Yahoo Sports has signed college basketball stars Chet Holmgren of Gonzaga University and Paolo Banchero of Duke University as brand ambassadors of the Yahoo Sports Tourney Pick’em March Madness bracket game.
In the first NIL deal to target bracket gaming, Holmgren and Banchero will promote the Pick’em game across their personal social channels throughout March and appear in marketing ads for Yahoo Sports.
Yahoo’s free to play game pays out $25,000 and the chance to win a vacation to an MGM Resort in Las Vegas. Yahoo Sports has an existing relationship with MGM Resorts International to integrate the Yahoo Sportsbook app with BetMGM.
Holmgren’s Gonzaga Bulldogs and Banchero’s Duke Blue Devils currently stand at #1 and #4 in the AP Top-25. Holmgren and Banchero have 341,000 and 206,000 Instagram followers, respectively. Yahoo Sports was purchased in May by Apollo Global Management for $5 billion. Earlier this week, CNBC reported that Apollo has had discussions with PointsBet to merge the sports betting company with Yahoo Sports.
