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https://www.si.com/nfl/2018/03/29/football-gambling-betting-future-nfl-owners-meeting-mmqb
Legal Sports Gambling is Coming, and the NFL Is Getting Ready to Capitalize (Of Course It Is)
By ALBERT BREER
ORLANDO — It’s 2021, and Browns quarterback Sam Darnold runs on the field, his offense given the ball at its own 25-yard line after Pittsburgh drove for a touchdown. As everyone does after the other team scores in the post-kickoff NFL, Cleveland has 75 yards to navigate and endless possibilities for how this will go, and a few for how it’ll end.
You’re sitting in Section 137 at FirstEnergy Stadium, a long throw away from the line of scrimmage, and what’s in your hand makes you feel even closer. Right there, on your phone, is the Browns Bets app presented by Caesars. You scroll down and see 3-to-1 odds on Cleveland getting a field goal out of the possession, 7-2 odds that the Browns will score a touchdown, and 3-2 odds they’ll wind up punting it away.
You put $50 on the field goal. Then, you throw down $75 on 5-1 odds that veteran kicker Zane Gonzalez will score the game’s next points. And so you settle in, having bet $125 to win $600.
This is how the NFL sees the future.
And this week, here at the Ritz-Carlton Grande Lakes, the process formally began of pulling the perfect sport for gambling—football—out of the shadows and into the brave, new, modern world of gaming. Owners and team executives have been quietly been looking forward to this for years now. But it wasn’t until Monday that the formal discussion began.
They’re all taking baby steps for now. The gambling session, run by league EVP of business operations Eric Grubman, was to inform the owners on what’s out there, and what the NFL is doing to prepare for the new reality that just about everyone believes is inevitable.
“We’re so early on in this process. I don’t have a clear understanding as to where we’re going to go,” Giants co-owner John Mara said during a break the other day. “But we’re having discussions that we’ve never had before.”
The timing’s not a coincidence either. The Supreme Court is expected to rule soon, maybe next week, on whether or not to legalize sports betting in New Jersey. If it goes through, the floodgates could open nationwide. The NFL knows it has to be ready.
In this week’s Game Plan, we’ll cover everything from the league meeting—looking again at the new targeting-like rule; the Odell Beckham situation; the rebuild-on-the-fly in Miami; the coaches’ continued effort to flip the offseason work rules upside down; and what exactly to make the Panthers’ sale.
We’re starting with a topic that many of the owners assembled here disagree on, but everyone knows is, as one league source put it, “a big f---ing deal.” Whether they regard it that way because of old integrity-of-the-game concerns or new business opportunities, there is no question that it was as compelling a topic as any the league put on the table this week.
“It’s a very complicated issue,” Chiefs CEO Clark Hunt told me. “We don’t know what the supreme court is going to do. They could kick it back to the states, and that’ll create another process. One thing that was raised to us is you might have some state laws that conflict with federal laws, which will make it really complicated. What the league is trying to do in preparation for it is figure out how to maintain the integrity of the game, because that’s the most important thing on many, many fronts.
“And so they’re beginning their work on that. Obviously, there’s legalized betting that goes on in Europe in the Premier League, and other soccer leagues, so there are models they’re trying to learn from.”
So with all this in mind, here are five things I learned about where the league intends to go:
• In-game prop betting is where it’s at. The Buccaneers (Manchester United) and Rams (Arsenal) were able to help the other 30 teams here this week, based on the in-stadium betting that goes on with their Premier League clubs. And it’s clear that traditional betting on games and odds doesn’t have near the upside for NFL teams as in-game props, like the one I cooked up above.
Not only is there great opportunity to turn a profit here, there’s also the reality that this sort of action is tailor-made for a younger generation that is less willing to sit there and just watch a game, with nothing else going on, for three hours.
• Foreign doors are open. There’s some dispute over whether in-game action would help the league globalize the game. I met skepticism at the notion that it would prompt anyone to start watching a sport he or she hadn’t watched before. That said, for the same reasons it could help the league appeal to young people domestically, it probably wouldn’t hurt in keeping the eSports generation abroad engaged.
“It has a chance to elevate interest in the sport, especially in markets where our game is on at the wrong time of day,” said Hunt. “If there’s increased sports betting, I think that could be one indirect positive for the league.”
• Watch the NBA. It was explained to me, by several owners, that going in and trying to monetize traditional betting on a point spread would be a low-margin business for the NFL. So while the NBA made waves by saying it’ll seek 1 percent of all basketball-related bets, its football counterpart is more likely to play it conservative there.
If the NBA succeeds? Well, then the NFL will play copycat. Really, as a couple owners I talked to see it, there’s no reason for the NFL to take the lead in this area, just as it didn’t see the need to be the first to put down stakes in Las Vegas. Let someone else do it first, then decide. If the league needs to go, it can use information from within its sport, like the NBA plans to leverage a favorable deal.
• Sponsorships.As the league’s rules read now, NFL teams can’t use the word “casino” in any deal, and can’t have a deal with any casino that has a sports book. Taking the rules off the books would create massive opportunities for teams, and proof, again, lies overseas with the soccer heavyweights of Europe who have partnered with online gambling companies and casinos.
What’s more, teams in the Premier League haven’t run into the integrity-of-the-game problems that have for decades scared NFL owners and teams from doing such deals.
• TV ratings. This goes back to the younger crowd that’s less likely to sit captive for three hours to watch sports. It works in the living room like it does in the stadium. That audience wants an interactive experience, and this gives it to them.
The theme for this set of meetings was, as set by the commissioner’s office, The Game, The Fans, The Media. The league clearly sees now, and it’s illustrated through those words, the need to modernize and focus on finding new ways to reach new people who aren’t as automatic to jump on board with pro football as they once might have been.
So in a way, legalized sports gambling could be coming along at just the right time. The way wagering lends itself perfectly to the NFL has forever been a driving force in the overwhelming popularity of the game. And for forever, the NFL has had to be a spectator.
Now it seems that could be coming to an end. And the NFL could have a powerful new lever to pull in the effort push its business forward.
“Our fans are involved, NFL fans are,” said Cowboys COO Stephen Jones. “And any time there’s a business opportunity out there, you have to educate yourself on it before you make decisions on whether we need to be a part of it.
We certainly want our football fans to have the best experience. So if it’s something that we see as a positive for our fans, a positive for the league, and there’s no unintended consequences to it, then we’ll go further down the road.”
They’re just starting to set the course.
Legal Sports Gambling is Coming, and the NFL Is Getting Ready to Capitalize (Of Course It Is)
By ALBERT BREER
ORLANDO — It’s 2021, and Browns quarterback Sam Darnold runs on the field, his offense given the ball at its own 25-yard line after Pittsburgh drove for a touchdown. As everyone does after the other team scores in the post-kickoff NFL, Cleveland has 75 yards to navigate and endless possibilities for how this will go, and a few for how it’ll end.
You’re sitting in Section 137 at FirstEnergy Stadium, a long throw away from the line of scrimmage, and what’s in your hand makes you feel even closer. Right there, on your phone, is the Browns Bets app presented by Caesars. You scroll down and see 3-to-1 odds on Cleveland getting a field goal out of the possession, 7-2 odds that the Browns will score a touchdown, and 3-2 odds they’ll wind up punting it away.
You put $50 on the field goal. Then, you throw down $75 on 5-1 odds that veteran kicker Zane Gonzalez will score the game’s next points. And so you settle in, having bet $125 to win $600.
This is how the NFL sees the future.
And this week, here at the Ritz-Carlton Grande Lakes, the process formally began of pulling the perfect sport for gambling—football—out of the shadows and into the brave, new, modern world of gaming. Owners and team executives have been quietly been looking forward to this for years now. But it wasn’t until Monday that the formal discussion began.
They’re all taking baby steps for now. The gambling session, run by league EVP of business operations Eric Grubman, was to inform the owners on what’s out there, and what the NFL is doing to prepare for the new reality that just about everyone believes is inevitable.
“We’re so early on in this process. I don’t have a clear understanding as to where we’re going to go,” Giants co-owner John Mara said during a break the other day. “But we’re having discussions that we’ve never had before.”
The timing’s not a coincidence either. The Supreme Court is expected to rule soon, maybe next week, on whether or not to legalize sports betting in New Jersey. If it goes through, the floodgates could open nationwide. The NFL knows it has to be ready.
In this week’s Game Plan, we’ll cover everything from the league meeting—looking again at the new targeting-like rule; the Odell Beckham situation; the rebuild-on-the-fly in Miami; the coaches’ continued effort to flip the offseason work rules upside down; and what exactly to make the Panthers’ sale.
We’re starting with a topic that many of the owners assembled here disagree on, but everyone knows is, as one league source put it, “a big f---ing deal.” Whether they regard it that way because of old integrity-of-the-game concerns or new business opportunities, there is no question that it was as compelling a topic as any the league put on the table this week.
“It’s a very complicated issue,” Chiefs CEO Clark Hunt told me. “We don’t know what the supreme court is going to do. They could kick it back to the states, and that’ll create another process. One thing that was raised to us is you might have some state laws that conflict with federal laws, which will make it really complicated. What the league is trying to do in preparation for it is figure out how to maintain the integrity of the game, because that’s the most important thing on many, many fronts.
“And so they’re beginning their work on that. Obviously, there’s legalized betting that goes on in Europe in the Premier League, and other soccer leagues, so there are models they’re trying to learn from.”
So with all this in mind, here are five things I learned about where the league intends to go:
• In-game prop betting is where it’s at. The Buccaneers (Manchester United) and Rams (Arsenal) were able to help the other 30 teams here this week, based on the in-stadium betting that goes on with their Premier League clubs. And it’s clear that traditional betting on games and odds doesn’t have near the upside for NFL teams as in-game props, like the one I cooked up above.
Not only is there great opportunity to turn a profit here, there’s also the reality that this sort of action is tailor-made for a younger generation that is less willing to sit there and just watch a game, with nothing else going on, for three hours.
• Foreign doors are open. There’s some dispute over whether in-game action would help the league globalize the game. I met skepticism at the notion that it would prompt anyone to start watching a sport he or she hadn’t watched before. That said, for the same reasons it could help the league appeal to young people domestically, it probably wouldn’t hurt in keeping the eSports generation abroad engaged.
“It has a chance to elevate interest in the sport, especially in markets where our game is on at the wrong time of day,” said Hunt. “If there’s increased sports betting, I think that could be one indirect positive for the league.”
• Watch the NBA. It was explained to me, by several owners, that going in and trying to monetize traditional betting on a point spread would be a low-margin business for the NFL. So while the NBA made waves by saying it’ll seek 1 percent of all basketball-related bets, its football counterpart is more likely to play it conservative there.
If the NBA succeeds? Well, then the NFL will play copycat. Really, as a couple owners I talked to see it, there’s no reason for the NFL to take the lead in this area, just as it didn’t see the need to be the first to put down stakes in Las Vegas. Let someone else do it first, then decide. If the league needs to go, it can use information from within its sport, like the NBA plans to leverage a favorable deal.
• Sponsorships.As the league’s rules read now, NFL teams can’t use the word “casino” in any deal, and can’t have a deal with any casino that has a sports book. Taking the rules off the books would create massive opportunities for teams, and proof, again, lies overseas with the soccer heavyweights of Europe who have partnered with online gambling companies and casinos.
What’s more, teams in the Premier League haven’t run into the integrity-of-the-game problems that have for decades scared NFL owners and teams from doing such deals.
• TV ratings. This goes back to the younger crowd that’s less likely to sit captive for three hours to watch sports. It works in the living room like it does in the stadium. That audience wants an interactive experience, and this gives it to them.
The theme for this set of meetings was, as set by the commissioner’s office, The Game, The Fans, The Media. The league clearly sees now, and it’s illustrated through those words, the need to modernize and focus on finding new ways to reach new people who aren’t as automatic to jump on board with pro football as they once might have been.
So in a way, legalized sports gambling could be coming along at just the right time. The way wagering lends itself perfectly to the NFL has forever been a driving force in the overwhelming popularity of the game. And for forever, the NFL has had to be a spectator.
Now it seems that could be coming to an end. And the NFL could have a powerful new lever to pull in the effort push its business forward.
“Our fans are involved, NFL fans are,” said Cowboys COO Stephen Jones. “And any time there’s a business opportunity out there, you have to educate yourself on it before you make decisions on whether we need to be a part of it.
We certainly want our football fans to have the best experience. So if it’s something that we see as a positive for our fans, a positive for the league, and there’s no unintended consequences to it, then we’ll go further down the road.”
They’re just starting to set the course.
