DraftKings and FanDuel, Where Did The Ads Go?
@thedailypayoff
If you were one of the millions watching the National and American league Championship Series last week, you couldn’t miss the perpetual ads for FanDuel and DraftKings? Were they touting baseball, which was winding down to a precious few games and really had little opportunity for even daily fantasy play with the World Series on the horizon? Nope, it was all about football. The natural assumption, given the buying patterns past, would be that the big audience watching the Mets and Royals in the World Series would have much of the same, lining the pockets of Fox salespeople and continuing the big event drumbeat that the two biggest players in daily fantasy sports have kept going.
The result? Almost nothing. Watching the World Series, you would think DFS had been wiped from the broadcast advertising world; no ads, no billboards, no credits, no nothing. Except for maybe one or two random spots that were seen, DK and FD said adios to baseball. Was it planned, or was it in response to the criticism the industry had been received in the past month, criticism that has brought largely unwanted political attention to DFS in particular.
“Our strategy on advertising was to have a strong presence in the market for the two weeks prior to the start of the season and the first week of the season. Since then, we’ve been scaling back every week and we plan to continue to do so,” said Janet Holian, DraftKings’ chief marketing officer, in a statement in the Wall Street Journal on October 20. DK did finish their promotion for subscribers to go to the World Series, part of their partnership with Major League Baseball, and there was some in-stadium digital signage in both Kansas City and New York, but other than that, crickets in the Fall Classic.
Will the big spends come back as football heats up? Or is the heat in the industry having an effect that is hitting the advertising world hard? Is a cold turkey stop the norm, especially with football going strong and FanDuel’s second-most targeted sport, basketball, just getting going? Some found the quick and sudden shutoff more than a bit questionable.
“Taper down is one thing but to go from a full out blitz that was getting negative feedback in the business community to total radio silence during the biggest and most visible week of the year is very strange,” said Ray Katz, a well=regarded sports marketing executive and professor at Columbia University. “In the NLCS and ALCS their ads (DraftKings and FanDuel) for football where everywhere. I think it is much more a result of the negative battle they are now in the midst of and the thought that staying quiet is better than continuing to boast about massive payouts and spend through massive cash outlays when both companies are embroiled in controversy. If I’m selling sports I’m sure I’m not too happy that the spigot has suddenly gone dry, and I will be interested to see when it is turned back on. It looks like future investments may be on hold until things get a little more clearer on the business front.”
In reality both companies have kept up a smaller but still visible radio presence on outlets like Sirius XM, and DraftKings just completed an extensive onsite activation platform at the NFL London Games. FanDuel continues to do it’s in-market programs with its NFL partners, and a look at the start of the NBA season can still find signage of both companies on display in arenas. But the steady and expensive stream of ads that ran one after the next throughout every big game and event? They seem to have been removed from the marketing spend, at least for now.
How the curtailing of the ad spend has effected play and performance remains to be seen for the long run. According to for the fifth consecutive week both DraftKings and FanDuel posted positive net revenue for their NFL guaranteed prize pool contests, even though the website SuperLobby also said FanDuel to lowered the guarantee for its headliner Sunday Million contest for NFL Week 9.
There is no doubt that the lobbying and posturing for DFS will go on for some time, as politicians continue their investigations into all areas of gaming, pay fantasy and gambling. For the short term, keeping those ads to entice casual players away from the widest audience in a large scale might be the best marketing the two heaviest hitters can do for the business.
Three NBA Owners Gamble On Future Analytics
@thedailypayoff
Ted Leonsis has never been one to shy away from opportunity, and he has been very bullish on the legalization of gambling in a city, Washington, that has hid from the issue despite the fact that the municipality itself could use the tax infusion sports books good bring in as much as, or even more than, most of its neighboring states.
So it wasn’t a great surprise that this morning, broken by Bloomberg’s Scott Soshnick, came the announcement that Revolution Growth, the fund chaired by Leonsis, along with two other NBA owners of note, Mark Cuban and Michael Jordan, had made a $40 million dollar investment in Sportradar, the international data company that has emerged on the scene in the past nine months as not just the challenger, but the rising leader, in the business of leagues and analytics in their battle with incumbent STATS LLC. The deal was the latest win for Sportradar, with its US. Hub in Minneapolis, that also includes taking deals for data away from STATS for the NHL and the NFL as well as for NASCAR. What makes the deal even more intriguing is the fact that Sportradar abroad, works closely with bookmakers to provide data, giving Leonsis and company a unique partnership, should, or maybe when, sports gambling becomes league in the US outside of Nevada.
” I think a more regulated, what’s happened in Europe, where people will be able to bet. And regulating gambling I think is something that will happen here in the United States.,” Leonsis told Stephanie Ruhle at Bloomberg “GO” this morning. “ I think the states want the tax revenues. I also think you get the unsavory part of the industry away because you’ll know where the money is going. You’ll be able to do a lot better servicing for the customers. Think of the numbers, there’s $8 billion a year that legally in Las Vegas on the NFL. There’s $88 billion bet in an unregulated way, more than 10 times.”
What makes the deal even more interesting than just Leonsis are his partners. Jordan, now working to right the Bobcats, has never been one to shy away from gambling, while Cuban, known to place a poker bet now and again, has been averse to the notion of in-arena gaming, feeling that it would become too much of a distraction to fans trying to follow his Mavericks. In reality, especially with the continued stance of Commissioner Adam Silver and the ongoing scrutiny fantasy sports are receiving both at the state and the federal level. Both the Bobcats and Mans owners are seeing the potential money train, and like smart investors, are looking for the first, and most economical road in. With the NBA analytics partnership coming up soon as well, the investment by three owners may also give Sportradar an inside track into also unseating STATS in the hoops world as well, paving the way for potentially more investment from the deep pockets of NBA owners as data consumption and interest by fans grows.
While all of the legalization of sports gambling is still years away, either on the state or federal level, Tuesday’s infusion of capital into analytics by not one but three NBA high profile owners, could be a game changer as well evolves.
Police Thyself Fantasy Sports
Can the Fantasy Sports Industry police itself? The answer appears to be we are going to try with some outside help. As broken by Bloomberg’s Scott Soshnick today, The Fantasy Sports Trade Association (FSTA), announced today that it will form the Fantasy Sports Control Agency (FSCA) and appoint Former Acting U.S. Secretary of Labor Seth D. Harris to chair the independent agency charged with creating a strict, transparent and effective system of self-regulation for the businesses that comprise the fantasy sports industry.
According to the press release:
The FSCA will be empowered by the FSTA to create a system consisting of four principal parts:
Standards: Develop a system of standards for the fantasy sports industry founded on transparency, integrity and ethical behavior.
Company Controls, Processes, and Leadership: Every FSTA member company will be expected to respond to the FSCA’s standards by establishing a system of controls and processes to ensure compliance. In addition, every member company will be expected to appoint a senior leader reporting to top executives and overseeing compliance efforts.
Auditing Policies and Procedures: Implementation of a sound, regular auditing process to measure and report on company compliance.
Enforcement: Establishment of a system that provides incentives and public recognition for compliance with FSCA guidelines and penalties for failure to comply.
“The issues and opportunities facing the fantasy sports industry can be best addressed through an independent agency supported by the industry and its members,” said Secretary Harris in the release. “The FSTA will continue to work closely with state and federal lawmakers and regulators as we develop and implement strong integrity programs. We are confident that an independent control agency can prevent any unethical, dishonest, or unfair behavior. In the process, we can save lawmakers and regulators the cost and effort of intervening so that they can expend their limited resources on bigger and more societally important challenges.”
The announcement comes after the entire industry has been under fire for a series of improprieties surrounding the two biggest players in the space, FanDuel and DraftKings, who allegedly had select employees using information obtained to increase their chances of winning. This caused all involved with fantasy sports to come under fire from elected officials in numerous states who questioned the legality of Daily Pay Fantasy vs. sports gambling. Questions remain as to whether all fantasy companies, who do not have to be FSTA members to operate, will abide by the coming standards and practices, but it is a strong step in the right direction for clarity and uniformity, and brings a level of professionalism to the industry which has seen unprecedented growth in the past two to three years.
The Three Takeaways From Hashtag Sports
Last week, Hashtag Sports hosted its first-ever Hashtag Sports Fest, drawing digital leaders from across the country to the new Brooklyn Expo Center in New York City. The conference was a change from the traditional sports conference; it reflected the venue with a younger, more fluid vibe replete with food trucks and dunking basketballs, but the professionalism was certainly not lost.
1.Storytelling Is Priority One; But It has To Be Organized
“Our goal is deep storytelling with athletes that compliments the media landscape elsewhere,” said Jaymee Messler, CEO of The Players Tribune in their afternoon panel on how they continue to evolve as a platform. Messler’s thoughts were echoed on other panels throughout the two day event.
“You have to be able to communicate your messages in a coherent feed, not as one offs for everything to be effective,” added Twitter’s Danny Keens. “The continuity of the messages is what will make for successful engagement.
A narrative is nice, an organized narrative is what works.
2. Mobile Is Where The Money Is Going, Or Should Be.
Whether it was in questions about connectivity with the Barclays Center or how Bleacher Report engages fans, it was clear that mobile usage by teams leagues and brands is turning into priority one. “Before we post any story we look at how it plays out in mobile,” added USA Today’s Jamie Mottram, one of the co-founders of “For The Win.” “Of it doesn’t play well on a mobile device then we are doing it wrong.”
Keens, head of sports partnerships at Twitter, added that 90% of the video posted on the social-media platform is consumed on mobile devices. The engagement level was similar, if not bigger at Bleacher Report, where GM Dorth Raphaely noted that 80% of his site’s traffic comes from mobile and, at peak sports moments especially where consumption is with a younger audience, could go as high as 90-85 percent.
The days of the desktop first are gone.
3. eSports Entice
“You can engage a young audience at a fraction of the dollar engagement of traditional sports,” said Dan Ciccone of rEvXP. “For brands looking to find a way in, that’s really impressive and if done right, can be very powerful.” The combination of immersive experiences like Virtual Reality will also play a key factor according to some speakers. “We look at the clear picture and the crisp sound that we have created with a cardboard device connected to your phone, and you see what the possibilities are going to be going forward,” said Danny Glantz, head of AIG’s sponsorship marketing program when talking about their Rugby World Cup experience, the HAKA360.
While few could talk exactly to how brands can engage and to what extent, it was clear that eSports of today is what MMA and X Games were 10 years ago.
Storytelling through a mobile environment with a cohesive message; great points to take away from two solid days.
By: Tony Samboras
With the Breeders Cup just over three weeks away, owner and trainers are coming to the realization that more is at stake than a victory in a Breeders Cup race. Many horses will be running for year-end divisional honors to cap off a great year of racing. For three horses in particular, the coveted “Horse of the Year” is there for the taking.
The Three Best Candidates
In a year of competitive racing where most divisional honors remain wide open, the H.O.Y. honors come down to three legitimate challengers. Assuming all three horses make it into a Breeders Cup race, the three challengers are American Pharaoh, Beholder and Honor Code. Here’s a look at the scenarios that earn each horse with the trophy.
American Pharaoh – After becoming the first horse in 37 years to win the Triple Crown, many would assume the title is American Pharaoh’s by default. Not so fast. He does have five Grade I victories (Arkansas Derby, Kentucky Derby, Preakness, Belmont and Haskell), but he did get beat by a horse eligible for NW2X in the Grade I Travers. Should he win the Breeders Cup Classic, the deal is sealed and you will be looking at a unanimous H.O.Y. winner. However, he has yet to face or beat an older horse and should Beholder or Honor Code win the Classic and beat him on the square, the voters have got a lot of questions to answer. If neither of those other two horse win a Breeders Cup race, American Pharaoh should win the title easily no matter how he performs.
Beholder – Lost in the shuffle created by American Pharaoh’s Triple Crown run was another amazing year for the brilliant mare Beholder. She’s a perfect five for five on the year with the last three wins coming in Grade I races. More importantly, she absolutely destroyed a decent field of male horses in the Grade I Pacific Classic at Del Mar two races back. She has yet to break a sweat in any of her races, which indicates the racing world has not seen her best yet. All of that said, the connections (Spendthrift Farm LLC and trainer Richard Mandella) are faced with a huge decision. They could run her in the Distaff on October 30. She would be odds-on and would probably win for fun. If this is the chosen path, they would need both American Pharaoh and Honor Code to be beaten badly in order for Beholder to have a shot at the title. The other path would be to run her against the boys in the Classic and let the cards fall where they may.
Honor Code – Of the three contenders, Honor Code has the toughest path to the H.O.Y. title. He’s in the running because of victories in the Grade I Metropolitan Mile at Belmont and Grade I Whitney Handicap at Saratoga. These are arguably the two most prestigious races in the nation for older horses. The only real chance he has to claim the title is to enter and win the Classic beating both Beholder and American Pharaoh. Any other result would leave him markedly short. The biggest problem is that his connections might opt for the Breeders Cup Dirt Mile.
As the Breeders Cup approaches, online race books will have free bet offers for free bets on the races at Keeneland. If you can find free bet offers, the best value in the Breeders Cup might be putting your free bets on Beholder at around 5-2 in the Breeders Cup Classic over the boys.
by Tony Samboras
There is very little difference between playing fantasy football for cold hard cash and wagering on NFL games. Participants are constantly on the troll for the best sports betting system and best betting strategies, looking for that key advantage. One of the key differences is fantasy sports participants take it down to the player’s level.
Getting It Wrong
When wagering on sports, you have one shot to be right. You get it wrong and you lose immediately. This is even true when you place a futures wager on winning the Super Bowl or on the number of wins a team will have in a season. When participating in fantasy football leagues, you are afforded opportunities to make adjustments as the season progresses. These adjustments are made through trade or through the use of the waiver wire. The reality is most people can derive very little benefit from a trade since most trades will trend towards being balanced. With the waiver wire, you can make strategic decisions that can literally turn your season around. That makes the waiver wire your best friend.
Understanding Your League’s Waiver Rules
Claiming players from waivers is not always as easy a picking up one player and releasing another. Each league has a set protocol on how waivers will be treated. In some leagues, it might be first-come-first-serve while in others a priority system is in place to dictate who gets who and when. There might even be a bidding system for the acquisition of players on waivers. As a manager, it is very important for you to understand your league’s rules in order to maximize your ability to use the waiver wire effectively.
When to Seek Refuge From Waivers
Obviously, injured players need to be replaced. That much is clear. It’s when managers need to start looking at player performance that mistakes get made. As a manager, you don’t have the luxury of holding onto players who aren’t producing. You have to be willing to face the facts (stats) and make decisions accordingly. A slumping player is a slumping player whether he was an All-Pro last year or a bench warmer. How many times have you seen a starting quarterback go down and the team’s wide receivers take a big hit to their stats? When it becomes evident a player’s level of contribution will not serve your needs, it’s time to admit the mistake and start looking for players who are available and have been making the kinds of contributions that will bolster your team.
What to Look for From the Waiver Wire
As a good manager, you eyes should be pinned to the waiver list. Of course, everyone is looking for the players who have a breakout week, but caution is warranted. One game does not make a streak. Even if a player does breakout, your priority number or bidding power might put you behind several other managers who are seeing the same thing. The way you get an advantage is by looking for players who are trending upwards. Perhaps they started the season on the bench. An injury or two gets them playing time and they start getting involved in the offense. Bam! That’s the guy you want. You might be one injury away from having a top 10 performer at a given position. It’s far better to carry a couple of these types of players than to carry starters who statistically rank towards the bottom of their position.
By applying the concepts behind using the best sports betting system or some of the best betting strategies, you can learn to become a better fantasy sports manager. The key to success is learning to see what other don’t see and using that to your advantage. Remember this; More than a few leagues have been won because of waiver wire acquisitions.
@thedailypayoff
A major scandal is erupting in the multibillion dollar industry of fantasy sports, the online and unregulated business in which players assemble their fantasy teams with real athletes. On Monday, the two major fantasy companies were forced to release statements defending their businesses’ integrity after what amounted to allegations of insider trading, that employees were placing bets on information not available to the public.
Last week, a DraftKings employee admitted to inadvertently releasing data before the start of the third week of N.F.L. games, a move akin to insider trading in the stock market. The employee – a midlevel content manager — won $350,000 at rival site FanDuel that same week.
The incident has raised questions about who at daily fantasy companies has access to valuable data, how it is protected and whether the industry can — or wants — to police itself.
The leagues have been swelling in popularity, their advertisements blanketing football game broadcasts.
Continue reading more at source.
Full credit to source: New York Times accessed here http://nyti.ms/1LcSdTy
Record Amount of Legal NFL Money Wagered in UK; Gambling Partnerships Coming?
Several years ago, Mike Vaccaro for the New York Post wandered into a legal betting parlor in London prior to a Giants appearance in and NFL London game and asked to place a bet. The clerk looked stunned, wandered away from the window and came back a few minutes later, telling him that it was the first request of the day he had on the NFL, but yes, there was a game and yes he could place a bet.
Times have changed.
Today, according to multiple sources and detailed by ESPN’s David Purdum, more money was bet on the New York Jets-Miami Dolphins game at U.K. sportsbook Ladbrokes than any previous NFL game; 10 times more than the average NFL game played in the United States (which can be bet on legally in the UK) and close to what was on Sunday’s Premier League matches. One estimate was as much as £200,000 wagered on the game.
While there is no way to know for sure if the majority of that money was placed by American expats or a growing audience of Brits loving American football, it is worthwhile noting that the record amount of legal wagering comes the same week as the NFL and DraftKings announcing a partnership for the league’s London games for multiple years, at a time when DK has officially secured a betting license in the UK, something rival FanDuel does not have, and only one other U.S. connected daily fantasy player, Mondogoal has (but they are only doing soccer daily pay fantasy right now).
Ironically the next UK NFL game later this month will again be hosted by The Jacksonville Jaguars, who have a massive DFS partnership with FanDuel, setting up yet another conflict in the DFS space between team and a league which does not have an official partner yet. It will also be worth noting the amount of dollars wagered on the coming games as well, as the appetite and interest in legal professional wagering continues to grow at a pace which could someday outflank the now blossoming DFS market here in the United States.
The amount of money wagered in the game on Sunday will also be quietly noted by the American professional leagues, who get no take on that revenue since there are no formal relationships with betting companies in places where gambling is legal. However rumors continue to persist that the NBA, and the NFL, could sign legal deals for overseas games in the coming months, giving the leagues a chance to take in money on legal sports wagering outside the U.S. much like many teams are doing with DFS partnerships now.
A partnership with a legal betting house is the norm for many teams and leagues abroad, and is a growing stream of revenue that is currently being missed out on by U.S. professional sports, since a betting partnership would again cloud the air in support or lack of support for current federal law. The NHL will face a similar situation should it award a franchise to Las Vegas in the coming months, as gambling is legal in Nevada and there are no rules for a team not to have an official betting partner in a state where such activity is legal. Stopping such a deal could be akin to prohibiting the now profitable lottery business for teams, or even for that matter, the exploded amount of money inbound with DFS partnerships. Legal is legal.
Partnership or not, the noise and revenue around an audience more comfortable with legal gambling and a better understanding of American sport continues to grow. If Vaccaro returned to that betting house today, it would be quite a busy place on an NFL Sunday.
Ex Comish Stern “All In” For Legal Gambling Push
“Let’s go all the way.” Not something you sometimes expect a 70 something year old man with a new hip to say and raise eyebrows, but there it was, former NBA Commissioner David Stern’s bold statement live and on stage Thursday morning before a full house at the Liberty Theater in Times Square.
Stern, along with Monumental Sports founder Ted Leonsis were two of the key speakers as part of a content packed session hosed by New York Venture Capital Sports as part of Advertising Week, and the ex-Comish was in full speculation mode in his 45 minute discussion with media consultant Shelley Palmer. Stern, now working with on many digital startup projects with Greycroft Partners , has usually passed off opinion on the issue of sports gambling to his more vocal successor on the subject, Adam Silver, but on this morning the comish laid it all on the table.
The recent scrutiny being brought to the loophole of DFS and the growing league partnerships, he said, makes it clear that gambling on sports is becoming more and more of a certainty, and with that, he is now more bullish than ever on full Federal-regulated legalized gambling than at any point when he served as commissioner. With FanDuel aligned with the NBA and now the NFLPA able to offer likeness endorsements to players for DraftKings, the blurring of lines between sports leagues and at least daily pay fantasy is getting less clear, and the move to bring actual gambling vs. just pay fantasy, would be a win for all.
As has been clearly stated for several years the overturning of Federal law to move the process is being challenged but not successfully to date, and now with Rep. Frank Pallone from New Jersey calling for inquiries into the legality of DFS Washington is now more actively looking at the best, and most effective path to reining in the overall industry. Most officials feel that full legalization is still years away, but having the current, and now ex-NBA Commissioner both publicly on board certainly makes the conversation louder.
While NFL Goes To London, Lines Up Fan Duel, Palumbo Says Hearing Coming
On Friday came the announcement that DraftKings, now with a UK gaming license in place, signed a multi-year deal with the NFL for promoting its London games, a city where gambling is legal and betting lines on this Sunday’s matchup will be front and center with bookmakers, right alongside The Premier League and the Rugby World Cup .
According to the a press release, Draft Kings will host events outside of Wembley Stadium prior to all three games, with additional events at Trafalgar Square on Saturday, October 3 and on Regent Street on Saturday, October 24. At these events, fans can take part in a series of American football skills challenges to win merchandise, prizes and money-can’t-buy experiences.
And of course, DraftKings advertising will also appear during the broadcast of NFL games on Sky Sports TV in the United Kingdom.
This latest announcement again shows the changing landscape, especially with the massive marketing dollars being spent right now by DFS. As of this weekend, 28 of the league’s 32 teams are partnered with either DraftKings or FanDuel and FanDuel sponsors a regular segment at NFL.com. Is the NFL now more aligned because of the dollars and the increasing fan interest? Or are we still in the originally proposed one year review period, with deals and investments now going well beyond what seems like a trial period?
What is clear is that DFS and the NFL is front and center, and those one year” look and see” deals the NFL have imposed will be escalating as long as the dollars remain flowing.
As his home state Jets are playing abroad on a rainy weekend, New Jersey Congressman Frank Palumbo again was incredulous at what he called the continued hypocrisy of the money going into DFS and the lack of dollars flowing into the coffers of states if sports gambling was regulated. “It continues to be ridiculous, as the leagues are making more and more money from partnerships and advertising in what is becoming more and more a large business that is in effect, gambling while they continue to fight states like New Jersey in the courts,” Palumbo said. “The money that the leagues are making may be going to pay the legal bills of all the lawyers engaged in lawsuits to block what is a fair proposal to legalize sports betting, where it could be going into areas that will help the community (through taxes collected). Everyone is making money except the states on this.”
While Palumbo was not aware of the latest deal with the NFL and DraftKings overseas, he was aware of the fact that DraftKings now has a legal betting license in the UK, which in his opinion again blurs the line between “fantasy” and legal sports betting. “The loophole was created not for the massive amounts of money that everyone from the leagues, and now the players (referring to the NFLPA deal with DraftKings this week) and the teams are benefitting from, it was created for casual fans who wanted to engage in fantasy sports with little to no cost,” he said. “This is now a massive multi-million dollar business and we need to look at it and make some hard decisions on where these dollars should be going.” Palumbo’s well documented fight maintains that the legalization of sports betting will put money back into municipalities through taxes and would help bring organized crime away from sports gambling. On Thursday at the NYVC Sports Advertising Week event in New York, Washington Wizards and Capitals owner Ted Leonsis estimated that the figure in illegal gambling on a football may be as high as $800 billion, compared to the $8 billion legally wagered in Las Vegas on NFL Sundays. Like Palumbo, Leonsis felt those dollars could help offset costs with everything ranging from improving infrastructure to maintaining school programs.
As far as what’s next for Palumbo’s fight on Capitol Hill, he said that a hearing is expected in the coming months before winter recess, and could be as early as the next month, with a bipartisan group looking very closely at the DFS issue with professional sports and then deciding on potential next steps not just on fantasy but on sports betting as well, either on the state level or on a full federally regulated program.
“What we are suggesting is very fair for all involved, and will hold people accountable,” he said. “Many of the leagues continue to say they are not involved in gambling, yet there are millions being spent every week that they, especially the NFL now, are taking advantage of, and you can’t have it both ways.”
Rugby, soccer or NFL this weekend in London? Safe bet all will have wagering, and that’s no fantasy.
NFLPA Goes Deep For Its Fantasy Play
@TheDailyPayoff
Less than six months ago, any mention of the NFL and official partnerships with any DFS company was brought with a deafening silence. Little to no official capacity existed with the bigger players, DraftKings and FanDuel, and no teams were actively engaged (albeit Kraft Sports group did have a stake in Boston-based DK). The response from the NFL continued to be wait and see.
Now as we head toward the fourth week of the NFL season, the field has changed, with big dollars flowing for all NFL properties, from teams and broadcast, now to players. As reported on numerous sites Tuesday, NFL Players Inc., the NFLPA’s marketing and licensing arm, has signed a group licensing partnership with DraftKings, which will allow some high-profile players to participate in the daily fantasy site’s marketing efforts. The agreement will allow DraftKings the right to employ active NFL players for in-product and promotional campaigns across print, social media, digital and mobile.
DraftKings VP/Business Development Jeremy Elbaum in a statement said, “To feature NFL players as part of our marketing efforts adds a level of excitement and connectivity to the game that is a huge win for us and our community.”
While neither side could point to an exact dollar amount, the deal is a landmark change in stance, another one, that will put added revenue directly to players who can be in uniform and be referenced in the promotions. The Patriots Ron Gronkowski is the first player on board, and certainly won’t be the last. The deal also shows the larger marketing spend now available to the NFLPA, as they left their previous partnership with smaller service DailyMVP to join DraftKings.
The deal also represents a continued football yin and yang, as a majority of the teams in the NFL have one year marketing deals with FanDuel, something which will may create even more confusion in the consumer marketplace as teams can be marketing one deal while players engage in a competitors product. It also will be an interesting test to see if the other Player’s Associations will also come on board, although at this point the NBAPA does not yet control player licensing rights like the NFLPA and the MLBPA has.
What is not confusing is that DFS and the NFL is front and center, and those one year” look and see” deals the NFL have imposed will be escalating as long as the dollars remain flowing.
College’s Reality; To Take Fantasy Or Not?
A few weeks ago as the Daily fantasy business mushroomed with the start of football season, many were wondering if North America’s second-largest sports property, college football, would be prime for growth. Companies like DraftPot, a step below the behemoths FanDuel and DraftKings, were offering up games and looking to activate on college campuses to find ways to get more millennials involved on busy weekends, and why not pull in DFS college games at the bigger schools as well.
On the revenue side, the NCAA has been anti-fantasy, which did not stop small games from being launched using college data, but it did prohibit major schools with massive following from officially engaging in college-specific DFS. What it did NOT do was stop colleges from taking broadcast advertising revenue from the massive troves of DraftKings and FanDuel, who continue to mine the football and sports crazy world for more subscribers. Will all of that change?
At the annual meeting of the Division I Athletic Directors Association in Dallas on Tuesday, many NCAA leaders spent time discussing the legality of DFS and how to best handle a practice that the federal government deems legal, but the NCAA universally considers a threat to the integrity of college sports.
While NCAA bylaws prohibit any kind of fantasy engagement, a 2013 NCAA survey of student athletes found that 20 percent still participated in some kind of fantasy sports. The recent spend by DFS has raised more issues with college administrators, with Larry Scott, the Pac-12 Commissioner being the first to potentially say no on a conference level to the ad dollars coming in from DFS if that company offered college games in addition to tis advertised NFL, MLB and NBA products.
However while the rhetoric flies, only the SEC Network has actually pulled its daily fantasy ads, but even that move may not be more than window dressing. ESPN, which owns and operates the SEC Network, has a lucrative and exclusive deal with DraftKings and has been its most public ambassador of advertising, with a multitude of ads and multi-platform branding efforts.
There also is the question of revenue. While major conferences bask in the glow of College Football Championship money, those outside the big five need new streams of income, and DFS advertising dollars thus far have been too big, and too valuable to ignore for broadcast. Like other “vices,” beer for example, where there was a hard line once, the line is now blurred, and with the changing legal battle that line may also blur with college athletics and fantasy.
Integrity as a stance by the NCAA s one thing, whether the dollars can meld that integrity will be another.
Vulcun Looking To Seize The eSports Fantasy Niche
This past week the two phenomena chasing the sports and entertainment industry, eSports and Daily Pay fantasy, came crashing into each other as both DraftKings and Fan Duel announced deals or initiatives to put themselves into the space, and Turner and IMG/William Morris Endeavor announced their own deal to create a “league” in the space.
At the same time another startup in the melded world of ESports Fantasy was making their case at the OnDeck Sports Conference in New York. It is Vulcun, an up and running esports Fantasy business run out of the Bay area.
Vulcun allows you to win money playing daily fantasy eSports on titles like League, DOTA2, CS:GO, CoD and more. To date this year Vulcun has distributed over $7 million in prizing to 150,000+ winners. We caught up with Ed Chang is the VP of Business Development at Vulcun to talk about the space, the opportunity and where it is going.
Vulcun appears to have seized a suddenly very hot niche, what is the value proposition offered vs. the larger traditional daily fantasy companies entering the market? What makes you work better?
I believe that we understand eSports better than the other large players. We understand that it’s not as simple as duplicating the fantasy football or basketball playbook. We’ve also managed to nail down the community part much better than the others and it shows in the amount of engagement on our different properties at all times.
Egaming is very much not the traditional sports play. Why would fantasy egaming work?
Why wouldn’t it? Anytime there’s actionable stats there’s the potential for fantasy. Each game has kills, assists, deaths and its own unique stats like flag captures, minions killed, gold spent, mana crystals unused, damage per round, etc. Not to mention the worldwide appeal of eSports, with huge fan followings and hundreds of millions of eyeballs
How is the audience different from say, football or baseball fantasy? Younger, global?
Generally 18-34 year old males. eSports is truly global, as opposed to sports like American Football (huge in the US), soccer (bigger in Europe and South America), etc. Also, eSports world championships (like the League of Legends World Championships, The International for DOTA2, Majors for CS:GO) bring the best from all around the world and happen yearly.
Who are the players and properties people should watch for?
Currently the top eSports are League of Legends, Counter-Strike:Global Offensive, DOTA2 and Hearthstone. Titles to keep an eye on are Call of Duty:Black Ops 3, Halo 5 (both studios are making huge investments in eSports in 2016), Vainglory (first mobile game in my opinion that has a chance to be an eSports) and Rocket League (just really fun).
Is there a worry that a young audience would not have the access to cash that a traditional Daily Pay Fantasy player would have?
The demographic that DFeS has is very similar to DFS. At the end of the day, with the DFS model you’re reliant on a small group of whales/sharks (those losing and winning lots of money on the platform) and an ocean of fish (people that play infrequently or rarely in small amounts).
There is a misconception that “egaming” is one entity, when in reality it is more like the Olympics. Fans of DOTA don’t play or follow World of War Craft, like skating fans may not follow skiing. How do you scale egaming fantasy as a business with that in mind?
eSports is also like your Olympics example, where when I’m sitting on the couch watching and figure skating is over and curling is on, I’ll watch some of it. Sometimes, hockey comes on instead and I’m hooked. Anecdotally, I’ve seen us be able to convert League of Legends into Call of Duty fans because League isn’t in season and they want something to play. With our digital skins stuff we’re doing, we’ve gotten thousands of users to purchase Counter-Strike because they’ve won items and wanted to see what the fuss is about.
What are some of the success stories in egaming fantasy? Whats games have seen an uptick in fantasy?
Earlier this year we had the first $100k DFeS winner (http://venturebeat.com/2015/06/19/vulcun-gives-its-first-100k-prize-to-a-fantasy-esports-player/) and today we have many. We’ve given . One semi-surprising game that we’ve seen surprising numbers on is Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare. It’s a huge franchise, but most of the anticipation is for Black Ops 3 coming out, and the MLG league was the only one that was running, but numbers have been great.
You talked about owned currency and the purchase of items by fans. That is something that traditional fantasy does not have. How does that factor into the value of running an egames fantasy business?
It allows us to do a lot more. As our focus shifts beyond being a one-trick DFeS pony, we’re in a world where we can give rewards that are arguably more valuable than cash without dealing with supply chain or shipping and handling issues. We’re getting closer and closer to our goal of being a platform making eSports 100X more fun.
Has a lot of research gone into seeing if the fans want to play fantasy or is it more anecdotal at this point?
I’m not sure the method to the madness that Ali and Murti (co-founders of Vulcun) used to arrive to the conclusion of building the FanDuel/Draftkings for eSports in the first place but our numbers back up our funding and the hype. One of our core company values is speed – speed in building products, speed in getting things done and also speed in quickly figuring out if something’s working or not.
What is the esports fantasy market now vs. where you think it will be in two years, and why?
According to this report it’ll be $20mm in entry fees on 600,000 users. I think it has the potential to be 5-10x as big, due to current eSports growth numbers and the entrant of big players.
What do you think about the Turner announcement this week? Do you think egamers will actually migrate back to broadcast after so many have said that platforms like Twitch are where the fans are?
I think most people who have been involved in eSports long enough have a similar approach – cautiously optimistic. We’ve been here before and we’ve been burned before with DirecTV and the CGS. I think it’ll be difficult to bring gamers back to broadcast — all industry studies show that the younger generation is cutting the cord. Less than 10% of my friends currently pay for cable and I think that number will continue to trend downwards and I don’t think 2 10-week CS:GO seasons a year is enough to convince someone to shell out $50+ a month.
Lastly for Vulcun, what would make for a successful business story a year from now?
We’ve successfully transitioned into an end-to-end eSports platform. And we buy DraftKings.
Is USADA Tipping The Odds In Boxing?
There are no more conflicted sports than boxing, Promoters cut their own deals, manage fighters on both sides of the card, control purses and rarely do the boxers themselves, other than the biggest stars, get their fair shake on the business side. One of those exceptions is Floyd Mayweather Jr. who will fight Andre Berto this Saturday in Las Vegas in what will be another solid payday despite lackluster overall interest in the fight. However big names still bring big dollars on the gambling side, and the sportsbooks in Las Vegas should make a nice bit of change as the champ steps into the ring on a weekend when football is back as well.
However as the fight comes about, another conflicted and dark cloud appears to be rising over boxing, the work that the United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) is or isn’t doing to test for PED’s, and then how that process is being conveyed in and around fights to the public.
Longtime boxing writer Thomas Hauser takes USADA to task in a lengthy story on SB Nation this week (seen here : http://www.sbnation.com/longform/2015/9/9/9271811/can-boxing-trust-usada , detailing how before the May 2 fight against Manny Pacquiao, Mayweather didn’t comply with World Anti-Doping Agency guidelines, and received a retroactive exemption for the IVs from the USADA almost three weeks after the fight.
For 20 days after the IV was administered, USADA chose not to notify the NSAC about the procedure. Finally, on May 21, USADA sent a letter to Bennett and NSAC chairman Francisco Aguilar, with a copy to Top Rank (Pacquiao’s promoter), informing them that a retroactive therapeutic use exemption (TUE) had been granted to Mayweather, who didn’t apply for the TUE until 18 days after his fight against Pacquiao. The issue is less with Mayweather, and more with USADA, who in many instances, the latest being with the UFC, where they are paid to work for the governing body and potentially for the promoter, which creates massive conflicts as to how things are actually being governed and communicated to the public.
From a gambling standpoint the use of PED’s and the lack of clarity can cloud the odds for a fight, and creates the air of impropriety around a sport that is already shaded in mystery and innuendo. The debate about USADA’s practices is certainly not going to go away, and will be amplified even more in the coming weeks with the release of “DOPED: The Dirty Side of Sports,“ which will debut on the premium channel EPIX on September 30 at 8:00 pm. Produced by Andrew Muscato and Bobby Valentine, the film takes a longer look into the issues in and around the Anti-Doping business, with Hauser and others, including former champion Paulie Malignaggi, laying out there issues with doping, clarity of testing and conflict of interest in boxing, while other loud voices in the field speak to issues on the Olympic level and in sports like baseball.
Is the current USADA problem something which can be cleared up, or will it continue to drag boxing back into cloudy waters. While big fights like this weekend’s will draw eyeballs and gamblers, the issue of fight fixing, or insider information when it comes to injury and PED’s, is something that speaks to a larger issue in sport; namely who is monitoring the monitors?
By Terry Lyons @terrylyons, Contributing Columnist for @TheDailyPayoff
In the eastern USA, it’s getting dark at 7pm, the networks have concluded their endless broadcasting of meaningless NFL preseason games and, for you Steely Dan fans out there, the Wolverine is on its way towards Annandale.
Which means, summer is almost over.
There’s been plenty of news posted on The Daily Payoff during the past two months but maybe, like me, you’ve been preoccupied, reading those trashy paperback novels, listening to the sounds of summer at the beach or watching the Red Sox stumble to another last place finish.
To be sure you’re up-to-speed, I’m shaking the sand out of the beach chair and my reporter’s notebook to review a few important occurrences which took place during the past two months while we were all Gone Fishin’.
1. Triple Crown winner American Pharoah took the track at Monmouth Park for The Haskell and did not disappoint a New Jersey record 60, 983 horse racing fans who turned out to see the champ continue his winning ways after a 58-day lay-off from the historic win at the Belmont Stakes. Pharoah then was saddled up for The Travers at Saratoga and the track’s reputation as the “Graveyard of Champions” remained intact as longshot “Keen Ice” upset the triple crown winner. On October 31, all eyes will be on American Pharoah at the Breeders’ Cup Classic at Keeneland which is expected to be the colt’s last race before heading out to stud and a cool $150,000 per pop. What a horse! What a life!
2. The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) declined jurisdiction over the plight of Northwestern University football players seeking to register as a union. The unanimous decision by the NLRB avoided involvement in the hot potato of “student athlete” rights as they pertain to the NCAA, but it noted the ruling pertained to State-run universities and did not address private schools. The issue of paying collegiate players to play remains a possibility and the case it likely to be appealed to Federal Court.
3. Speaking of Federal cases, DeflateGate was resolved, at least temporarily, when Judge Richard Berman of the US Federal Court, Southern District of New York vacated Tom Brady’s four-game suspension. The judge also took the NFL to task on various procedures of its flimsy Wells Report and subsequent hearing before “Cop-Judge-Jury” Commissioner Roger Goodell. Remember, it all began on January 18, 2015 and could have been resolved by January 20 with some foresight by the NFL and the Patriots. Overall, the entire process has been a colossal waste of time and, ultimately tax-payers money. While it’s now subject to the NFL’s appeal, the entire ridiculous fairytale was possibly a giant smoke-screen left to cover the NFL’s more problematic player image headlines, like Ray Rice and several other domestic violence cases.
4. Although dozens of popular and admirable athletes, executives and administrators have passed away in 2015, some taken far too early, it’s important to recognize the passing of former NY Giants star Frank Gifford. Known to so many as the chiseled and competent anchor of Monday Night Football from 1971 to 1998, Gifford passed away from natural causes on August 9th, a week before his 85th birthday. He was lauded for his pioneering role in transitioning from athlete to broadcaster. Rest in Peace to Giff.
5. Before the 2015 NFL season kicks-off, the two industry leaders of Daily Fantasy Sports, Draft Kings and Fan Duel, will have spent a combined $110 million dollars – just on TV ads, with a reported $86.2 million attributed to Draft Kings, according to combined reports by ispot.tv and Kantar Media. Those figures do not – repeat NOT – include the millions spent on radio, digital and traditional billboard and print advertising deals. As the popular and DFS friendly NFL season kicks-off on September 10 and continues with its full schedule on September 13, the barrage of advertising done by Draft Kings and Fan Duel, already ubiquitous, will reach spending levels only approached in prior years by the beer companies. Jason Robbins, CEO of Draft Kings, and Nigel Eccles, the head of Fan Duel, can both be crowned as the most powerful men in sports in 2015.
6. On August 25, the Third US Circuit Court of Appeals ruled against the State of New Jersey to uphold prior verdicts that NJ’s plans to authorize sports betting were a violation of the federal law, the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act. The court’s ruling points any future movement in the legalization of sports betting to Congress. Vocal NJ State Senator Ray Lesniak will need to ramp up efforts at the Congressional level, not via his own’s state government, to make any further progress. In the past, NBA Commissioner Adam Silver, who opposed the efforts in NJ, has written that he and the league support a federally legislated and regulated law to allow sports gambling. The late August ruling will shelve the issue for years to come, unless you believe Congress can actually get something done?
7. Boston 2024 is no longer. Since I dedicated an entire column to the issue on July 8, I will spare readers from past details of Boston’s inept bid and the politics surrounding every decision. Instead, I must note the lost opportunity of hosting an Olympic Games has most Boston and Massachusetts residents singing “Hallelujah,” while some of us wonder if our generation will accomplish anything of significance or just continue to complain about everything and do nothing? The US Olympic Committee and the City of Los Angeles quickly moved forward and have plans to nominate LA as a potential host of the 2024 Games, but the City of Angels will face very stiff competition from the likes of Rome and Paris for the IOC’s blessing to host the youth of the world in 2024. My money is on Paris.