As PENN Interactive looks ahead to 2026 and beyond, it has drafted a longtime ESPN executive to lead its theScore media business across North America.
PENN has appointed Nate Ravitz to the position of head of theScore, the sports media and betting company that the company is also using as the brand for its online sportsbook.
While PENN has numerous gaming brands across land-based and online gambling, theScore is PENN Interactive’s only owned media platform. Ravitz will oversee content, advertising sales and growth for that media business.
A new leader for a new era
Ravitz takes up the role after leaving ESPN in October 2024, ending a 17-year stint at the sports media giant. Over that time, he rose from working as a newsroom editor to most recently serving as vice president of digital content and audience expansion, leading content for ESPN’s mobile and streaming apps, ESPN.com and social media platforms.
At ESPN, Ravitz worked with some current PENN leaders, including Chief Technology Officer Aaron LaBerge.
“Thrilled to share that I’ve joined PENN Entertainment, Inc. as Head of theScore,” Ravitz announced on LinkedIn. “In this new role I am leading the Media business of Penn Interactive, overseeing Content, Ad Sales and Growth.
“I’ve long admired what theScore has been able to build and achieve in the incredibly competitive landscape of mobile sports apps. I couldn’t be more honored to join the team and build on that great legacy. Also happy to once again be teammates with Aaron LaBerge and several other former colleagues. We’re playing to win.”
PENN hopes for better result with theScore
Once focused on television, the Toronto-based theScore evolved into a mobile sports content platform and subsequently has leaned heavily into online sports betting via theScore Bet.
After PENN Entertainment cut short its expensive ESPN Bet joint venture last month, the previously Ontario-only theScore Bet is now the brand under which PENN offers online sports betting in the U.S. As of Dec. 1, theScore Bet is operational in 21 U.S. states using a rebranded version of the ESPN Bet platform, marking its return to that market three-and-a-half years after PENN shut down its limited operations south of the border.
PENN has owned theScore since sealing a $2 billion acquisition in 2021. It is relying on the Canadian brand in the U.S. after its previous efforts to run sports betting under the branding of first Barstool and then ESPN brought results that were far below executives’ publicly stated expectations.
PENN places value in integrating sports and betting
PENN CEO Jay Snowden, CTO LaBerge and other executives have led a concerted effort at PENN to link sports fandom and media consumption with betting, linking ESPN Bet accounts with ESPN media app accounts in the U.S. before that deal ended and trying to do the same with theScore in Ontario.
Snowden said on a Nov. 6 earnings call that reintroducing theScore Bet to the U.S. will allow PENN to leverage connectivity with theScore media app. That app has more than four million monthly active users, around two-thirds of which are based in the U.S.
