The North American arm of La Liga, the top flight of professional soccer in Spain, announced partnerships with Polymarket in the United States and Canada.
The deal makes La Liga the first European soccer league to secure a partnership with the popular prediction platform, which offers binary contracts in industries including sports.
Key Takeaways
- La Liga is in the middle of a 20-year pledge to grow its North American audience.
- Polymarket believes that the deal will add a new layer of interaction for fans of Spanish soccer.
- The new deal means that Polymarket has agreements in soccer with La Liga, MLS, the MLS Cup, MLS All-Star, and Leagues Cup.
Sports betting and the fast-rising prediction industry have helped develop interest in non-mainstream sports. That includes European soccer, which has seen an increase in popularity in North America in recent years.
La Liga’s partnership with Polymarket will allow fans and consumers to engage with the Spanish league and its players “at an unprecedented level,” a release from the league stated.
“Soccer’s growth, especially in North America, is spearheaded by young, diverse and multicultural audiences who consume the game across multiple screens, so it’s our goal to continue to engage these demographics in new and unique ways,” soccer-focused commercial partner Relevent’s CEO and partner Boris Gartner said in an announcement. “It’s imperative we go beyond traditional engagement efforts in order to bring these audiences closer to the beautiful game than ever before, and we couldn’t think of a better partner than Polymarket to achieve that.”
In securing the partnership, Polymarket will receive visibility on La Liga’s broadcasts and fan-forward digital and social content. It will also be able to offer fan engagements such as VIP events and meet-and-greets with historic members of the league.
The announcement noted that the deal also reflects La Liga’s commitment to long-term growth in the region.
The league in 2018 launched a 20-year initiative with Relevent to grow its North American presence. It now has a list of regional partners that includes Lowe’s, McDonald’s, Walmart, Verizon, Panini, and Remitly, among others.
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Growing the North American presence
As both Polymarket and La Liga eye the potential for growth, both remain committed to the concept of responsibility and transparency for fans and customers.
The pair committed to developing a framework that would encourage fan participation without any nefarious activity, assisted by Polymarket’s recently unveiled AI-assisted sports integrity technology.
“Our goal is to give fans a more expressive way to follow the game, where opinions on players, matches, and season outcomes can be reflected in real time,” said Shayne Coplan, founder and CEO of Polymarket. “Partnering with La Liga brings that level of interaction to one of the most passionate global fanbases and introduces a new, more dynamic way for North American audiences to engage with the league.”
La Liga joins Polymarket’s growing list of professional soccer partners, having already reached deals with MLS, MLS Cup, MLS All-Star, and Leagues Cup. It also has other North American sports deals with the NHL, the first ever between a professional sports league and a prediction platform, MLB, and UFC.
The deal further ingratiates Polymarket in the world of professional sports, despite rebukes from state-level officials and critics of sports event contracts.
Sports contract controversy
While prediction market platforms maintain they are totally separate from the gambling industry, state gaming officials have insisted that their sports markets act as a form of illegal sports betting.
In recent prediction market news, a pair of senators from both major political parties introduced the Prediction Markets are Gambling Act in March to prohibit the Commodity Futures Trading Commission-licensed outlets from offering sports-related contracts.
As the controversy continues, Polymarket is working on cleaning up its marketplace. On top of its now integrity monitoring service, it implemented changes to eliminate insider trading following several suspicious wins by its users.
