The National Football League (NFL) has finally replaced its sportsbook sponsorship deals that expired in March.
The near five-month vacuum was the first time the league had been without a sportsbook sponsor since 2021.
Following a newly signed sponsorship agreement, Fanatics has now managed to fill the gap left by FanDuel, DraftKings and Caesars.
Caesars had long been expected to let its partnership lapse, but negotiations were said to be ongoing with FanDuel and DraftKings.
However, with less than a month until the 2026 season begins, Fanatics has stolen a march on its competitors.
No financial details about the deal have been revealed so far.
Will the deal be exclusive?
For now the deal applies only to Fanatics – and it’s comprehensive too, with Fanatics Sportsbook becoming the NFL’s official sports betting partner and Fanatics Casino becoming its official online casino partner.
There is still time, however, for those previous incumbents to ink a new deal – the league previously had three sponsors, and by all accounts, it wasn’t on the league’s terms that none of them renewed.
Reports have indicated that the high price of streaming data from Genius Sports, which is the league’s exclusive distributor, was a sticking point for both FanDuel and DraftKings.
Is the NFL negotiating from a position of strength or weakness?
Talks were still reportedly taking place as of April, but it appears the NFL later widened those negotiations to potential newcomers like Fanatics.
Without financial specifications, it is only possible to speculate on whether the price for Genius’ products has come down to make the Fanatics deal happen, or whether the league and absent sportsbooks could yet come to a compromise.
There have been adjacent developments recently, however, that could play a role.
It has been a good couple of months for Genius Sports for instance, in which the NFL holds an almost 9% stake.
Since the three previous sponsorship deals expired, Genius’ NFL deal was renewed through to the 2029 season. The data and media company’s $1.2bn acquisition of Legend has also started to look like a positive move after a shaky initial reception from the market.
Speaking on the company’s Q2 earnings call, CEO Mark Locke highlighted deals with Kalshi and Polymarket and said “we believe there is plenty of upside here for us still to come.”
The firm also raised its guidance for 2026 for the second consecutive quarter.
This likely puts the business, and perhaps subsequently the NFL, in a stronger position as negotiations continue.
Prediction market deals incoming?
With Genius’ relationship with Kalshi and Polymarket already established, the prediction market giants could yet wade into the conversation here.
While Fanatics, FanDuel and DraftKings all have their own prediction market products these days, there is precedent for major US leagues creating new categories of sponsorship deals with the originators of the sector.
The NHL already has partnerships with both Kalshi and Polymarket, while the latter has an exclusive arrangement with MLB.
But the big sportsbook operators will not want to be bullied, having already seen their own share prices seemingly hammered by the growth of prediction markets.
Big opportunity for Fanatics
PASPA was repealed in 2018, so for the majority of the time that FanDuel and DraftKings have had licensed mobile sportsbook apps, they have been partnered with the NFL, which is estimated to have generated $30bn of betting volume last season.
FanDuel became the outright US sector leader with 51% market share in 2022, with DraftKings not far behind – the share of all other competitors paled in comparison, and the NFL deal likely played a significant role in that.
They may have previously considered there wasn’t much competition within the established sportsbook sector, but Fanatics, despite launching in late 2023, reached 8% market share in 2025 according to Citizens, and has been making its case to challenge the market leaders.
This NFL deal, particularly if it does stay exclusive, could precipitate another huge step forward for a company that many have tipped for great results in the future.
It remains to be seen whether FanDuel and DraftKings will feel pressured to get back to the negotiating table as a result.