FanDuel Adding Golf Offering, PGA Tour May See Opportunity

Thanks to reader Glenn for Daniel Roberts' in-depth consideration of FanDuel entering the golf fantasy world as they eye a merger with DraftKings.

Despite issues with legality in several states, they are forging ahead, writes Roberts. FanDuel even think they can help golf ratings the way fantasy has hooked people on the NFL.

Golf Channel, owned by NBCUniversal, recently released numbers suggesting that 2016 was a banner year for the network, especially with digital streaming, and especially among millennial viewers. DFS insiders like to theorize that if golf ratings are on the rise, it’s thanks to DFS golf. So far, there has been nothing to prove that, but Eccles buys it: “I could see it driving golf,” he says. “Because now I have a reason to watch all day, because I’ve picked my team.” When DraftKings added golf back in 2015, DraftKings CEO Jason Robins told Golf Digest, “The setup is perfect for what we do. There are these four mega events every year. Everybody stops what they’re doing to pay attention to the Masters and the U.S. Open.”

To deal with legal issues, FanDuel is taking a different approach than DraftKings and the PGA Tour's fantasy game.

FanDuel players, when they enter a golf contest, will select two different group of golfers, one for rounds 1 and 2 of a tournament and one for rounds 3 and 4—perhaps an attempt to satisfy the “multiple events” concern. On DraftKings, players draft one roster of golfers for the full length of a tournament.

This looks problematic to me give that pesky thing called a cut. Or, better things to do on a Friday night should they be letting you make those round 3 and 4 picks after the cut has been made.

Interesting, gambling came up in Rich Lerner's sitdown with incoming Commish Jay Monahan. The Big Lead's Michael Shamburger noted the key quotes.

“Is it something we look at? Absolutely, we always look at something that other sports are doing, having success with, trends in the industry. It’s something we’ve spent a lot of time on up to this point in time. You look at DraftKings and FanDuel, you look at gaming in the international markets, there’s a lot of opportunity there.”

“There’s some complexity, and that complexity has held us back from moving forward. But we will look at it and have an open mind towards it.”