Draft:Chad Millman

Chad Millman is an American journalist, author, and media executive. He is the chief content officer for Better Collective US, a sports betting media company.

PERSONAL LIFE AND CAREER
Millman was born and raised in Highland Park, Il. After graduating from Indiana University, where he majored in Journalism and Political Science, he began his career as a reporter at Sports Illustrated.

For several years he covered the NFL, including multiple Super Bowls and co-authoring an issue of the magazine in which he and another writer were embedded with the Troy Aikman-led Dallas Cowboys for a week. During his time at Sports Illustrated he also contributed to investigative pieces about betting in sports and scandals in college football.

ESPN
In 1998 Millman joined the newly launched ESPN The Magazine as an NFL editor.

Over the next several years his role evolved to include feature-writing and investigative assignments, ranging from profiles to an examination of payments to members of Michigan’s Fab Five college basketball team to a story about the bookmakers who set the point spreads for March Madness. This led to his book The Odds, about the lives of professional sports bettors in Las Vegas. He also reported a cover story for the magazine and a TV piece for E:60 about renowned poker player Phil Ivey, in which they traveled around the world on a private jet while Ivey gambled millions of dollars.

Millman eventually oversaw the magazine’s NFL, college football and investigative units during a time when the magazine won multiple national magazine awards for general excellence. He also launched the sports betting beat for ESPN, covering the world of betting from a news and information point of view. He created the Behind The Bets podcast, wrote daily columns for ESPN.com and contributed to shows such as E:60, SportsCenter and Colin’s Football Show.

In 2011, he was named editor-in-chief of ESPN The Magazine. During that time he led the expansion of The Body Issue across ESPN’s digital and TV platforms and featured NBA Commissioner Adam Silver on the cover promoting legalizing sports betting. He also oversaw multiple award-winning investigations and features, including stories about Joe Paterno’s Penn State, former Los Angeles Dodger Yasiel Puig, Baltimore Raven Ray Rice and the NFL’s concussion protocols and the National Magazine Award nominated story, Michael Jordan Turns 50.

In 2014, Millman became editor-in-chief of both ESPN The Magazine and ESPN.com. Two years later, he became editorial director for ESPN Domestic Digital. During that time he also created and produced the show, We The Fans, which aired on ESPN for two seasons.

ACTION NETWORK
In 2017, Millman left ESPN to join The Chernin Group and launch a new sports betting media company, The Action Network. Each month, through its app, website and podcasts, social handles and videos, Action provides tens of millions of fans with credible betting content. It counts the NBA, PGA Tour, MLB and NASCAR as partners and has been cited by The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post and dozens of other outlets as the premier, sports-betting media platform. Millman co-hosts a sports betting podcast, The Favorites, with with professional bettor Simon Hunter.

In 2019, the Fantasy Sports Gaming Association named Action Network as best content and best podcast. In 2022 it earned the award for best video content. .

In 2021, The Action Network was sold to Better Collective for $240M