Horizon Media’s Scout Sports and Entertainment unit has won a coveted assignment to leverage the growing sports sponsorship portfolio of daily fantasy provider FanDuel.
FanDuel
NFL Sponsorships
■ Baltimore Ravens
■ Buffalo Bills
■ Chicago Bears
■ Cincinnati Bengals
■ Cleveland Browns
■ Detroit Lions
■ Green Bay Packers
■ Houston Texans
■ Indianapolis Colts
■ Jacksonville Jaguars
■ New York Jets
■ Philadelphia Eagles
■ San Diego Chargers
■ St. Louis Rams
■ Tampa Bay Buccaneers
■ Washington Redskins
Note: DraftKings has NFL team deals with the Denver Broncos, New England Patriots and Pittsburgh Steelers
Source: SportsBusiness Journal research
Scout’s initial duties will be planning and implementing activation for FanDuel’s NFL team partnerships, which now total 16 of the league’s 32 clubs after the Chicago Bears signed on.
“Scout has a deep bench of talent and relevant experience we believe will help us leverage our growing portfolio of sports relationships,” said Jay Amos, FanDuel executive vice president of strategic partnerships.
Subsequently, Scout will assist with FanDuel’s NBA portfolio, which includes a league deal and more than 15 team deals.
“The basic assignment is leveraging these assets to increase brand awareness and grow customer acquisition,” said Scout Managing Partner Michael Neuman, adding that he has been working on the assignment since February. “Obviously, it’s a category everyone wants to be working in right now, so we’re happy.”
As category leaders, FanDuel and DraftKings have gobbled up prime team and league sponsorships during the past 10 months. The question of agency help for negotiation and activation remained unanswered. Sources said that while there was no formal review process, FanDuel met with nearly every New York sports marketing agency of note.
Meanwhile, DraftKings has been working quietly with IMG Consulting, both on activation and negotiations, for several months, sources said.
“This is such a frenetic category right now that we’re in a situation where both of them are looking to buy up the prime real estate before the other,” said one agency head. “Especially before the NFL season begins, they’ve got to get plans in place to exploit and market those assets.”
