Daily fantasy sports operator DraftKings has signed sponsorship deals with 27 Major League Baseball (MLB) teams, further expanding its partnership with the league.
Out of 30 MLB teams, DraftKings did not sign with Canada’s Toronto Blue Jays as well as the teams in Washington (Seattle Mariners) and Arizona (Arizona Diamondbacks), as the latter two are located in states where fantasy sports is illegal.
Under the deal, users will have an access to exclusive content from DraftKings’ iPhone app including the integration of MLB.com’s At Bat app.
“The seamless integration allows Siri to send an alert when one of the DraftKings user’s selected players is coming to bat. Users then simply tap the At Bat logo on the alert and the At Bat app will open to show a live look-in of the player’s plate appearance,” according to press release.
MLB is among the investors that increased its investment with DraftKings during the DFS operator’s latest funding round, which valued the company more than $1.2b.
“Baseball is one of the fastest-growing categories in DFS and our MLB partnerships ensure that we will continue to offer the sport’s most engaging fantasy games and experiences,” DraftKings CEO Jason Robins. “The excitement and tremendous user engagement surrounding our $4 Million Fantasy Baseball Championship is further proof of the value of our relationships with MLB and its teams.”
According to the Fantasy Sports Trade Association (FSTA), the number of people participating in fantasy sports is expected to hit 56.8m this year, a gain of 37% from 2013.
Meanwhile, CBS Interactive, one of the leaders in the season-long fantasy category along with ESPN and Yahoo, becomes the latest player in DFS with its revamped SportsLine.com now offering DFS products.
The new SportsLine offers daily fantasy baseball with plans to offer other sports in the future. In addition to single-day fantasy sports games, the site also offers a monthly subscription service that provides access to sports data, projections, content and stats. The site uses a new data model built by Steven Oh, founder of sports forecasting company AccuScore.
CBS Sports Head Jeff Gertula said the sports content offered on the paid service is “about what’s going on on the field, who’s going to win, and why.”
