There’s a new thing you can find with one click on Amazon: sports betting content.

The tech and retail giant added 24/7 sports betting network SportsGrid to Prime Video. The channel will also be available on Amazon’s FreeVee platform.

• The move could complement Amazon’s growing portfolio of live sports, which includes “Thursday Night Football,” some New York Yankees games, and Premier League rights in the U.K.
• It supplements those with 12 hours of daily sports talk shows.
• SportsGrid works with FanDuel, BetMGM, and WynnBet to produce ongoing sports betting content focused on live and upcoming games. It is also available on YouTube TV, Roku, and Fubo.

App for That?

Amazon is working on a standalone sports app, according to The Information.

SportsGrid content could potentially be part of that endeavor, which would presumably include Amazon’s live sports offerings.

Amazon’s audience for “Thursday Night Football” averaged 11.3 million viewers — lower than previous years when it was available on linear networks, but with an audience around 10 years younger than those of other NFL games. 

On Wednesday, NFL commissioner Roger Goodell floated the idea that the league could offer additional flex scheduling for “TNF,” allowing Amazon to swap out scheduled games for more desirable matchups.

The Walt Disney Co. has announced a sweeping corporate reorganization that makes ESPN one of the three pillars of the global entertainment giant.

There’s been speculation the Mouse would spin off the sports network, but ESPN and chairman Jimmy Pitaro are emerging as key power players in the reorganized $82 billion company. 

ESPN will be one of three divisions, along with Disney Entertainment and Disney Parks, Experiences, and Products. 

• Each segment will have full operational control and financial responsibility for creative development, marketing, technology, sales, and distribution.
• Pitaro will oversee ESPN+ and international sports channels and eight linear TV networks, as well as manage sports content for Disney’s domestic and international platforms. 
• “Our strategic restructuring will return creativity to the center of the company, increase accountability, improve results, and ensure the quality of our content and experiences,” said Disney CEO Bob Iger.

Disney’s revenues grew 8% to $23.5 billion for the three months ending Dec. 31, but it still expects to cut 7,000 jobs and slash $5.5 billion in costs. ESPN is expected to be impacted by the layoffs.

No ESPN Spinoff

Despite calls from activist investors, Iger said there are no plans to spin off ESPN.

“ESPN is a differentiator for this company,” Iger told analysts on an earnings call. “We just have to figure out how to monetize it.”

The NFL is facing a lawsuit as it prepares for Sunday’s Super Bowl LVII.

Ten former players sued commissioner Roger Goodell, the league’s benefit plan, and its board of trustees, for allegedly wrongfully denying their disability claims — a behavior the plaintiffs said was “motivated by financial considerations to limit the payment of benefits.”

The lawsuit accuses the defendants of a “disturbing pattern of erroneous and arbitrary benefits denials, bad-faith contract misinterpretations, and other unscrupulous tactics.”

• Filed in the U.S. District Court for Maryland, the lawsuit seeks class-action status.
• It also asks for financial damages and the removal of the board overseeing the plan.

The plaintiffs also claim decisions were made by physicians who had an interest in denying benefits.

“There is powerful statistical evidence that strongly suggests a systemic pattern that the more the Board pays a physician, the more likely the physician is to have a high rate of rendering opinions adverse to benefits applicants,” the lawsuit states.

Plaintiff Players

The plaintiffs, who are represented by several legal teams, include Willis McGahee, Jason Alford, Daniel Loper, Michael McKenzie, Jamize Olawale, Alex Parsons, Charles Sims, Joey Thomas, Lance Zeno, and Eric Smith — who, according to the lawsuit, suffered 13 documented traumatic brain injuries.

“Through this lawsuit, we are bringing these injustices to light and demanding the NFL fulfill its responsibilities to players rather than continue to try to dodge accountability every step of the way,” Eric Smith said.