DraftKings Signs Marketing Agreement with New England Patriots
Arrangement Is First Agreement for a Daily Fantasy Sports Organization with a Professional Football Team
October 16, 2014 09:00 AM Eastern Daylight Time
BOSTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--DraftKings, Inc., the largest U.S.-based destination for daily fantasy sports, today announced its partnership with the New England Patriots, the industry’s first with a professional football team. As part of the agreement, DraftKings will receive prominent placement on many of the Patriots properties, including in-stadium LED signage with DraftKings fantasy updates, inclusion on the team’s social media properties, prominent placement on the team’s e-newsletter and Fantasy Tips of the Week posted to
New England Patriots.
“The Patriots are one of the league’s model franchises and we are pleased to align ourselves with them. We look forward to bringing the excitement of daily fantasy sports into the game-day experience.”
“DraftKings is incredibly proud to associate ourselves with the New England Patriots, one of the league’s most successful franchises, right here in our backyard,” said Paul Liberman, CMO and co-founder of DraftKings. “The Patriots are one of the league’s model franchises and we are pleased to align ourselves with them. We look forward to bringing the excitement of daily fantasy sports into the game-day experience.”
Nearly 37 million people in the United States and Canada — approximately one in eight adults and one in five males — play fantasy sports. Daily fantasy sports are a burgeoning component of this multi-billion dollar market.
DraftKings offers contests for experts and casual players alike. In addition to daily fantasy football, DraftKings also offers fantasy contests in major professional and college sports.
The sponsorship comes as DraftKings continues its Fantasy Football Millionaire series. In this first-of-its-kind contest, DraftKings will award four players $1 million in four months — the span of the professional football season. The Fantasy Football Millionaire series is the largest promotion in history for daily fantasy sports and is part of DraftKings’ plan to award more than $100 million in collective prizes this NFL season. Last week, Tampa, Fla. resident Matt Smith became the first winner in the groundbreaking Millionaire Maker Series. DraftKings will award a second $1 million dollars following the games this weekend.
“The New England Patriots are proud to partner with DraftKings, a Boston-based business that is the largest daily fantasy sports company in the country,” said Murray Kohl, vice president of corporate sales for the New England Patriots. “Many of our fans in the stadium are playing daily fantasy sports and we want to provide them with the most up to date information.”
About the New England Patriots:
The Patriots were founded in Boston in 1960 as the eighth and final American Football League (AFL) franchise in the AFL’s inaugural season. The AFL merged with the National Football League (NFL) in 1970 and moved to Foxborough, Mass. in 1971. In 1994, Robert Kraft purchased the team and transformed it into one of the league’s premier franchises. Since Kraft’s arrival, every Patriots home game has sold out, propelling the Patriots to more overall wins, division titles, conference crowns and Super Bowl championships than any other team in the past 20 years. Since 2002, when the Patriots moved into the privately-financed Gillette Stadium, the team has celebrated one of the most dominant eras in professional sports by establishing one of the greatest home-field records of all-time. For more information, visit patriots.com.
About DraftKings:
Launched in April 2012, Boston-based DraftKings, Inc. is the largest, US-based online gaming destination where players engage in daily fantasy sports competitions across fantasy professional football, baseball, golf, basketball, hockey, and soccer, and college football and basketball. DraftKings offers free and pay contests every day that award cash prizes. All contests feature a salary cap format, and new contests are offered every day with instantaneous prize distribution for winners. For more information, visit DraftKings at
www.draftkings.com, like DraftKings at
www.facebook.com/draftkings, and follow DraftKings at
www.twitter.com/draftkings.
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