Chicago Bulls Eye Fantasy Sports Sponsorship: FanDuel, DraftKings Frontrunners
With the National Basketball Association ending its restrictions on Fantasy Sports sponsorship deals last month, the Chicago Bulls expect to jump into the fray in a very big way.
The league in recent weeks has abandoned its position on the marriage between sports and gambling, a partnership that for years has thrived in much of Europe. Commissioner Adam Silver even stated last week he believed it was “inevitable” that sports betting would be embraced by the NBA.
Earlier this month the Orlando Magic entered into the first deal with a Fantasy Sports sponsor, FanDuel.com, reportedly worth up to $2 million per year. FanDuel.com gets signage rights to the floor "apron" along the court sidelines.
In a statement, a Bulls spokeswoman said the team is "actively exploring (the fantasy sports) opportunity and anticipate(s) having conversations with various companies," though the team has no timetable for securing a sponsorship.
From ChicagoBusiness.com:
Basketball is also a sweet spot for the growing daily fantasy companies because it is a far more compelling bet for sports gamblers than playing a standard, season-long fantasy game, said Taylor Caby, who earlier this year sold his Chicago-based daily fantasy company, DraftDay, for an undisclosed amount.
Mr. Caby said about 30 percent of his daily fantasy revenue came from bettors playing NBA games — a far higher proportion than those that play season-long fantasy basketball.
"Daily fantasy sites are having success converting players that have never played fantasy basketball before into daily fantasy players," he said.
Fantasy Sports is exempt from online gambling prohibition passed in October 2006 though some states have their own laws that make Fantasy competitions borderline illegal.
As an example, Fantasy Sports concept ScoreStreak.com prohibits real money customers from these states: Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Illinois, Iowa, Louisiana, Maryland, Montana, North Dakota, South Carolina, Tennessee, Vermont, Washington, and Quebec in Canada.
Similar state restrictions can be found with the online horse racing sector, also exempt from federal prohibtion.
- Tyrone Black, Gambling911.com
