGM has also recently canceled some of its original shows.
VSiN has grown a lot since it started in 2017. It now has deals with national radio networks like iHeartRadio and TuneIn. It also works with some regional sports networks, including NESN and Marquee Sports Network.
The company’s main studio is in Las Vegas, inside the sportsbook at the Circa casino-hotel downtown. This fits with VSiN’s focus on sports betting, which has become legal in many more states since the network began.
DraftKings is still one of the biggest names in online sports betting in the U.S. Along with its rival FanDuel, it controls about 67% of the online sports betting market in the country.
For DraftKings, selling VSiN seems to be about focusing on its main business
“DraftKings continues to optimize its investments in content and media to align with the most critical areas and needs of our business strategy, objectives, and goals,” Sherman explained.
This sale shows how the sports betting industry is changing. When many states started to make sports betting legal a few years ago, betting companies rushed to create their own content. Now, they seem to be rethinking that approach.
For VSiN, going back to its original owners might mean a return to its roots. The network was created to give sports bettors solid information at a time when legal sports betting was just starting to spread across the U.S.
Now, with sports betting more common, VSiN’s role in the industry might be even more important.
