The Current: FanDuel Invests In Women's Sports
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The explosion of interest in the WNBA alongside Caitlin Clark’s rookie season proved something: There can be a real audience for professional women’s sports.
We also saw evidence of that in recent years in the college ranks, with increasing interest in the women’s college basketball tournament, again alongside Clark’s presence. How much of that is Clark hype vs. increased demand for women’s sports across the board is a topic for debate; we’ll get some of the answer in seeing how much people continue to watch the college game.
But at the same time it’s proof that women’s sports can be a growth vertical if you invest in them. With the right stars, the right marketing, more exposure — and yes, more betting — you might just have a winning formula.
No matter what the outlook, it’s encouraging to see FanDuel parent company Flutter throw some money and marketing at it by partnering with the Professional Women’s Hockey League.
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More from the presser on the deal:
This collaboration offers hockey fans unmatched access to the PWHL, with FanDuel streaming up to 90 regular season PWHL games and playoffs live on the FanDuel app. Fans can both watch and wager on their favorite teams and athletes throughout the season, with offerings including player prop bets, novelty markets and Same Game Parlays, all in one place. The partnership goes beyond the app, and starting at the beginning of the season, fans will see FanDuel as an integral part of PWHL games.
Maybe this works and leads to more engagement for FanDuel and the fledgling league, and maybe it doesn’t. But either way, it’s great to see FanDuel try. The downside is they lose some money and time on the effort. The upside is they spend some capital to get women’s sports to a wider audience, and get people betting on the sport.
It’s a smart, likely low-leverage deal that makes sense for a brand like FanDuel as it tries to grow its audience, and the audience of a partner league. I hope it works out for everyone.
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