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DraftKings Teams Up with WWE Ahead of WrestleMania 37
By Jeff Osienya Mar 31, 2021 IndustryBoston-based DraftKings pens a landmark deal with the WWE to become the first-ever official gaming partner of the professional wrestling entertainment company. This collaboration comes barely a month after DraftKings joined forces with the UFC.DraftKings Inc., one of the largest digital sports entertainment and gaming companies in the USA has inked a new agreement to become the official gaming partner of WWE (World Wrestling Entertainment Inc.), the biggest professional wrestling company globally. This deal is the first of its kind as the WWE has never teamed up with any gaming company in its long history that spans over four decades.
The groundbreaking announcement was made on Monday by the two companies and as usual, the partnership will be subject to all the necessary jurisdictional regulatory approvals. Ezra Kucharz, the Chief Business Officer at DraftKings expressed her company’s delight to work together with the professional wrestling giant in a press briefing as follows:
Quote“As a cultural icon and incredible sports and entertainment company, we are thrilled to join forces with WWE and introduce its devoted fanbase to the DraftKings brand. This relationship helps fuel the engagement and drama of WWE’s signature matchups and storylines as audiences enjoy the second-screen experiences our products provide.”
Free-To-Play Pools to Take the Center Stage
Through this new partnership, DraftKings will now attain an exclusivity license to WWE’s media assets and in-game branding for pay-per-view wrestling events. As part of the deal, DraftKings patrons and WWE fans will have opportunities to take advantage of the gaming juggernaut’s robust free-to-play pool product to engage in wrestling-based contests.
DraftKings will be launching the inaugural free-to-play wrestling pools product alongside this year’s WrestleMania extravaganza, WWE’s annual showdown scheduled from the 10th to 11th April. The WrestleMania 37 event will take place at the Raymond Hames Stadium in Tampa bay and will be streamed live exclusively on Peacock starting 8:00 pm in the USA and on WWE Network across other regions.
The legendary Stephanie McMahon, WWE’s Chief Brand Officer and the daughter to the company CEO, Vince McMahon, also made some comments to share in light of the new arrangement. She said:
Quote“We’re excited to enter this new agreement that makes DraftKings WWE’s first-ever free-to-play gaming partner. This collaboration marks a significant step in deepening engagement with our passionate fans and will provide DraftKings the opportunity to leverage the massive appeal and reach of the WWE brand.”
This partnership will also be cutting across key areas such as program integration, and digital promotion among others, marking a new chapter for both WWE and DraftKings.
DraftKings Continues to Bet on the Heavyweights
It looks like this year DraftKings isn’t afraid to pick a fight. Earlier in March, the sports technology and entertainment company threw its hat in the ring with the UFC to seal another landmark deal. On the 4th of March, DraftKings became the first-ever ‘Official Sportsbook and Daily Fantasy Partner’ of the UFC in the USA and Canada in a deal estimated to be worth $350 million.
As part of this deal, DraftKings got the exclusive rights to offer in-game offers, activations, and integration of in-broadcast odds. The online sports betting and fantasy sports guru also received the license to incorporate UFC branding and official logos and marks across its sports betting and DFS products. Likewise, the gaming bigshot will also have a branded presence on UFC’s ring canvas on selected tournaments.
Additionally, the gaming bigwig became the official presenting partner of UFC’s latest proprietary time-keeping innovation dubbed the UFC Fight Clock. This time-keeping system will now be appearing in four different places of the world-famous Octagon® and is merged with UFC’s production technology so that fans, officials, and athletes can view the same countdown clock with at-home viewers of the broadcast.
DraftKings will also be part of lots of UFC sponsorship integrations on both linear and digital platforms such as pay-per-views, live broadcasts, UFC FIGHT PASS® streaming service, and even on social media channels. To kick off the partnership in style, DraftKings premiered a free-to-play UFC pool with a $10,000 prize on 6th March ahead of the UFC 259 brawl.
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