By Ryan Bologna
When it comes to sportsbooks coming up with innovative ways to grow the gambling industry, FanDuel is arguably the biggest example. The Pat McAfee show is very successful, which has a four-year $120 million sponsorship deal with the Flutter Entertainment-owned company. This isn’t the only instance of FanDuel making a large investment in content. Perhaps the most interesting case is FanDuel launching a cable network that is focused on sports betting. This won’t be your cookie-cutter channel. Will it work? Only time will tell.
The channel will be a rebrand of the TVG cable network, which focused more on horse racing. Mike Raffensperger, Fanduel’s chief commercial officer, said that the channel will be geared towards people watching on mobile devices. Every frame on the screen is supposed to have something that viewers can interact with. Raffensperger added that the content will also look to break the mold of the typical sports betting show.
“The world does not need more very analytic, pick-based touts of the X’s and O’s of gambling,” Raffensperger said. “There is a lot of that out there, and frankly, I don’t think it can always be that interesting.”
So how is Raffensperger going to achieve that goal? There must be some unique talent contributing, right?
As expected, McAfee’s show will contribute to the channel — he is someone with a big personality who brings a lot more to the table than just talking about bets. The Ringer is also expected to contribute, along with Lisa Kerney. Arguably the most notable talent addition is Kay Adams, the former host of NFL Network’s “Good Morning Football.”
Good Morning Football was a lighthearted show that didn’t go near the gambling aspect. Adams departed from the show after signing with Amazon Prime to cover the NFL. Adams’ show will run at 11 a.m. ET on weekdays. The show should fit that mold of being betting-related, but not the hardcore type of show that Raffensperger said he wanted to avoid. Adams certainly has the personality to incorporate not only betting talk, but general sports talk as well as pop culture.
For those who watched Good Morning Football, it might come as a surprise to some that Adams is doing a show in the sports betting world, but she is fully embracing it as the future. Adams even said that sports betting is the future of the industry and that she wants to be on the right side of that.
Pretty much every sportsbook is doing content in some way, but FanDuel is taking it to the next level by creating the first channel that will have sports betting-related content for 24 hours. It will be interesting to see if the channel brings success and if any other major players in the industry will follow suit.
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