🏈NFL and DAZN Announce 10-Year Deal for "NFL Game Pass International"

This send will be Super Bowl-heavy. We expect the next couple to be that way as well. There are two reasons for this.

First, it’s the Super Bowl. The championship game in the biggest professional sport in America. Demands attention.

Second…after the Super Bowl, the sports calendar is pretty dire until April.

Let’s enjoy the good times while we can.

In the email today:

1) NFL, DAZN announce 10-year international streaming deal 🏈 

2) NFL sports betting up 40% in 2022 with Super Bowl LVII handle expected to surpass $16B 💰️ 

3) Penn Entertainment bucks the trend, posts 2022 4Q profit 💵 

We don’t know why the Eagles -1.5 line hasn’t moved in a week, either.

1) NFL and DAZN introduce “NFL Game Pass International,” sign 10-year agreement 🏈 

It is remarkable how many ways the NFL monetizes its product.

There are only 272 regular season games each season. By the final quarter of the season, many of those games are glorified exhibitions with both teams playing out the string.

Doesn’t matter. Whether it’s Fox or CBS or ESPN or Amazon, broadcast providers can’t pay the NFL enough.

Stepping in and stepping up in today’s news is DAZN:

The relevant details are as follows:

• The NFL and DAZN Group have signed a 10-year deal for NFL Game Pass International.

• The service will be available to subscribers worldwide, excluding China, starting with the 2023 season.

• NFL Game Pass International will be offered as a standalone subscription or as an add-on package within DAZN's app.

• The package includes the annual Super Bowl and is aimed at providing the NFL with more direct economic exposure to its fan base outside the US.

• The NFL is already turning to streaming platforms domestically, including Thursday Night Football games on Amazon's Prime Video.

• The partnership is a key strategic priority for the NFL and a great opportunity for DAZN to offer popular programming to its global subscriber base.

Both parties were unsurprisingly gushy about the new relationship.

NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell: “Growing the NFL globally is a key strategic priority for the league…we are excited to partner with DAZN to help us accelerate this effort.”

DAZN CEO Shay Segev: “The NFL is the premier sports media property, and DAZN is incredibly excited that they have chosen us as their international partner.”

Terms of the deal were not disclosed. We are willing to speculate that DAZN didn’t get off cheap, though. You can quote us on that.

2) NFL betting up 40% in 2022, as Super Bowl LVII wagering projections top $16B 🤑 

A rise in the NFL betting handle as more states legalized sports gambling (online and otherwise) was predictable.

However, we think a 40% uptick goes beyond “predictable” and into “remarkable.”

This statistic was provided by Sponsor United in its “NFL 2022 Marketing Partnerships Report.” 

According to the report:

• Sports betting has become a significant revenue stream for the NFL, increasing by 40% across teams.

• The number of sports betting deals has quadrupled in the past four years (2019-2022).

• Over 25 NFL teams now have at least one sports betting or daily fantasy sport sponsor.

• Sponsorship revenue reached a new league record of $2.05B across 32 NFL teams in the 2022-2023 season, a 14% YoY increase.

• Total sponsorship revenue for the league as a whole was $2.7B.

This story dovetails nicely with the recent report that the betting handle on Super Bowl LVII will likely top $16B and involve over 50 million adult players.

Granted, that statistic comes from an American Gaming Association report. That entity has a vested interest in sports gambling continuing to grow.

Still, $16B is essentially New York state’s entire sports wagering handle in 2022. So if the AGA estimate is only half-right, and “only” $8B is wagered, this would still be a significant inflection point for sportsbooks that have continued to struggle to be profitable.

We’re looking forward to the report card after the Super Bowl, not only on total handle but on whether the sportsbooks managed to bring in new players.

And, for that matter, whether they balanced their action correctly.

3) Penn Entertainment posts 2022 4Q profit, first U.S. sports betting company to get there 📈 

No small story here. We have reported on Penn Entertainment’s ups and downs over the past few months.

So the report that Penn Entertainment was the first U.S. gambling company to post a fourth quarter profit on sports betting is pretty big.

• Penn Entertainment became the first US gambling company to post a profit in its sports betting business during Q4 of 2022.

• Its interactive business (including online casino games) made a profit of $5.2 million on revenue of $208 million during the same period, boosting overall revenue by nearly 1% to $1.6 billion.

• FanDuel, the US market leader in online sports betting, announced a quarterly profit in Q2 of 2022 and expects to be profitable for the full year.

• DraftKings, another rival, aims to be profitable by 2024.

• Penn's profitability in the interactive segment is attributed to its marketing approach, relying on cross-platform promotion from Barstool and theScore.

• Ohio's launch of sports betting in Jan. 2023 was the most successful launch ever for Penn's interactive business.

• January has been strong for both physical casinos and online platform.

Of course, even when Penn Entertainment wins, it seems to somehow end up losing anyway. “Shares declined Thursday after CEO Jay Snowden, on an earnings call, blamed overall lackluster fourth quarter earnings on bad weather in December.”

Bad weather in December? Who could have seen that coming?

The roller coaster ride on Penn Entertainment stock continues, with its price up 11% in the past thirty days but down 4% in the past five.

Like all the others, Penn Entertainment will be looking for a Super Bowl boost. We will see if they get it.

JOB LEAD OF THE DAY 💰️

Just do it.

“Business Affairs Manager, North America Sports Marketing” is a word salad, but this is Nike we are talking about.

“The Business Affairs Manager will help drive the strategic and financial management of the College SM portfolio. You will manage and maintain all marketing and brand assets across all college agreements! You will also serve as primary liaison with internal and external partners around brand and marketing rights.”

We did not put that exclamation point in there. That was Nike trying to fire you up.

Also, we might have suggested they put “college” in the job description. But who are we to tell a multi-billion dollar corporation how to attract talent?

WHAT ELSE IS GOING ON? 😎

• Manchester City is facing charges from the Premier League of cooking its books and lying about it. We’re shocked! ⚽️ 

• Some Super Bowl ads cost around $7M for 30 seconds. So many jokes…. 🏈 

• CBS is rumored to have staged an “intervention” with Tony Romo around his performance as an analyst this season. 🎙️ 

• The ratings for the NFL’s “Pro Bowl Games” were only OK, but considering that it was a glorified flag football game, still impressive. 📺️ 

• Jake Paul is still obnoxious, which is fine until you’re giving lip to another obnoxious guy. 🥊 

WHAT TO KEEP AN EYE OUT FOR BEFORE THE NEXT SEND 👁️

• Texas lawmakers are doing what they can to get sports betting legalized in the Lone Star State. ⭐️ 

• Tom Brady will be a broadcaster, but like a lot of recent graduates he’s taking a gap year. 📆 

• Online gambling is making match fixing, especially in individual and less glamorous sports, more common and more difficult to stop. 🏓