A ground-breaking partnership between Major League Baseball (MLB) and FanDuel Group, the premier online gaming company in North America, has been announced, which will allow fans can get even closer to the action.
The multi-year partnership sees FanDuel become a co-exclusive official sports betting partner of MLB, with the right to use official MLB branding and category designations in its products and marketing campaigns.
This includes FanDuel’s Sportsbook, Daily Fantasy and FanDuel Faceoff platforms, which are already popular with sports fans across the continent.
Starting this season, FanDuel will stream MLB.TV’s Free Game of the Day through both its sportsbook app and on its OTT platform FanDuel+, meaning fans can watch their favourite teams play while also having the option to place bets in real-time.
However, there are some restrictions to this exciting new feature, where local blackout restrictions will apply, meaning that some fans may not be able to access the Free Game of the Day.
Commenting on the partnership, MLB EVP of media and business development, Kenny Gersh, said: “As one of the top sportsbooks in America, FanDuel has been an industry leader in innovative fan engagement opportunities while also reminding them of the importance of doing it responsibly.”
“These key priorities of unique fan engagement and responsible gambling align with our focus from the league level and make FanDuel a natural partner to collaborate with as an Official Sports Betting Partner,” he said.
FanDuel Group president, Christian Genetski, added: “The baseball fan is one of the most engaged in all of sports, which is why we’re delighted to be the new sports betting partner of Major League Baseball.”
“Our team is eager to showcase FanDuel in nationally broadcast MLB games and help enhance game narratives and bring America’s Pastime directly into our mobile app and OTT platform for fans to watch and wager.
“We’re also very excited about the opportunity to work together with MLB on new betting product innovations that will give customers the opportunity to enhance their experience on every pitch from March until October,” he said.
Additionally,, FanDuel will also have the right to use highlights both in product and as part of original programming on FanDuel TV.
This will create new opportunities for MLB and FanDuel to collaborate on projects for other sponsor partners of both FanDuel and MLB platforms.
It will also enable them to work together to bring consumers new sports betting product innovations to drive deeper fan engagement.