After spending much of the last two years sculpting together a mountain of advertising partnerships, DraftKings appears to be having second thoughts. On top of its massive television and online commercial campaign, the embattled daily fantasy company had assiduously cultivated arena advertising deals, allowing for DraftKings’ logo to be virtually everywhere in major American venues (including TD Garden). Now, according to a report from Bloomberg, DraftKings is asking its NBA partners to reduce its own presence.
The move comes at a time when DraftKings’ aggressive advertising clearly drew the eyes of both state and federal investigators, sparking a series of questions about the legality and proper regulatory procedure regarding the burgeoning daily fantasy sports industry. And, according to the report, DraftKings has asked its NBA teams to “defer about 10 percent of its committed payments,” as well as show signs and other arena advertisements “less often.”
The list of teams that have partnerships with DraftKings includes:
- Boston Celtics
- Golden State Warriors
- Houston Rockets
- Los Angeles Clippers
- Minnesota Timberwolves
- New York Knicks
- Sacramento Kings
As the issue of daily fantasy is tackled in a state-by-state manner, it could be that DraftKings is simply attempting to be in the limelight less, potentially helping to mitigate the largely negative public response to its deluge of ads during the run-up to and start of football season.
The battle in New York is proving to be particularly intense. New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman declared that daily fantasy sports were illegal gambling under state laws, leading to a full-fledged response from both DraftKings and FanDuel. The two industry rivals have momentarily forgotten their heated competition in order to try and save the industry in the pivotal state of New York (where FanDuel is headquartered and where DraftKings has offices). The circumstances are elevated considering the major partnerships that daily fantasy companies have with virtually every New York professional sports team.
Image via DraftKings
