FanDuel Signed a Deal with Daniel Snyder and the Washington Redskins Later in the Week
When DraftKings signed a sponsorship deal with the New England Patriots this week, the Pats became the first NFL franchise to have an official sponsorship with a daily fantasy sports website. The same cannot be said of other American sports leagues, such as the NBA, Major League Basebel, and NHL. All three have multiple deals with DSL websites, including DraftKings.
DraftKings is located in Boston, Massachusetts, so the gaming company chose a natural corporate alliance to make. Though DraftKings has no other NFL sponsorships at the moment, it does has a number of NHL and MLB sponsorships. At present, Draftkings sponosers the New York Rangers, the St. Louis Blues, and the Boston Bruins. Draftkings also sponsors eight baseball teams, including the Boston Red Sox and the Kansas City Royals. DraftKings also has a sponsorship deal with Major League Baseball.
DraftKings Sponsor New England Patriots
Patriots Vice President of Corporate Sales Murray Kohl told the Boston Globe, “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.”
Femi Wasserman, DraftKings Vice President of Communications, said, “We knew that when we closed on the (VC) round that we were going to go after top-tier partnerships. This partnership is a direct outgrowth of that.”
With all of the talk of 50-state sports betting being a danger to the American sports leagues–including a lawsuit by the NFL, NBA, NHL, and MLB against New Jersey–it is startling to see the leagues and their franchises signing advertising deals with legalized betting sites. While the fantasy sports is undoubtedly legal, few people would argue that one-day fantasy sports isn’t betting.
The current federal laws are not the fault of the DSL websites, though. They are running legitimate operations which allow gamblers to enjoy fantasy football, along with the baseball, basketball, and hockey versions of fantasy sports. Betters can even enter contests involving NCAA football and basketball games.
About the new sponsorship deals, DraftKings CEO Jason Robins said, “It hasn’t been a big issue for us. If you had talked to me a year or two ago when there was a lot less awareness of fantasy sports and DraftKings, those questions would have come up.”
DraftKings is not the only DSL website sponsoring teams in the American sports associations. One major rival to DraftKings has developed close ties to America’s premier basketball association, the NBA.
FanDuel Sponsors 6 NBA Teams
FanDuel has a number of sponsorship deals with NBA teams, including the Los Angeles Lakers, the New York Knicks, the Brooklyn Nets, the Chicago Bulls, the Orlando Magic, and the Dallas Mavericks. At the same time, FanDuel also has a sponsorship deal with the NBA.
Washington Redskins Deal
Later in the week, FanDuel later signed a deal with the Washington Redskins. When the corporate sponsorship deal with Daniel Snyder’s Washington Redskins was signed, FanDuel CEO Nigel Eccles said, “The Washington Redskins executive team is forward thinking, innovative and run a world-class operation. The Redskins are an invaluable strategic partner for FanDuel as we continue to bring one-day fantasy football to the masses.”
Daily Fantasy Sports Explained
Daily fantasy sports, sometimes called “DSL” or one-day fantasy sports, is the latest pop culture phenomenon in the fantasy sports world. Such gambling was invented about 5 years ago to take advantage of a carve-out in the UIGEA, which banned sports gambling.
The UIGEA targets money transfers services which help people deposit or withdraws funds on any site which facilitates any activity which is banned under the 1961 Wire Act. If you take a liberal view of the Wire Act, then you believe the UIGEA applies to sports betting, online casinos, and Internet poker rooms. If you take a more conservative view of the Wire Act, then you believe that the UIGEA applies only to online sports wagers. (Ironically, conservatives often take the liberal view and liberals often take the conservative view on the UIGEA.)
Carve-Out in the UIGEA
The U.S. Congress created three carve-outs in the UIGEA. “Carve-outs” are specific forms of gambling which are given explicit approval under the law. The carve-outs were for horse racing, lottery gambling, and fantasy sports betting.
What the politicians didn’t anticipate were daily fantasy contests. They assumed betting on 4-month or 7-month yearly leagues. Such gambling is unappealing to gamblers, because their money is tied up too long. For that reason, the lawmakers say no reason to worry about fantasy sports and were happy to leave fantasy football owners alone. Only when ingenious folks began offering daily fantasy football did the law seem inadequate.
Is Daily Fantasy Sports Gambling?
Many observers see no difference in DSL sites and online sports betting sites. Both involve sports. Both involve betting. Both happen instantly or in one day of events.
At the moment, two major competitors exist in the daily fantasy sports market, though many lesser sites also exist. The two top competitors are FanDuel and DraftKings. Both have major corporate investors and a growing network of sponsorship deals.
