A regional sports network has secured a legal sports betting deal with the largest sportsbook in America.
On Monday, the New England Sports Network announced a multi-year sponsorship deal with FanDuel, making the retail operator and online sports betting site an official partner of NESN’s Boston Red Sox and Boston Bruins game day coverage.
“NESN is the premier destination for fans across New England to watch their teams compete and to stay up to date on the latest news surrounding their favorite players,” said FanDuel Group CCO Mike Raffensperger.
As part of the agreement, FanDuel will be integrated into NESN’s commercials, in-game advertisements, and pre-game features. The deal — which includes the upcoming 2023 Red Sox season — will also see FanDuel have a presence on NESN’s sports betting site NESNBets.com.
The Boston-based network partnered with FanDuel despite stiff competition in Massachusetts, as rival DraftKings is headquartered in Beantown.
Despite DraftKings being based in the Bay State, FanDuel presented NESN with a unique opportunity as the No. 1 sportsbook in the U.S. in terms of market share at 50%. FanDuel expanding its reach in Massachusetts comes in wake of the state legalizing retail betting on January 31.
Online sports betting in Massachusetts is expected to go live as soon as March 10, according to the state’s Gaming Commission Executive Director Karen Wells.
Not the first media partnership
FanDuel has steadily broadened its reach with other media-related deals with sports properties. In December 2022, the company inked a partnership with mixed martial arts promotion ONE Championship.
The deal includes weekly event broadcasts on FanDuel TV as part of a vow to air more than 3,000 hours of live sports on FanDuel TV and the streaming service FanDuel+.
Perfect timing
FanDuel’s partnership with NESN follows strong financial results. Last week, Flutter Entertainment — the owner of FanDuel — released its preliminary results for FY2022.
Flutter, which also owns Betfair and Sportsbet, generated $9.2 billion in revenue in FY2022 — a 27% increase year-over-year. U.S. revenue reached $3.2 billion, up 87% compared to FY2021.
FanDuel’s growth has also caught the attention of Major League Baseball. On March 2, MLB agreed to a multi-year deal with FanDuel, making the sportsbook a co-exclusive official betting partner.
As part of the pact, FanDuel has rights to MLB branding for products and marketing campaigns. It will also bolster FanDuel+ and the sportsbook app with live broadcasts of games via MLB.TV.
