DraftKings this week will announce an exclusive deal with International Speedway Corp., one of NASCAR’s two major track operators, further cementing its status as the key daily fantasy player in the sport.
The two sides are not disclosing the pact’s financial terms or length aside from noting it will run at least through the 2015 season. It will see DraftKings get assets including signage at ISC’s 13 racetracks, starting with this weekend’s Pure Michigan 400 at Michigan International Speedway, plus the ability to deploy experiential marketing at those tracks. DraftKings will have rights to exclusive experiences as part of the deal and digital signage across ISC websites, social media and mobile.
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The exclusivity of the deal means DraftKings’ chief rival, FanDuel, will continue to have less of an incentive to enter the NASCAR space. That’s because DraftKings’ deal with ISC comes on the heels of an exclusive deal with NASCAR that was announced in May and ensuing ones it struck with the Race Team Alliance (for digital/social assets related to drivers of associated teams) and Furniture Row Racing (associate sponsor for four races on Furniture Row’s No. 78 Chevrolet). The company also has begun buying considerable TV ad inventory around NBC Sports Group’s NASCAR coverage.
“When DraftKings started coming in and doing agreements with the industry — NASCAR, teams — it was very important to us to be on the leading curve of those conversations because we believe fully integrated partnerships across the sport are the ones that work the best; we see that time and time again,” said Daryl Wolfe, executive vice president and chief marketing officer of ISC. “So we’re proud that, from a facility standpoint and our national footprint — combined with their other deals inside the industry — that they have a very nice opportunity to meet or certainly exceed their marketing objectives.”
Wolfe said those marketing objectives center around aggregating an audience and building DraftKings’ user base. NASCAR “is kind of an untapped space [for daily fantasy],” he said, “and it dovetails nicely into NASCAR’s real strong push around fantasy.”
From ISC’s perspective, the deal aligns it with a brand that is reputed for attracting the highly coveted young male demographic.
“It allows us to get into a very active space and effective demographic that they’re engaging with,” Wolfe said. “And any time we can utilize experiences and unique exclusive opportunities, and they can go out there and build what they’re trying to do from an aggregation of audience standpoint, that’s a good thing.”
