As the number of ways to bet on football increases, so does the number of viewers each week. On a mass scale most recently, it was the influx of daily fantasy football that drove the TV numbers to go up. Now, in addition with the daily fantasy route, sports betting is piling on with more viewership.
There are currently 13 states in the United States that have some sort of legalized gambling. Only one of those states came aboard during the NFL season – that was Oregon, which rolled out its heralded Scoreboard mobile app. Since that’s only about one-fourth of the country, you wouldn’t have expected that to make much of a difference – but it has.
“That is certainly a big influence,” said New York Giants co-owner and treasurer Jonathan Tisch in a recent interview on CNBC. “Obviously, if you’re betting on a certain game, you’re going to watch to see what happens and you’re going to watch until the bitter end because there are many games the are won on a field goal with three seconds left.”
While only 13 states may have legalized sports betting, it’s important to note that residents of states without legalized sports betting can still get it done. All they have to do is travel to the states with legalized sports betting and place their wagers there.
We have seen this in places like New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Nevada. Not to mention, more recently with the state of Indiana.
Going Up
As for the exact numbers through Monday, the TV viewership for games is up more than five percent from last season, roughly under 17 million people. Most notably, digital viewing has shot up a significant 49 percent compared to last season, as well.
Overall, the NFL ratings have increased about five percent from each of the last two seasons, which saw a decline in viewership in those years.
While Tisch and other NFL heavyweights were prepared for the day of legalized sports betting to become official, he believes there is a time (shortly) where NFL fans will be able to place their wagers at stadiums where the games are being played. After all, his Giants team plays within the same complex as the FanDuel Sportsbook at Meadowlands Racetrack – the most lucrative sportsbook in New Jersey.
“I think the NFL is getting ready for it,” said Tisch. “Due to the NFL’s revenue-sharing structure among its 32 teams, decisions about how to distribute betting revenue would need to take place at a level beyond just one franchise.”
It’s hard to imagine the NFL ever having a decline in viewership. However, the Colin Kaepernick situation, and players kneeling because of it, did cause some people to reprioritize their activities on Sunday afternoons. Also, a good portion of these primetime games have teams in matchups that are simply overmatched, whether it’s due to injuries or falling off the face of the Earth from the previous season.
Betting and NFL games will always be synonymous. People have been doing the pick sheets, fantasy football, and friendly wagers for decades. Now that things have ramped up a bit, it’s good for the NFL to keep raking in the viewership.
