Is the NFL inching closer to joining the NBA in the push for legalized sports wagering? Depends on whom you talk to.
Late last week commissioner Roger Goodell announced that teams will be allowed to do one-year pay fantasy deals for the 2015 season, all of which will be subject to review after the season. While not a huge value proposition for the long-term yet, it does open a door that had been closed for a much-needed new revenue stream for teams.
Only a few teams have inked deals so far of some sort with fantasy outfits. The Denver Broncos and the New England Patriots, each inked deals last fall with Draft Kings. Most most other clubs still deferring on what and how the decision will be made.
Patrick Smyth of the Broncos public relations office, said the team signed on with Draft Kings, one of the two big players in the Fantasy arena, last fall for good reason.
“The decision to become involved with fantasy sports provided an opportunity for us to engage and connect with our fans through a new and growing avenue,” Smyth said. “we moved forward with our partnership after consulting with the league office.”
At the time of the signing, the team explained that daily games and contests were the next frontier for fantasy sports, and that this would be another way for fans to engage with the sport and the team they love. The Patriots expressed similar reasons for being the first team in the NFL to partner with a fantasy operation.
According to a story last fall in the Boston Globe, the Patriots said then “many of our fans in the stadium are playing daily fantasy sports, and we want to provide them with the most up-to-date information.” http://www.bostonglobe.com/business/2014/10/16/draftkings/5E2bKV1bzN2103jl1lg7BO/story.html
Calls to a dozen NFL teams seeking comment about their status with fantasy sports were mostly unreturned. Two said they had no comment at this time.
The New York Giants’ Pat Hanlon did say while the team had no comment at this point, ” It’s a matter we will be discussing internally once we have all the details of what is allowable.”
Another more intriguing issue is if the NFL and other leagues like the NBA, who play games in markets like London where legal gaming is allowed, will take a big step in 2015 and license an official local betting partner. With the NFL now holding regular season games and promoting more to a global audience, a natural next step could be to pull in dollars, legal dollars, in places where the games are played.
Speaking at the Sportel Conference in Miami two weeks ago, NFL EVP of International Mark Waller was somewhat evasive and very cautious on the subject.
“Right now we are looking at all options as we should as a business, but to say the NFL will license gambling or create a partnership anywhere with a legal bookmaker is not on the table,” he said. There have been rumors that both the NFL and the NBA would sign deals this coming summer, creating a new revenue stream and again testing the waters for what legal dollars good flow in from legalized sports gambling, but right now both leagues have been relatively silent on the matter.
If the leagues were to sign deals to license their marks, it would raise an intriguing question for a state like Nevada, which currently does not have any of the four professional sports playing in the state, but is pushing hard to add the NHL with a new arena.
In year’s past, when teams like the Los Angeles Lakers played regular season games in Las Vegas, sports books would not take legal bets on the games. Now in a changing landscape, a move to have a legal betting partner abroad could open the door for a legal Nevada partner by the leagues, especially for the NHL, in advance of any federal law change to allow sports betting across the board. A host of other states continue to challenge the Federal law on sports gambling, but as of now Nevada remains the only place in the US where sports betting is legal and regulated.
Quietly some of the worlds largest betting houses have set up operations in the United States and continue to monitor the activity with regard to sports betting and pay fantasy while staying engaged in legal betting operations in sports like horse racing and poker.
Casinos are also looking for the added bump sports gambling could bring as a way to enhance team partnerships that have been in place for years as well. Is the NFL’s cautious toe in the water with pay fantasy a next step in taking the public temperature for legalized gambling and will their overseas games open other doors? Right now most are silent, but it will remain a key story to watch for when the pads go back on later this spring across America.
The issue of teams signing deals with fantasy companies came alive again last week when Daniel Kaplan of The Sports Business Journal wrote that the league was making it clear to teams they could ink one-year deals.
Kaplan wrote that the league told teams they could sign daily fantasy deals during the league’s annual meeting in Arizona.
The league said it wanted to formalize its position because it did not have a policy in that category.
Kaplan quoted an email by Brian McCarthy, the NFL’s VP/Communications, saying, “With more teams signing advertising deals last year the league reviewed the overall landscape and made a proposal to enable all clubs to explore potential arrangements. It would be for one year.”
Frank Scandale @Fscandale contributed to this report.