Key Points
- The Fanatics Sportsbook and the Fanatics Casino have received the official NFL partner status through a non-exclusive and long-term partnership, the financial terms of which remain unknown.
- FanDuel and DraftKings continue negotiations with the NFL, which, however, suffer from the growing cost of the official video content provided by Genius Sports.
- The NFL reportedly earned up to $30 billion in legal bets for the 2025 season, and Fanatics holds the broadcasting advertising rights for this market.
The NFL Was Left Without a Sportsbook Sponsor for Five Months – Here Is Why That Matters
The NFL had gone into 2026 without any partner in terms of sports betting. This marked the first year since 2021, when the NFL launched the betting sponsorship segment, that the NFL went into the year without having any sportsbook partners. It is surprising that the NFL, which had generated around $30 billion in betting in 2025, went into 2026 without any partner in the segment. The preseason started. On 18 August 2026, the NFL tried to fill the void.
Under a new multi-year agreement, Fanatics Sportsbook has been named an official sports betting partner of the NFL, while Fanatics Casino holds the official online casino partner designation. Financial terms were not disclosed. The deal hands Fanatics access to premium NFL media inventory, in-game advertising rights, sponsorships across the league’s broadcast partners, Super Bowl hospitality packages, VIP access at marquee events, and marketing rights to NFL intellectual property across league, team and event marks including the Super Bowl and the NFL Draft.
What most early reports got wrong, though, is the framing. This deal is not exclusive. The agreement between Fanatics and the NFL is non-exclusive, and the league has left the door open for FanDuel and DraftKings to return. At one point, the NFL ran with seven “official” sportsbook partners simultaneously. One new name does not close that category.
FanDuel and DraftKings Did Not Simply Walk Away
The previous “tri-exclusive” deals with FanDuel, DraftKings and Caesars all expired at the end of March 2026. There was always the expectation that Caesars would let its agreement expire. The exits of both FanDuel and DraftKings were less predictable, and their motive for doing so forms an important part of comprehending this particular Fanatics agreement.
Genius Sports sits at the middle of this story. The company serves as the NFL’s exclusive distributor of real-time official statistics, Next Gen Stats data, and the league’s official sports betting data feed. Any sportsbook that wants an official NFL partnership, whether at the league or team level, or wants to advertise during NFL broadcasts, needs a Genius data agreement in place first. The three operators that previously held NFL sponsorships paid a combined total of more than $1 billion in fees over five seasons. When Genius raised its data pricing, both FanDuel and DraftKings decided that figure no longer made sense.
Fanatics did not share that hesitation. Per reporting by Bill King of Sports Business Journal, who first broke the story, Fanatics agreed to Genius’ data pricing terms and completed the broader NFL deal on the back of it. Talks between the NFL and both FanDuel and DraftKings are described as ongoing, leaving open the possibility that one or both could return before the season runs its course.
Genius Sports Has Been Getting Stronger, Not Weaker
The data pricing dispute is easier to understand when you look at how Genius Sports has been performing. The NFL holds an effective stake of nearly 8.7% in Genius, making it the company’s largest shareholder, following a June 2025 deal that extended the Genius-NFL data partnership through to the 2029 season. That arrangement came with 9.5 million warrants granted to the league, worth roughly $94 million at the time of announcement.
Genius completed its purchase of Legend, a sports media firm, worth $1.2 billion, on 5 May 2026. At first, there was scepticism regarding the transaction. The cynicism was put behind by 2Q2026. Genius has increased the full-year 2026 earnings guidance by $15 million to between $1.005 billion and $1.025 billion. Adjusted EBITDA guidance for 2026 has been hiked to $285 million to $295 million. This is the second consecutive quarter of increasing the full-year guidance for 2026.
Speaking on the Q2 2026 earnings call, CEO Mark Locke pointed to the prediction market opportunity as proof the Legend acquisition was already delivering. “We see this as a real growth opportunity for us,” Locke said. “We believe there is plenty of upside here for us still to come.” He was describing direct commercial agreements Genius had just signed with Kalshi and Polymarket, alongside the customer acquisition revenue flowing through Legend’s media platform. One detail Locke was careful to flag: Genius has not included a single dollar of NFL prediction market revenue in its 2026 guidance. The NFL has not authorised prediction markets to access official league data, and management said it does not expect that position to shift during the current season.
Where Do Fanatics Actually Stand in the US Betting Market?
However, Fanatics entered the online sportsbook market in late 2023 only after having acquired the assets of PointsBet US. According to its CEO, the company remains a “distant third player” behind FanDuel and DraftKings. Michael Rubin made this clear during the CAA World Congress of Sports in April 2026. FanDuel accounted for 51% of the sports betting market in the US in 2022, followed closely by DraftKings. In contrast, although Fanatics was founded in later years, by 2025, it already accounted for 8% of the market share, per Citizen analysts.
This kind of progression from zero to 8% market share in less than two years is what makes the NFL partnership worth paying attention to. “Fanatics and the NFL have built a true collaboration and cross-functional business relationship, and this partnership demonstrates how far we have come and looks ahead to our future,” Gary Gertzog, Fanatics’ President of Business Affairs, pointed out. Fanatics Sportsbook currently operates in 22 states and Washington D.C. which represents about 95% of the addressable US online sports betting market. Fanatics Casino is currently operational in Michigan, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and West Virginia.
This Is Not Fanatics’ First Move With the NFL
What makes this sportsbook deal more than just a sponsorship announcement is the broader commercial pattern behind it. In April 2026, Fanatics signed an exclusive multi-year retail partnership with the NFL, making it the official on-site retail partner at the Super Bowl, NFL Draft, NFL Kickoff, NFL Scouting Combine and international games. The company’s Topps brand also holds the NFL’s official trading card licence. Layer the sportsbook and casino designations on top of that, and Fanatics now touches merchandise, collectables, retail and wagering across the NFL’s biggest commercial moments. No other operator in the US betting market has built that kind of cross-category footprint with a single sports league.
Prediction Markets Are Watching This Space Closely
Kalshi already holds a partnership with the NHL. Polymarket has an exclusive arrangement with MLB. Both companies have now signed direct commercial agreements with Genius Sports for official data and customer acquisition. The NFL, by contrast, has not partnered with any prediction market operator, and the league’s SVP of Public Policy and Government Affairs, Brendon Plack, submitted a comment letter to the CFTC in July arguing that the regulator’s prediction market rule proposal fails to meet consumer protection and market integrity standards.
Fanatics, FanDuel and DraftKings all run their own prediction market products. Whether the NFL eventually opens its commercial relationships to include prediction markets will shape the next round of sportsbook sponsorship negotiations far more sharply than any single data pricing dispute has done.
Expert Analysis
FanDuel and DraftKings built their market leadership during the years they held official NFL status. Losing that designation heading into a 2026 season built around a $30 billion betting market is not a small concession. Fanatics accepted the Genius data costs they would not, moved quickly, and now holds broadcast advertising access across the most-bet sport in the United States. The real test comes once the season is live and NFL advertising slots fill with Fanatics branding while FanDuel and DraftKings watch from outside. If prediction markets eventually enter the NFL’s commercial ecosystem, the operators that stayed at the table will have built a head start that the ones who waited will find difficult to close.
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