How Delco native Erin Kate Dolan of ESPN is carving her own niche within sports betting

When Erin Kate Dolan, a Delaware County native, departed for the University of Oregon in the fall of 2014, she wanted to become a physical or occupational sports therapist, focusing on the science side of sports. In the spring of her freshman year, an introduction to journalism class altered that path.

A prerequisite she needed to fulfill, the Cardinal O’Hara graduate was close to dropping the class until a lesson about Erin Andrews, then a Fox Sports sideline reporter. Dolan didn’t know a career path like Andrews’ was attainable.

“If I didn’t take that class, I don’t know if I would have pursued broadcast journalism, because I didn’t think I had the awareness of that was something I could do,” Dolan told The Inquirer in a video interview before the holidays.

That day set off a chain reaction. Dolan transferred to Penn State in 2016 and graduated in 2018 with a broadcast journalism degree. Dolan, like Andrews, quickly caught on as a sideline reporter, landing a gig with PHL17 as the sideline reporter for the Wings of the National Lacrosse League.

It was exactly what Dolan wanted to do coming out of college — or so she thought.

“It’s not that I didn’t like doing that necessarily, it was just that I’m very opinionated,” Dolan said, “and I wanted to have more takes on things. I felt like for the longevity of my career, that made more sense to be somebody who had an opinion.”

With the legalization of sports betting toward the end of 2018, an opportunity to serve as an on-air host at PointsBet, which was acquired by Fanatics earlier this year, became available. Dolan was at a crossroads, one that led her to ESPN two short years later.

Dolan got her start at PointsBet in 2019, with the sportsbook taking her under its wing and teaching her the ins and outs of an ever-changing industry.

She landed her next gig in 2021 at FanDuel as an on-air talent after nearly two years with PointsBet. This time, it was more of an opinion-based role. She made betting picks and predictions and appeared on a variety of morning shows and online programming throughout the day, all while staying in the Philly area.

“A lot of it was very autonomous, which was half of the battle of why I think I was able to get to where I am now because I didn’t have a teleprompter,” said Dolan, who grew up in Media. “I didn’t have people to produce me; pretty much everything was just myself, my opinion, and what I wanted to say.

As a betting analyst, correct predictions build credibility with viewers, and that’s something that sticks with Dolan as she prepares for a show. As opposed to a traditional sports analyst who gives their immediate thoughts and opinions, Dolan has an additional layer of money being on the line for those who follow her best bets.

The challenge in making picks heightened even more when ESPN hired Dolan as a betting analyst in December 2021. Dolan interned at the network in 2017 through an Association for Women in Sports Media scholarship and kept in touch with connections she made there as an intern and production assistant.

Live television is unforgiving, and while Dolan may like a certain line or spread when she makes best bets ahead of games, she has to account for the those lines changing at any given moment, even if the outdated line made it onto an ESPN graphic. It’s a big reason why she uses social media as a vehicle for picks she likes.

“You can do all this prep, but at the end of the day, sometimes that doesn’t matter because I have to go with the exact line at the time I go on TV, so that can be challenging,” Dolan said of live betting segments. “I don’t think people understand how many numbers it takes to look at and be successful in this. And then just — it changes every second.”

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ESPN entered the sports betting space this fall, partnering with the Wyomissing, Pa.-based PENN Entertainment to form ESPN BET in August. The branded sportsbook launched in November, and, in conjunction with the endeavor, the network adjusted how it integrates betting into programming.

That’s where Dolan comes in. Before this fall, Dolan occasionally made appearances on daytime television programs, including “Dolan Out Winners” segments on SportsCenter. Now her workload includes weekly appearances on Sunday NFL Countdown and she is a key personality on ESPN BET Live alongside Tyler Fulghum.

“Having someone like her with a consistent presence on huge ESPN properties like SportsCenter and Sunday NFL Countdown has helped bring sports betting to new audiences,” Scott Clark, ESPN’s vice president, fantasy/betting content, said in an email. “When you combine that with her YouTube channel [The EKD Show] and her social media influence, you start to really see a major impact for ESPN and ESPN BET.”

Like many women in sports, Dolan deals with hecklers, doubters, and even stalkers. Growing up with a thick skin, Dolan says, has prepared her for the troubles that can come with being a woman in her industry.

In spite of that, she is blazing a trail. Before she joined PointsBet, there was no previous host to compare to, just like her current position at ESPN as a betting analyst.

“If I didn’t keep an open mind, I would have never went into sports betting, and then got back here [at ESPN] in five years where sometimes, it will take people 10 to 15 years,” Dolan said. “The social media landscape has really changed to being personality-driven, and that’s something you can’t you can’t fake. I know people can try to, but I think you can see through it.

“Now I’m at this position where I’m here at ESPN, but there’s not this next position at ESPN open for me to jump into. I’m creating that next position, if that makes sense. We’re expanding, but they need my help in this specific niche space.”

Although she’s learning to relish what she has accomplished along the way, the Delco native with Irish Catholic roots has big goals, kept in journals she has been writing in since she was 6 years old. One of those goals: to be in a bigger role on ESPN’s top channel as the network continues expanding its sports betting programming.

Odds are that Dolan’s role will only continue to grow, and that could include an opportunity as an on-site betting analyst for Sunday NFL Countdown at Super Bowl LVIII in February in Las Vegas. ESPN expects Dolan’s presence to grow in its programming.

“What I see for sports betting is greater integration into everything we do. Erin should be a big part of that, and I see that with greater presence in premier shows,” Clark said. “I see her role on Sunday NFL Countdown as a great starting point to where she should head in the future.”