NFL betting won’t be anything new for FanDuel sportsbook customers in Pennsylvania and New Jersey this fall. However, the brand seems determined to become the dominant sportsbook operator for football bettors across the US.
This week, FanDuel became the first sportsbook operator to officially partner with an NFL franchise for the promotion of sports betting. Furthermore, FanDuel closed a deal for access to the NFL’s official data service.
FanDuel, NFL take major steps for 2020 and beyond
On Monday, FanDuel helped the NFL turn a significant page. FanDuel became the first official sportsbook partner of an NFL franchise, specifically the Denver Broncos.
It’s a pivotal milestone because, as recently as three years ago, the NFL strongly opposed the expansion of legal sports wagering in the US. Now, an NFL team will collect revenue from a sportsbook operator.
FanDuel wasn’t done there, however. On Wednesday, Sportradar announced it expanded its existing partnership with FanDuel to include access to the NFL’s official data feed.
Data providers, like Sportradar, are vital vendors for sportsbooks. They collect and distribute information about hundreds of actions during games, from which sportsbook operators set the betting markets.
Examples of this include the scores of games, but get much deeper than that. Sportradar’s systems also record every movement of the ball on the field and report live statistics to customers.
Services like these are of pivotal importance for sportsbook operators that wish to offer wagers in Tennessee. As a matter of fact, TN law requires it for some markets.
Tennessee’s official data mandate
For grading bets on who wins NFL games and NFL futures, TN law does not restrict which data provider sportsbook operators can use. Sportsbooks are free to grade those bets themselves if they wish.
On the subject of in-game or live wagers, however, TN law weighs in. For those bets, Tennessee requires sports betting apps to use official data providers only.
For the NFL, that’s Sportradar.
Any TN sportsbook that wants to offer live bets during NFL games must purchase access to Sportradar’s feed.
An example of a live bet for the NFL would be whether the next offensive play will be a pass or a rush. Betting on how many points a team will score during a specific quarter could also be considered an in-game wager.
Tennessee isn’t the only state to require sportsbook operators to use official data feeds for live bets. Thus, Tennessee bettors shouldn’t take this news to infer interest in the TN market on FanDuel’s part.
What these deals do and don’t do
Should FanDuel ever desire to operate in Tennessee, however, this would be one way the sportsbook would already be compliant with state law. So far, interest from potential operators hasn’t been robust.
In the TN Lottery Board of Directors meeting on Tuesday, Chair Susan Lanigan revealed the TN Lottery has yet to receive a complete operator’s license application. Lanigan maintained that there are interested parties and the board is merely taking the time to make sure they complete their applications correctly.
Whether FanDuel will ever accept bets in TN is uncertain right now. The Broncos-FanDuel deal could set the stage for the Tennessee Titans to form a similar partnership with a TN sportsbook, however.
Such deals are a win for both parties. It would be more sponsorship dollars for the Titans. At the same time, it would get the sportsbook’s brand in front of thousands of likely bettors.
Whether the Titans announce an official sports betting partner yet this year remains to be seen. What’s certain, however, is that FanDuel appears to be aggressively preparing for the upcoming NFL season.
