DraftKings announced Monday it has entered a multi-year advertising agreement with NBCUniversal for exclusive sports betting integrations across NBC’s entire sports portfolio.
The deal gives DraftKings exclusive rights across NBCUniversal’s coverage of the NFL, NBA, PGA Tour, Premier League, NCAA football and basketball, WNBA, and other properties. It includes major tentpole events like Super Bowl LX, NBA All-Star Weekend, and the 2026 FIFA Men’s World Cup on Telemundo.
Under the agreement, DraftKings receives exclusive integration and digital sponsorship rights in several categories, including online sports betting, iGaming, daily fantasy sports, online lottery products, and online horse wagering. The deal covers linear television, streaming platforms including Peacock, and digital properties.
“We are proud to join forces with NBCUniversal, an iconic name in sports entertainment, in a landmark multi-year agreement that brings together two industry leaders,” said Stephanie Sherman, DraftKings’ Chief Marketing Officer.
NBCUniversal didn’t disclose financial terms, but Sportico reports the deal is worth significantly less than $100 million annually and structured as straight advertising spend. That’s a different approach from NBC’s previous sports betting partnership with PointsBet, which included equity stakes and affiliate fees.
That PointsBet deal didn’t work out. In 2020, NBC announced a partnership with the Australian sportsbook, projected to be worth nearly $500 million over a five-year period. The arrangement struggled as PointsBet was unable to compete with DraftKings and FanDuel’s market dominance. By 2023, it had been restructured to reduce PointsBet’s annual spending from roughly $90 million to $58 million.
Fanatics ultimately acquired PointsBet’s U.S. assets for $225 million in June 2023, outbidding DraftKings in a deal that brought PointsBet’s multi-state operation under Fanatics’ control. DraftKings had submitted a competing $195 million offer but withdrew from the bidding process, prompting Fanatics to increase its original $150 million offer to secure the deal.
The new agreement is structured differently, focusing purely on advertising and integration rather than equity partnerships. DraftKings will work with NBCUniversal’s on-air talent across its sports programming.
“There is no better company to integrate into our unrivaled portfolio of sports properties,” said Peter Lazarus, Executive Vice President of NBC Sports. “Combining our excellence in sports entertainment with DraftKings’ industry-leading capabilities will transform the viewer experience.”
The deal comes as DraftKings continues expanding its media partnerships. The company already has agreements with Warner Bros. Discovery’s Turner properties and Amazon’s Thursday Night Football. ESPN was reportedly close to a similar deal with DraftKings in 2022, but instead launched ESPN Bet with Penn Entertainment in 2023
About Sam Neumann
Since the beginning of 2023, Sam has been a staff writer for Awful Announcing and The Comeback. A 2021 graduate of Temple University, Sam is a Charlotte native, who currently calls Greenville, South Carolina his home. He also has a love/hate relationship with the New York Mets and Jets.