In two major announcements, DraftKings built off the news of its recent $300 million funding round and stayed firmly in the daily fantasy spotlight. The first announcement, which grabbed the lion’s share of attention on social media, was that DraftKings’ highly popular “Millionaire Maker” challenge would not only be returning, but would double in size for the first-place winner. And the other piece of news was a vast growth in exclusive partnership deals with 27 Major League Baseball teams.
In terms of the fantasy football announcement, the total prize money increased to a whopping $10 million for all winners. For first place, the winnings double from $1 million in the 2014 season to $2 million this season. The announced competition is only slated for week one, and it’s unknown if the prize money will remain at that level throughout the season.
That said, with over half a million entries expected, it appears that the momentum for the flagship competition of the Boston-based daily fantasy company is only expanding.
And in another major development, DraftKings announced it has completed “exclusive partnerships” with 27 of the 30 teams in Major League Baseball. This builds on the company’s existing deal with MLB as the “Official Daily Fantasy Game.”
The announcement arrives only recently following the new funding for DraftKings, where it was revealed that several professional sports leagues, including MLB, are investors.
Here’s the list of teams that DraftKings will partner with, including the Red Sox and Yankees:
- Atlanta Braves
- Baltimore Orioles
- Boston Red Sox
- Chicago Cubs
- Chicago White Sox
- Cincinnati Reds
- Cleveland Indians
- Colorado Rockies
- Detroit Tigers
- Houston Astros
- Kansas City Royals
- Los Angeles Angels
- Los Angeles Dodgers
- Miami Marlins
- Milwaukee Brewers
- Minnesota Twins
- New York Mets
- New York Yankees
- Oakland Athletics
- Philadelphia Phillies
- Pittsburgh Pirates
- St. Louis Cardinals
- San Diego Padres
- San Francisco Giants
- Tampa Bay Rays
- Texas Rangers
- Washington Nationals
The only three teams not included the Toronto Blue Jays, the Seattle Mariners and the Arizona Diamondbacks.
The culmination of the baseball fantasy season will be the $4 Million Fantasy Baseball World Championship held in Las Vegas on August 15 (here are the details).
Image via DraftKings
