How Sports Betting Has Been Embraced by Sports Franchises

By Richard Janvrin Freelance Writer Updated: 09 May 2024

Richard Janvrin Freelance Writer

Richard has been writing about sports since he was a teenager. Still, his first professional role came in 2015, covering all things NFL and fantasy football-related. From there, in December 2018, he started in the sports betting industry, covering sportsbook reviews before arriving to where he is today. 

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NFL Deal with FanDuel, DraftKings, Caesars

Online sports betting

Before 2018, it would be unfathomable to imagine a world where professional sports leagues have sports betting partnerships with all online betting sites, but since it became possible for states to make it legal in 2018, there have been a plethora of them.

In fact, there have been 128 sports betting partnerships across numerous major leagues like the NFL, NBA, MLB, NHL, WNBA, and more.

Below, we’ll look deeper into how these partnerships have impacted sports betting and teams and the sports themselves.

The Official Sports Betting Partnerships as of 2024

Before we dig into more information, we should list the official pacts, including MLB sports betting partnerships, NBA sports betting partnerships, and more.

CFL: FanDuel
LPGA: BetMGM
MLB: DraftKings, FanDuel
MLS: BetMGM
NASCAR: BetMGM, FanDuel, WynnBET
NBA: DraftKings, FanDuel
NFL: FanDuel, Caesars, DraftKings
NHL: ESPN BET, BetMGM, FanDuel, theScore Bet
NLL: BetMGM
PGA: BetMGM, BetParx, DraftKings, FanDuel, bet365
PLL: FanDuel
UFC: DraftKings
WNBA: FanDuel
WTA: FanDuel

To understand more about sports betting partnerships, we’ll continue discussing how it’s integrated with the media, stadiums offering retail sports betting locations, and team partnerships.

Sports Betting Partnerships and the Media
MLB Sports Betting Partnerships: Retail Venues
NBA Sports Betting Partnerships: Retail Venues
Sports Betting and Teams Partnerships
Sports Betting Partnership Wrap Up

Sports Betting Partnerships and the Media

With the rise of online sports betting comes an influx of media dedicated to providing content for sports betting enthusiasts. It’s not uncommon to watch ESPN and see odds for each matchup or announcer to reference the point spread during it. Before 2018, the only sport he was really common with in the United States was the UFC.

Now, sports betting and franchises are intermingled, signage is displayed throughout stadiums, official data is reported to sportsbooks, and more recently, ESPN, the nation’s leading sports media outlet, agreed to a deal with PENN National to take over a sports betting license previously held by another media company, Barstool Sports, and today, there’s an ESPN BET Sportsbook that’s partnered with the NHL.

MLB Sports Betting Partnerships: Retail Venues

While the MLB’s official sports betting partnerships are with DraftKings and FanDuel, there are a few stadiums throughout major league baseball that offer an in-person sports betting location on-site that you can visit during game days.

Nationals Park (Washington Nationals): Partnered with BetMGM, there’s a retail sportsbook on-site and online sports betting is available within three blocks of the stadium.
Chase Field (Arizona Diamondbacks): Partnered with Caesars, there’s a sportsbook inside the stadium.
Wrigley Field (Chicago Cubs): DraftKings retail sportsbook on-site.
Yankee Stadium (New York Yankees): Included with VIP hospitality accommodations when at the game, you can wager with FanDuel Sportsbook.
Citi Field (New York Mets): Located in the lounge is a Caesars Sportsbook.
Fenway Park (Boston Red Sox): While there’s no sportsbook present, there’s signage on the legendary Green Monster wall in left field.
Progressive Field (Cleveland Guardians): Fanatics retail sportsbook on site.

In the MLB right now, there’s a situation going on involving superstar Shohei Ohtani and his translator involving sports betting and possible theft of Ohtani’s funds via an illegal bookmaker.

With these stadiums having sports betting facilities on site, it does tend to draw more attention to the juxtaposition of all of the partnerships and the severity of punishment levied against players for betting. Of course, a famous example in baseball is Pete Rose who was banned from the MLB and not allowed to enter the Hall of Fame for betting on his team’s games.

NBA Sports Betting Partnerships: Retail Venues

Like the MLB, the NBA has their fair share of retail sportsbooks inside their arenas. In all, there are five arenas in the NBA that offer this, which is one less than the MLB.

Let’s examine these venue partnerships below.

Capital One Arena (Washington Wizards): Like Nationals Park, there’s a sportsbook (Caesars) inside the stadium, and you can wager within three blocks of it.
Madison Square Garden (New York Knicks): There are no physical sportsbooks on site, but Madison Square Garden is partnered with Caesars, and the teams that play there, the New York Knicks and New York Rangers, are partnered with BetMGM.
United Center (Chicago Bulls): There’s a FanDuel Sportsbook available on-site.
Footprint Center (Phoenix Suns): Partnered with FanDuel, there’s a sportsbook on-site.
Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse (Cleveland Cavaliers): Partnership with Caesars includes an on-site sportsbook.
FedExForum (Memphis Grizzlies): There’s a Caesars Sportsbook being built inside the lounge arena at the arena.

While Pete Rose is the “betting spectacle” in baseball, it wasn’t too long ago that a referee, Tim Donaghy, was found to be making calls that impacted the point spread and involved with an illegal gambling ring. He refereed from 1994 to 2007. He spent 15 months in a federal prison.

Sports Betting and Teams Partnerships

As mentioned above, 128 sports betting and teams partnerships exist. These partnerships are not only extremely prevalent, but they provide a source of revenue to sports teams that they’ve never seen before.

To see the magnitude of this, we’ll list them below by sportsbook.

FanDuel Sportsbook

DC United
Brooklyn Nets
Memphis Grizzlies
Detroit Pistons
New Orleans Pelicans
Phoenix Suns
Chicago Bulls
Toronto Raptors
Philadelphia Eagles
Buffalo Bills
Denver Broncos
Indianapolis Colts
New York Jets
Washington Commanders
Cleveland Browns
Boston Bruins
New Jersey Devils
Buffalo Sabres
Detroit Red Wings
Toronto Maple Leafs
New York Liberty
Connecticut Sun
Carolina Panthers

DraftKings Sportsbook

Boston Red Sox
Chicago Cubs
Cleveland Guardians
Colorado Rockies
23XI Racing
Detroit Pistons
Boston Celtics
Houston Rockets
Indiana Pacers
New York Knicks
Baltimore Ravens
New England Patriots
New York Giants
Pittsburgh Steelers
Boston Bruins
Chicago Blackhawks
Colorado Avalanche
Detroit Red Wings
Los Angeles Kings
New York Rangers

BetMGM Sportsbook

Boston Red Sox
Detroit Tigers
Washington Nationals
Houston Astros
Cincinnati Reds
Pittsburgh Pirates
Richard Childress Racing
Philadelphia 76ers
Arizona Cardinals
Baltimore Ravens
Denver Broncos
Detroit Lions
Kansas City Chiefs
Las Vegas Raiders
New York Jets
Pittsburgh Steelers
Tennessee Titans

Bally Bet

Phoenix Mercury
Cleveland Browns
New York Yankees

bet365 Sportsbook

San Antonio Spurs
Colorado Rockies
Charlotte Hornets
Cleveland Guardians

Betfred Sportsbook

Colorado Rockies
Denver Broncos
Cincinnati Reds

BetRivers Sportsbook

Detroit Pistons
New Orleans Pelicans
Pittsburgh Penguins
Chicago Cubs

Betway Sportsbook

Chicago Bulls
Cleveland Cavaliers
Dallas Mavericks
Golden State Warriors
Los Angeles Clippers
Miami Heat
Milwaukee Bucks
Minnesota Timberwolves
Philadelphia 76ers
New Jersey Devils
Philadelphia Flyers

Caesars Sportsbook

Arizona Diamondbacks
Chicago White Sox
New York Mets
Cleveland Cavaliers
New York Knicks
Washington Wizards
Memphis Grizzlies
Baltimore Ravens
Buffalo Bills
Houston Texans
Indianapolis Colts
Las Vegas Raiders
New Orleans Saints
Philadelphia Eagles
New Jersey Devils
Washington Capitals
Washington Mystics

Circa Sports

Las Vegas A’s (when Oakland relocates)

Fanatics Sportsbook

Columbus Blue Jackets
Cleveland Guardians
Washington Commanders
Colorado Avalanche
Denver Nuggets

Hard Rock Sportsbook

Miami Dolphins
Tampa Bay Lightning

Sahara Bets

Arizona Coyotes

SuperBook Sports

FC Cincinnati
Baltimore Orioles

Tipico Sportsbook

Colorado Rapids
Columbus Crew

Underdog Sports

Cincinnati Reds

Wagr

Nashville SC

WynnBET

Cincinnati Reds
Colorado Rockies
Detroit Pistons
Memphis Grizzlies
Detroit Lions
Indianapolis Colts
Las Vegas Raiders
New York Jets

PrizePicks

Atlanta United
Atlanta Braves
Dallas Stars

Sports Betting Partnership Wrap Up

As you can see above, not only are sports betting partnerships a vital aspect of the leagues today, but these leagues have also embraced its arms wide open. The leagues and teams are receiving more revenue. For example, the NFL’s deals with sports betting partnerships will be for more than $1 billion, according to the University of Iowa.

Heading into the Super Bowl in 2024, it was expected that over $23 billion would be wagered on the event.

While it’s mostly unclear how these partnerships are impacting those with problematic gambling patterns, one thing is for sure — these partnerships are here to stay, and they’ve been embraced by the leagues.

So, yes, expect numerous mentions of DraftKings, FanDuel, Caesars, BetMGM, and more while watching your favourite teams across the country.

Online sports betting is legal in well over two dozen states and continues to grow each year.