While many NFL franchises have eagerly embraced daily fantasy sports, the NFL, at league level, has never really flirted with the idea of officially partnering with a DFS operator. Until now!
The undisputed king of professional sports leagues in the US and one of the big rulers in the DFS realm announced Thursday a multi-year partnership that marks the beginning of a new era in the growth of the daily fantasy sports sector, which has seen its popularity skyrocket in recent years.
DraftKings and the NFL announced in a joint press release that under a long-term partnership deal, the major DFS operator is now the professional football league’s Official Daily Fantasy Partner. Under the terms of the deal, DraftKings will get exclusive NFL sponsorship in the DFS category and will gain access to NFL branding across its gaming platform.
The sports league and the DFS operator will also collaborate on content for DraftKings’ app, including logo, marks, data, NextGen stats as well as NFL-produced video clips. In addition, NFL will integrate the DraftKings brand into its own media content.
”A Defining Moment”
Commenting on their latest significant milestone, DraftKings CEO Jason Robins said that “this is a defining moment in the industry, and we are thrilled to become the first daily fantasy sports partner to enter into a formal relationship with the NFL.” The executive added that throughout their negotiations with the league, “it was evident we share a common vision around the future of fan engagement.”
Since founded in 2012, DraftKings has garnered a global DFS player base of more than 11 million. The company says that nearly 90% of its customers have participated in an NFL daily fantasy contest, which shows that the NFL has over the years maintained a position as the most popular league for daily fantasy sports.
Renie Anderson, Chief Revenue Officer and Executive Vice President of NFL Partnerships, said in the joint press release announcing the partnership that “daily fantasy football has been a tremendous vehicle for fans of all types to deepen their engagement with the NFL.”
Partnership Does Not Cover DraftKings’ Betting Division
The multi-year deal between DraftKings and the NFL does not cover the operator’s relatively young sports betting division, it became known. DraftKings has launched retail and digital sports betting operations in several states since the US Supreme Court struck down last year the long-standing PASPA ban. However, even though the company’s betting product took off quickly, especially in New Jersey, DFS contests still produce the majority of its revenue.
As for the NFL, it has been warming towards gambling, but it seems it is still not ready to embrace a full-blown partnership with a sports betting operator in the US. Aside from its DFS partnership with DraftKings, the league has tapped Caesars Entertainment Corp. as its official casino partner (minus Caesars’ sports betting offering) and Sportradar as its official sports betting data partner.
Last week, the NFL announced a multi-year deal with Australian bookmaker TAB. Under the terms of the deal, the betting operator became the official betting partner of the league in Australia. The NFL is yet to form such a partnership in its homeland, but it is apparently making cautious steps toward finding an official betting partner in the US.
Follow us on Facebook and Twitter to stay up to date on the day’s top casino news stories
