As of April 1, the NFL had no official sportsbook partner. That’s when the existing deals with DraftKings, FanDuel, and Caesars expired.
To date, no new sportsbook deals have been done. Per a source with knowledge of the situation, the league continues to not have any contracts in place to make one (or more) sportsbooks the official betting partners of Big Shield.
That likely will be changing. We’re hearing that the league may be getting close to hammering out new arrangements.
The timing makes sense. The preseason begins in eight days, with the Hall of Fame game. It’s the first official opportunity for people to bet (and lose) on pro football in 2026. (That said, anyone inclined to bet on the Hall of Fame game should perhaps call the small-print 800 number instead.)
The NFL doesn’t need to cozy up to gambling. Before it was legalized (and normalized) in all states except Nevada, the NFL railed against the potential problem associated with widespread sports betting. Then, the NFL realized how much money could be made from it.
For now, the league officially is making none through sportsbook deals. It would be a surprise if no deal is in place before the first game of the year kicks off in Canton.
That said, it’s possible that the sportsbooks are driving a harder bargain than they have in the past. DraftKings and FanDuel are the Coke and Pepsi of sports betting. (Caesars is basically RC Cola.) Millions have, and use, the apps. Do they really need to spend a bunch of money on an NFL partnership to get more people to do what they’re already doing?
Still, the sportsbooks need to fend off the Coke and Pepsi of prediction markets — Kalshi and Polymarket. And maybe that’s the real leverage for the NFL. If the leading sportsbooks won’t pay the league what it wants, maybe the top prediction markets will.
