DraftKings has signed a one-year deal to become the exclusive daily fantasy sports site of the Breeders’ Cup and title sponsor of one of the event’s races.
A six-furlong race for female racehorses will now be known as the $1 Million DraftKings Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint under terms of the deal. Financial terms were not disclosed.
The Breeders’ Cup is Oct. 31 and Nov. 1 at Santa Anita Park and will be broadcast on NBC and NBC Sports Network.
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| DraftKings’ Liberman, Robins and Kalish want horse racing fans to see their product. |
DraftKings will receive ad inventory during the broadcasts, as well as signs and hospitality at the Los Angeles-area track.
But the driving force behind the deal is to expose the daily fantasy sports site to horse racing fans, said Paul Liberman, DraftKings CMO and one of its three founding partners.
“We have always been kind of looking at horse racing and consumers in that industry,” Liberman said. “We are interested in introducing our product to their customer base.”
Justin McDonald, Breeders’ Cup vice president of marketing and digital media, said the racing championship is also interested in targeting users of DraftKings, who skew a bit younger than the traditional horse racing fan base.
DraftKings was founded in 2012 by Liberman, Jason Robins and Matthew Kalish to provide daily or weekly games, rather than just seasonlong games. DraftKings has an exclusive partnership with MLB and offers one-day fantasy games on MLB.com.
The deal with the Breeders’ Cup came about after Breeders’ Cup officials approached the company about five months ago. After doing some research, Draft-Kings also found horse racing fans were big fantasy sports players.
“We saw a significant overlap,” Liberman said.
As part of the deal, DraftKings will fly about a dozen customers and contest winners to the Breeders’ Cup and pay the $10,000 buy-in fee for two to participate in the Breeders’ Cup Challenge, played by horse players around the country.
“They are one of the top daily fantasy sports companies,” McDonald said of DraftKings. “There’s a handful of them, and it’s becoming a hot market right now.”
The agreement is for one year, but DraftKings has an option to expand it.
“The way we look at things is we are still a startup, so we are trying to be as nimble as possible,” Liberman said. “It’s much easier for us to do a one-year deal.”
