Daily fantasy sports operator DraftKings has signed an advertising and promotional partnership with the Canadian Football League (CFL).
On Monday, the CFL announced that DraftKings will debut new weekly CFL fantasy contests to coincide with the 59th CFL season, which officially gets underway on Thursday (23) when the Toronto Argonauts host the Hamilton Tigercats in a battle of Ontario.
The league’s statement rather excitedly claims this is the first time a major DFS operator has elevated the CFL to the status of “featured sport,” so all those taunting references to rouges on The Simpsons over the years were totally worth it.
DraftKings currently has a number of CFL contests available on its site, with entry fees ranging from 25¢ to $300. The CFL also said it would work with DraftKings to promote free-to-play CFL DFS contests across DraftKings’ online and mobile channels and the league’s media and promotional platforms.
Jeffrey Haas, DraftKing’s chief international officer, said Canada “continues to be a key and growing market” for the company, despite the unresolved issue of DFS’ legality north of the 49th parallel. Montreal-based Amaya Gaming made a point of blocking Canadian players when it launched its StarsDraft DFS site last September.
CFL senior VP or marketing and content Christina Litz said the DraftKings deal would “elevate both our brands” and allow fans the opportunity to “deepen their engagement with our game.”
This is the second Canadian partnership for DraftKings, which inked a four-year deal last October with Toronto-based Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment (MLSE), which controls the NHL’s Toronto Maple Leafs, the NBA’s Toronto Raptors and MLS’ Toronto FC. The four-year deal involved setting up “interactive zones” at MLSE venues in which guests could partake in daily fantasy activity.
