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Nicole Noren, a longtime ESPN producer, says she left the network because its growing promotion of sports betting conflicted with her experience of gambling addiction in her family. In an interview with Columbia Journalism Review, she also said proposed reporting scrutinizing gambling companies did not receive approval or was softened. ESPN’s response to her concerns was not included in the source report.
Nicole Noren, a longtime ESPN producer, says she left the network after its increasingly close relationship with sports gambling conflicted with her family’s experience of addiction. In an interview with Columbia Journalism Review (CJR), Noren said ESPN’s promotion of betting became the point at which she could no longer stay, raising questions about how sports media balance gambling partnerships with reporting on gambling-related harm.
Noren worked at ESPN for 24 years, primarily on the investigative program Outside the Lines. CJR reported that her work included coverage of gender-based violence, college students’ mental health and concussions, and that she received Emmy, Murrow and Peabody awards. She told CJR that the ability to do in-depth journalism with substantial resources had made the job meaningful, but that the network’s relationship with gambling changed over time.
“I was out,” Noren told CJR, describing her decision after ESPN licensed its name to a betting app in 2023. She said the network had moved from a longstanding distance from sports betting toward promoting it widely. ESPN Bet did not meet expectations, according to the report, and ESPN later replaced that arrangement with a partnership with DraftKings. The companies also enabled customers to link their ESPN and DraftKings accounts in March, the report said.
Noren said gambling addiction had affected several generations of her family: her grandfather, father and one of her brothers. She described frequent moves tied to financial instability and spending childhood time in Las Vegas sportsbooks while her father gambled. Her brother died in downtown Las Vegas at age 36, she told CJR. Those experiences, she said, made ESPN’s normalization of betting personal rather than abstract.
A Journalist’s Objection to Betting Promotion
Noren’s account highlights a conflict between commercial partnerships and journalism at a major sports network. ESPN’s advertising and betting-related products can reach audiences who rely on the network for sports coverage, while Noren argues that repeated promotion risks making gambling seem ordinary without enough attention to addiction and its effects on families.
Her departure is also a first-person account from a journalist who says she had worked on serious investigative reporting at the company for decades. It does not establish that ESPN’s partnership caused gambling addiction, or that the network’s editorial decisions were directed by its business partners. It does show that a former producer says she raised concerns about coverage and saw the network’s betting direction as incompatible with her values. The reporting raises questions about editorial independence and how openly sports outlets examine industries they promote.
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ESPN’s Shift Toward Sports Betting
ESPN’s stance on gambling changed as the US sports-betting market opened up. The US Supreme Court struck down a federal ban on sports betting in 2018. The following year, then-Disney chief executive Bob Iger told investors that he did not see Disney becoming involved in gambling in the near term, including by facilitating it, according to the CJR report.
That position later gave way to commercial betting arrangements. ESPN licensed its name to ESPN Bet in 2023, then moved to a DraftKings partnership after the ESPN Bet venture fell short, CJR reported. The companies’ account-linking option marked a further connection between ESPN’s sports services and a gambling platform. The report said the ESPN Bet deal could have generated $1.5 billion over 10 years; that was a projected value, not a confirmed amount earned.
Noren also told CJR she had pitched stories that would scrutinize gambling companies and addiction, but they were not approved. She said a program on the subject was eventually produced but had been “very neutered.” These are Noren’s descriptions of editorial decisions; the source material does not include responses from ESPN or other people involved in those decisions.
““I don’t see the Walt Disney Company, certainly in the near term, getting involved in the business of gambling, in effect, by facilitating gambling in any way.””
— Bob Iger, then chief executive of Disney, as quoted in the CJR report
ESPN’s Response Is Not Included
The source material does not include an ESPN response to Noren’s account, nor does it independently verify her description of proposed gambling coverage or the reasons those stories were rejected or changed. It is also unclear whether ESPN disputed her characterization of its editorial process or addressed her concerns directly.
The report describes the ESPN Bet venture as an “embarrassing flop,” but the supplied material does not give performance figures, define that assessment or state how much revenue the partnership generated. The $1.5 billion figure was a projection for the deal over ten years. Noren’s account establishes her stated reasons for leaving; it does not by itself establish the broader effects of ESPN’s gambling promotions on audiences.
Betting Partnerships Remain in Focus
The immediate next development is ESPN’s continued relationship with DraftKings, including the account-linking arrangement described by CJR. The report noted that ESPN was preparing to carry its first Super Bowl, scheduled for February; the source does not specify the year or describe what betting-related coverage or promotion would accompany the event.
Any fuller assessment of Noren’s claims would depend on further responses from ESPN and additional reporting on its editorial standards, gambling coverage and commercial agreements. The source material does not identify a scheduled review, formal investigation or forthcoming statement. For now, Noren’s interview is the public account of why she left and what she says concerned her about the network’s direction.
Key Questions
Who is Nicole Noren?
Noren is a former ESPN producer who worked at the network for 24 years, mainly on the investigative program Outside the Lines. CJR reported that her work received Emmy, Murrow and Peabody awards.
Why did Noren leave ESPN?
She told Columbia Journalism Review that ESPN’s increasing promotion of sports betting conflicted with her family’s experience of gambling addiction. She said the network’s move into betting was the point at which she decided to leave.
What did Noren say about gambling coverage at ESPN?
Noren said she had pitched stories examining gambling companies and addiction that were not approved. She also said a program on the subject was produced but was less forceful than some people involved had intended. Those statements are her account; the supplied report does not include ESPN’s response.
What is ESPN’s current betting partnership, according to the report?
The CJR report says ESPN moved from its ESPN Bet arrangement to a partnership with DraftKings. It also reported that customers could link ESPN and DraftKings accounts beginning in March; the supplied material does not provide the year for that account-linking date.
Source: hn
