The legalization of sports betting has given professional sports leagues another avenue to generate revenue, with many of the major sports leagues forming partnerships with sports books.
On Monday, the NFL announced it was partnering with FOX Bet, BetMGM, PointsBet and WynnBETT as Approved Sportsbook Operators for the 2021 NFL season.
The announcement of this does not sit well with everybody, though.
Hall of Fame head coach Tony Dungy reacted to the NFL’s announcement on Twitter with skepticism of the league’s direction to promote sports gambling.
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Dungy’s opinion is certainly in the minority of most fans, especially in football, where sports betting has long been part of the discussion centered around the game prior to its legalization.
Much of the television shows dedicated to the NFL season, on networks that have rights to air games, often have segments in which analysts give their picks against the spread. NBC’s “Football Night in America,” in which Dungy is a studio analyst, only picks a winner for that night’s game without any betting lines, though.
Of course, the NFL signaled this was the direction it was headed earlier this year when it announced its first-ever U.S. sportsbook partnerships back with Caesars Entertainment, DraftKings and FanDuel back in April.
Regardless of how you may feel about Dungy’s opinion, it is a reality that this what the future of the NFL and professional sports will look like.
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