The attention at Gillette Stadium on Thursday night was rightfully on the New England Patriots, unveiling another Super Bowl banner and opening the NFL season with a 28-21 victory over the Pittsburgh Steelers. Yet the latest championship banner was not the only new stadium addition making its debut. Daily fantasy sports juggernaut DraftKings officially opened its new Fantasy Sports Zone in the stadium, showcasing a new avenue in which the Boston-based company can connect with its many users.
After a momentous week where DraftKings spent more on its national advertising campaign than any other company in the country, the opening of a physical place that daily fantasy players could go to only revealed what was already plainly obvious. It might be week one of the season for NFL teams, but it’s DraftKings’ Super Bowl.
No other time in the entire year offers the chance for user growth on a scale with the beginning of football season. That fact isn’t lost on DraftKings leadership, though they prefer to think on a long term scale, especially in regards to the shiny new Fantasy Sports Zone.
Built on the concourse level at Gillette Stadium (as well as in several other venues across the country), the new Zones provide a place where users can connect with the company in a new way. It’s an offline experience as a sports bar (offering drinks and food), though there is still a way for players to keep in touch with their lineups, especially if they run into a familiar at-stadium issue.
BostInno was given a tour of the Zone as it opened on Thursday, with DraftKings co-founder Matt Kalish offering this tidbit as a reason for why the concept works:
If you’re a fantasy player, the worst thing that can happen to you is your cellphone dies and you’re out. You can’t (charge it). These guys that are DraftKings players are just very attached to the games. They’re watching how they’re doing. And so if you’re at a Patriots game and your phones dies and you don’t really know how your lineups are doing, that’s pretty much a disaster, but there’s a Fantasy Zone you can swing by and you can hop an iPad. We have a bunch of stuff like that. People can basically go on and do their thing.
Asked if the limited number of Fantasy Zones was an experiment from DraftKings (as other company’s don’t really have an equivalent), Kalish explained the basic logic.
“I think it just creates that next level of experience that deepens our relationships with players a little bit more,” Kalish noted. “I wouldn’t say that it’s like a test. I think it’s just part of our overall strategy around just experience and kind of being anywhere that our players are.”
Essentially, it’s straightforward logic: Provide basic services wherever your customers might need them.
And the Patriots, who DraftKings have been official partners with for less than a year, are happy with the arrangement. Previous to the concourse space being used by DraftKings, that particular area was unoccupied. As has been the case in other aspects of the DraftKings-Patriots partnership, it appears to be mutually beneficial.
The opening was not without a few hiccups. When given a tour of the new Zone, reporters were joined by another DraftKings co-founder, Jason Robins. Of course, when the group strolled up to the television-rich Fantasy Zone, the ESPN commercial airing was, ironically, a FanDuel advertisement. It drew a chuckle from Robins, whose company has been locked in a heated struggle with New York-based FanDuel for daily fantasy supremacy.
Yet despite DraftKings’ success, illustrated by the visible television ad campaign and new presence at places like Gillette, Kalish reiterated that the company remains unsatisfied with the headlines they’ve made.
I think that just given our stage, we literally just haven’t come close to achieving kind of what we want to with the business and we’re extremely critical of ourselves in a lot of ways. That’s in terms of like why haven’t we done more yet? I don’t think anybody’s feeling too good at this point. Obviously it’s nice to have a business that’s having some traction and we can continue with it. I think a lot of experiences that new entrepreneurs have is not anywhere near as positive as what we’ve had. We’re lucky in that sense, but nobody’s feeling too good. I promise you that. I think we still have so much to do to get anywhere near a good place where we’ve met what we ultimately strive for with this business.
Given also that the percentage of daily fantasy players is still relatively low when compared with number of total seasonal fantasy players, Kalish clearly has reason to keep focused. Even with all of the good news for DraftKings since its founding in 2012, there remains most of the game left to play for in the pursuit of the daily fantasy market.
“Our goal,” Kalish closed with, “is to stay focused and keep grinding away.”
Image via DraftKings
