On June 7, 2022, the Company’s shareholders, upon the recommendation of the Company’s Board of Directors, approved the Company’s 2022 Long Term Incentive Compensation Plan (the “2022 Plan”). The 2022 Plan authorizes the Company to issue stock options (incentive and/or non-qualified), stock appreciation rights (“SARs”), restricted stock (shares and/or units), performance awards (shares and/or units), and cash awards to executive officers, non-employee directors, other employees, consultants, and advisors of the Company and its subsidiaries. Non-employee directors and consultants are eligible to receive all such awards, other than incentive stock options. Pursuant to the 2022 Plan, an initial 6,870,000 shares of the Company’s common stock were reserved for issuance, plus any shares of common stock subject to outstanding awards under both the previous 2018 Long Term Incentive Compensation Plan, as amended (“2018 Plan”) and the Score Media and Gaming Inc. Second Amended and Restated Stock Option and Restricted Stock Unit Plan (the “theScore Plan”) as of June 7, 2022 and outstanding awards that are forfeited or settled for cash under each of the prior plans.

On June 6, 2023, the Company’s shareholders, upon the recommendation of the Company’s Board of Directors, approved an amendment to the 2022 Plan (as amended, the “2022 Amended Plan”), which increased the number of shares reserved for issuance under the plan by 7,000,000 shares to 13,870,000 shares. For purposes of determining the number of shares available for issuance under the 2022 Amended Plan, stock options, restricted stock, and all other equity settled awards count against the 13,870,000 share limit as one share of common stock for each share granted. Any awards that are not settled in shares of common stock are not counted against the share limit. As of December 31, 2023, there are 11,008,469 shares available for future grants under the 2022 Amended Plan.

The Company’s 2018 Plan authorized it to issue stock options (incentive and/or non-qualified), SARs, restricted stock (shares and/or units), performance awards (shares and/or units), and cash awards to employees and any consultant or advisor to the Company or subsidiary. Non-employee directors were eligible to receive all such awards, other than incentive stock options. Pursuant to the 2018 Plan, 12,700,000 shares of the Company’s common stock were reserved for issuance. For purposes of determining the number of shares available for issuance under the 2018 Plan, stock options and SARs (except cash-settled SARs) counted against the 12,700,000 limit as one share of common stock for each share granted and restricted stock or any other full value stock award are counted as 2.30 shares of common stock for each share granted. Any awards that were not settled in shares of common stock were not counted against the share limit. In connection with the approval of the 2022 Plan, the 2018 Plan remains in place until all of the awards previously granted thereunder have been paid, forfeited, or expired. However, the shares which remained available for issuance under the 2018 Plan are no longer available for issuance and all future equity awards will be granted pursuant to the 2022 Plan.

On April 12, 2021, the Board of Directors granted 600,000 restricted stock units and 300,000 restricted stock awards with market-based and service-based vesting conditions (collectively the “Stock Awards”), solely to the Company’s Chief Executive Officer and President pursuant to the 2018 Plan. The Stock Awards are classified as equity with separate tranches and requisite service periods identified for each separately achievable component. As of the grant date, the fair value of the Stock Awards was $48.7 million and was calculated using a Monte Carlo simulation. The fair value of the restricted stock awards was estimated at $19.4 million and segregated into 15 tranches with expense recognition periods ranging from 2.2 to 6.0 years. The fair value of the restricted stock units was estimated at $29.3 million and segregated into four tranches with expense recognition periods ranging from 6.7 to 8.7 years. We recognized $8.4 million, $8.6 million, and $6.3 million of stock compensation expense for the Stock Awards during the years ended December 31, 2023, 2022, and 2021, respectively.

In connection with the acquisition of theScore on October 19, 2021, the Company registered theScore Plan. theScore Plan authorized the Company to issue non-qualified stock options and restricted stock units to employees and service providers affiliated with theScore prior to the acquisition date. At the date of acquisition, the Company rolled over all outstanding non-vested, unexercised stock options, and non-vested restricted stock units equivalent to 853,904 shares of the Company. Each rollover option and restricted stock unit were subject to substantially the same terms and conditions applicable to the award immediately prior to the acquisition. In connection with the transaction, the vesting provisions of unvested options and restricted stock units, awarded under the theScore Plan prior to August 4, 2021, were amended to provide for a new acceleration right for legacy theScore employees and service providers. The amendment provides that, if an involuntary termination without cause occurs at any time prior to April 19, 2023, unvested options and restricted stock units will automatically accelerate and become fully vested on the effective date of termination. In connection with the approval of the 2022 Plan, theScore Plan

remains in place until all of the awards previously granted thereunder have been paid, forfeited or expired. However, the shares which remained available for future grants under theScore Plan are no longer available for issuance and all future equity awards will be pursuant to the 2022 Plan.

Stock-based compensation expense pertains to our stock options and restricted stock, including restricted stock with performance conditions. The Company recognized $85.9 million, $58.1 million, and $35.1 million stock-based compensation expense for the years ended December 31, 2023, 2022, and 2021, respectively, which is included within the Consolidated Statements of Operations as a component of “General and administrative” expense.

Stock options that expire between January 4, 2024 and November 1, 2033 have been granted to officers, directors, employees, and predecessor employees to purchase common stock at prices ranging from $2.51 to $117.82 per share, including options rolled over from theScore Plan. All options were granted at the fair market value of the common stock on the grant date (as defined in the respective plan document) and have contractual lives ranging from 4 to 10 years. The Company issues new authorized common shares to satisfy stock option exercises.


	Number of Option Shares	Weighted-Average Exercise Price	Weighted-Average Remaining Contractual Term (in years)	Aggregate Intrinsic Value (in millions)
Outstanding as of January 1, 2023	3,270,763	$27.89
Granted	846,291	$29.03
Exercised	(352,032)	$15.07
Forfeited	(54,838)	$40.24
Outstanding as of December 31, 2023	3,710,184	$29.19	6.4	$	13.8
Exercisable as of December 31, 2023	2,463,456	$24.67	5.5	$	13.4


	For the year ended December 31,
	2023	2022	2021
Weighted-average grant-date fair value of options (1)	$18.60	$30.09	$57.70
Aggregate intrinsic value of stock options exercised (in millions)	$4.1	$8.6	$53.1
Fair value of stock options vested (in millions)	$15.9	$21.3	$6.2

As noted above, the Company grants restricted stock to our employees and certain non-employee directors. In addition, the Company issues its named executive officers (“NEOs”) and other key executives restricted stock with performance conditions, which are discussed in further detail below.

The Company’s performance share programs were adopted to provide our NEOs and certain other key executives with stock-based compensation tied directly to the Company’s performance, which further aligns their interests with our shareholders and provides compensation only if the designated performance goals are met for the applicable performance periods.

Restricted stock issued pursuant to the Performance Share Program II consist of three one-year performance periods over a three-year service period. The awards have the potential to be earned at between 0% and 200% of the number of shares granted during the year ended December 31, 2021, and 0% and 150% of the number of shares granted during the years ended December 31, 2023 and 2022 depending on achievement of the annual performance goals, and remain subject to vesting for the full three-year service period.

In addition to the above, during the years ended December 31, 2023 and 2022, the Company granted employees of theScore 199,733 and 102,422 restricted units, respectively, with performance-based vesting conditions that are dependent on the achievement of certain milestones. The awards have the potential to be earned at between 0% and 100% and consist of two, one-year performance periods, each containing an applicable milestone. The awards also contain a one-year vesting requirement and vesting is subject to: (a) the satisfaction of the milestones on or before the applicable expiration date and (b) continued service through the date on which the respective portion of the awards vests.

The grant date fair value for restricted stock is generally based on the closing stock price of the Company’s shares of common stock on the trading day preceding the grant date. The grant date fair value for the performance awards issued to key employees of theScore was determined using the five-day volume weighted average closing stock price of the Company’s shares of common stock as of the trading day immediately preceding the grant date. The stock-based compensation expense is recognized over the remaining service period at the time of grant, adjusted for the Company’s expectation of the achievement of the performance conditions.


	With Performance Conditions		Without Performance Conditions
	Number of Shares	Weighted- Average Grant Date Fair Value	Number of Shares	Weighted- Average Grant Date Fair Value
Nonvested as of January 1, 2023	1,426,208	$54.68	1,342,400	$53.00
Granted	695,724	$31.49	1,039,108	$28.70
Vested	(225,935)	$48.77	(1,008,526)	$45.83
Forfeited	(84,826)	$49.24	(178,614)	$40.29
Nonvested as of December 31, 2023	1,811,171	$46.98	1,194,368	$38.03

As of December 31, 2023, the unamortized compensation costs not yet recognized related to restricted stock totaled $70.5 million and the weighted-average period over which the costs are expected to be recognized is 2.6 years. The total fair values of restricted stock that vested during the years ended December 31, 2023, 2022, and 2021 were $57.2 million, $28.8 million, and $28.9 million, respectively.

Our outstanding phantom stock units (“CPUs”) are settled in cash and entitle plan recipients to receive a cash payment based on the fair value of the Company’s common stock which is based on the closing stock price of the trading day preceding the vest date. Our CPUs vest over a period of one to four years. The CPUs are accounted for as liability awards and are re-measured at fair value each reporting period until they become vested with compensation expense being recognized over the requisite service period. The Company has a liability, which is included in “Accrued expenses and other current liabilities” within the Consolidated Balance Sheets, associated with its cash-settled CPUs of $1.2 million and $2.1 million as of December 31, 2023 and 2022 respectively.

As of December 31, 2023, there was a total of $0.6 million unrecognized compensation cost related to CPUs that will be recognized over the awards remaining weighted-average vesting period of 1.9 years. For the years ended December 31, 2023, 2022, and 2021, the Company recognized $3.3 million, $4.0 million, and $12.1 million of compensation expense associated with these awards, respectively. Compensation expense associated with our CPUs is recorded in “General and administrative” within the Consolidated Statements of Operations. We paid $4.2 million, $10.5 million, and $13.3 million during the years ended December 31, 2023, 2022, and 2021, respectively, pertaining to cash-settled CPSUs.

Our outstanding SARs are settled in cash and are accounted for as liability awards, and generally vest over a period of four years. The fair value of cash-settled SARs is calculated each reporting period and estimated using the Black-Scholes option pricing model. The Company has a liability, which is included in “Accrued expenses and other current liabilities” within the Consolidated Balance Sheets, associated with its cash-settled SARs of $5.8 million and $9.2 million as of December 31, 2023 and 2022 respectively.

For SARs held by employees of the Company, there was $1.0 million of total unrecognized compensation cost as of December 31, 2023 that will be recognized over the awards remaining weighted-average vesting period of two years. For the years ended December 31, 2023 and 2022, the Company recognized reductions to compensation expense of $3.1 million and $5.5 million, as compared to a charge to compensation expense of $3.1 million for the year ended December 31, 2021, respectively. Compensation expense associated with our SARs is recorded in “General and administrative” within the Consolidated Statements of Operations. We paid $0.8 million, $3.1 million, and $39.6 million during the years ended December 31, 2023, 2022, and 2021, respectively, related to cash-settled SARs.