The unpredictability of sports is a perfect match for prediction markets like Kalshi.
And, it turns out, that includes what is said in the broadcast booth.
In a new report at ESPN, sports betting reporter David Purdum highlighted new markets based upon what sports announcers might say, and found that they are among the fastest-growing spaces to wager on outcomes in sports.
At Kalshi alone, traders staked more than $47 million on what are known as “NFL announcer mention markets.” The amount spent in these markets grew seven times from September to the conference championship games, according to data obtained by Purdum.
One executive at a research firm told Purdum that markets for whether NBC’s Mike Tirico or Cris Collinsworth will say the name of pop star Taylor Swift could hit up to $8 million.
Many of the markets at Kalshi (or its competitor, Polymarket), are equally unrelated to sports. Purdum reported that Polymarket has a market for whether the NBC tandem will reference the “Drake Maye lover” meme on-air. Kalshi traders staked more than $400,000 on whether Jim Nantz or Tony Romo would say the word “honor” during CBS’ broadcast of the AFC title game last weekend.
Even more absurdly, traders can gamble on the likelihood of announcers stating terms related to certain injuries. Not players suffering these injuries — just the announcers saying related words and phrases.
Prediction markets remain largely unregulated. This, of course, means that if Tirico, Collinsworth or production staff at NBC wanted to throw caution to the wind, they could make incredible money betting on certain phrases to make it to air, then making sure they are said.
Purdum notes that as a result, announcers could be the next group to be harassed by bettors or traders, just like the athletes they cover.
The NFL has sent written testimony to Congress expressing concern over the growth in prediction markets. These companies cannot air ads during the Super Bowl on NBC. But that clearly hasn’t stopped traders from trying to cash in not only on the outcomes of games, but the utterances of announcers as well.
About Brendon Kleen
Brendon is a Media Commentary staff writer at Awful Announcing. He has also covered basketball and sports business at Front Office Sports, SB Nation, Uproxx and more.