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The NFL locked in $113 billion in TV deals through the 2033 season but isn’t done licensing its intellectual property. The league is reportedly in talks to rake in hundreds of millions more annually in data contracts.
With more people betting on sports, data rights have taken on new value, and the NFL wants to cash in. The league could seek up to $250 million per year in its next data distribution contract, per CNBC.
The NFL currently partners with Sportradar, which processes game and player data provided by the league before selling it to sportsbooks and other companies. Sportradar is in talks to renew its current deal.
Still in its early stages, legal sports betting in the U.S. saw a total of $21.5 billion wagered in 2020 and $1.5 billion in revenue, despite only 20 states having legalized and opened up sports betting.
Sportsbooks have scrambled to associate themselves with NFL teams. FanDuel, PointsBet, DraftKings, UniBet, Bet MGM, and Fox Bet all signed deals with teams between June and September 2020.
The NFL is the most popular league to bet on. A study of 2019 data found that 41% of first-time bettors put money on the NFL, with MLB a distant second at 16%. The structure of NFL games also provides ample betting opportunities — the most popular time to place a bet, according to the same study, is during halftime.
