Fan-Centric Evolution: The NFL’s Multifaceted Approach to Audience Expansion and Sports Betting Integration
This past fall, the NFL’s efforts to reach increase viewership through different audiences have been hard to miss. Brian Rolapp, the league’s Chief Media and Business Officer, even said that the NFL’s mission to reach as many fans as possible has become their “guiding star.”
The NFL’s commitment to expanding its fanbase is evident in its recent experimentation with alternative broadcasts. From Nickelodeon’s NFL Wild Card games tailored for younger audiences, to ESPN’s Manningcast and Amazon’s Twitch Altcast offering unique perspectives, the league is continuously exploring creative avenues to enhance the viewing experience. Spanish-language broadcasts, ESPN’s Between the Lines, and AWS’s Next Gen Stats and Digital Athlete offer fans even more viewing options that go beyond conventional game coverage.
By diversifying how fans can experience the NFL, the league hopes to bring in new viewers and attract new demographics while retaining its loyal existing fanbase. In other words, the NFL seeks to solve the problem of its audience’s diverse wants and needs by segmenting its fanbase into self-selecting groups that choose from a menu of alternative broadcasts. And while certain differences are fundamental—like catering to young children via a Nickelodeon broadcast or to stats-focused adults via ESPN’s Between the Lines—opportunities for more nuanced variations in broadcast consumption have emerged with the transition to a media landscape where sports betting is now mainstream.
Sports Betting Post-PASPA
Since the U.S. Supreme Court struck down the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act (PASPA) as unconstitutional in 2018, the legal landscape of sports betting has transformed across most of the United States. The industry’s staggering $22 billion in gross revenue from a total handle exceeding $265 billion underscores its rapid growth. Regulated sports betting apps and websites continue to emerge, including the new ESPN Bet app that launched earlier this month. And certain major markets, including California and Texas, have yet to legalize sports betting, so the potential for further expansion in the industry remains substantial.
As the sports betting industry burgeons, the NFL faces the challenge of striking a balance between catering to its fans interested in sports betting and not alienating its non-gambling audience. This equilibrium adds to the complexity of the league’s fan segmentation strategy as the league strives to cater to different types of fans simultaneously. For example, the league may want to keep Sunday football betting-free and family-friendly while offering in-app and NFL.com experiences that integrate sports betting for enthusiasts seeking that additional layer of engagement.
Betting on BetVision
Genius Sports’ new product BetVision, which enhances live NFL game streams with betting functionality and data, is bringing this vision to life. Whereas betting interfaces with live streams typically show those feeds adjacent to the betting interface, BetVision overlays aspects of the betting interface directly on top of the feed. This layout offers a more seamless user experience—not just in being able to place wagers without diverting attention from the stream itself, but in the options themselves being dynamic and contextual; the layout pops up as the game unfolds with betting markets and promotions directly relevant to whatever is happening at that moment.
Regulated Sports Betting Concerns About Integrity and Marketing
While sports gambling has long given rise to questions about sports integrity, new concerns have surged now that leagues and teams are in endorsement relationships with sports betting operators, raising major concerns regarding the perception of potential conflicts of interest.
Douglas Mishkin, a partner at Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner LLP who has previously worked as in-house counsel for the NFL and a Las Vegas sports betting technology company, offers his perspective on these integrity concerns: “The key thing to remember is that sports betting isn’t new; the integrity risks posed by sports betting have existed long before PASPA was ruled unconstitutional,” he says. “There is likely more scrutiny now that sports betting in the U.S. has become mainstream—which in some respects is beneficial from an integrity perspective.” Mishkin adds that sponsorship agreements also “offer an additional avenue to enforce incremental league and team policies and information-sharing obligations beyond what may be required by law, which can help to detect and deter potential integrity concerns.”
Another major concern with regulated sports betting is that, since PASPA’s overturning, it has been virtually impossible to consume sports content without seeing a steady stream of sports betting advertisements. Laws around responsible messaging are intended to minimize the harms of such marketing, but profusely advertising a product that can spark or exacerbate problem gambling should not go un-scrutinized. Reasonable minds may continue to disagree on the ethics of regulated sports gambling. What is clear is that, for better or for worse, sports betting is here to stay.
A Viewer-Driven Industry
In the dynamic landscape of post-PAPSA sports entertainment, the NFL’s integration of sports betting and alternative broadcasts for those who want it reflects the league’s effort to evolve with the times. The NFL’s strategy is but one of many currently being honed in the world of professional sports. Offering a diverse array of experiences can not only solidify leagues’ standings amongst existing fans but also open the door to a new era of viewership. Teams are not the only competitors to keep an eye on. Fans should pay attention as leagues vie for dominance in the ever-changing sports entertainment industry; viewers, after all, are the people driving the industry forward.
Special thanks to Douglas Mishkin of Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner LLP for his invaluable contributions and expertise.
If you or someone you know is struggling with problem gambling, help is available. Call the SAMHSA National Helpline at 1-800-662-4357 for confidential free help from public health agencies.