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Yahoo Adds Daily Fantasy Soccer; Signs Revenue Sharing Deal

Darren Heitner
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Opinions expressed by Forbes Contributors are their own.
I cover the intersection of sports and money.
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The daily fantasy sports industry received a resounding amount of attention when Yahoo launched its own daily fantasy platform in July.  Right now, Yahoo offers a daily fantasy baseball competition, but will add American football, basketball and hockey offerings when the major professional sports leagues resume play.  However, the most exciting news for Yahoo may have nary a focus on the 50 U.S. states.  It comes in the form of a partnership that will allow Yahoo to quickly expand its reach in the world of soccer and get a leg up on competitor DraftKings, which also seems to be positioning itself for expansion abroad.

Yahoo's partnership is with Isle of Man-based Mondogoal, which will permit Yahoo to shift from having its London-based staff focusing on promoting season-long advertisement supported fantasy leagues to pushing a daily game hosted and operated by Mondogoal.  The favorable revenue sharing deal (exact terms have not been disclosed) has no up-front costs for Mondogoal.  Any individuals who sign up for Mondogoal's daily fantasy soccer platform through Yahoo will be counted in the revenue share formula; those who join without Yahoo involvement will be carved out from the equation.

The plan to shift focus from season-long soccer gaming to daily fantasy soccer was established by Yahoo roughly a month ago.  Yahoo reached its revenue sharing agreement with Mondogoal soon thereafter and launched its platform last Friday.

Yahoo will have some level of control in branding and data sharing, but the operation itself will be managed by Mondogoal .  That begs the question: If Yahoo was willing to spend the time and resources to build out its own baseball, basketball, football and hockey offerings, then why not do the same with soccer?

Gambling licenses are required for daily fantasy operations outside of the United States.  That may explain why DraftKings has applied for United Kingdom gambling licenses, plausibly for the purpose of expanding into the lucrative soccer market.  Mondogoal already has a gambling license in the U.K. and has partnered with other sports betting sites that have their own licenses elsewhere.  This allows Yahoo to indirectly be involved in the process of operating under a gambling license without the obligation of applying for them.  Yahoo can more easily take the position that its operation (technically a traditional revenue sharing partnership) is not sports gambling, which is a tougher task for DraftKings when it has applied for gambling licenses under its own name.

Yahoo also gets to immediately exploit Mondogoal's existing partnerships in the soccer space, which includes relationships with Chelsea FC, Liverpool FC, West Ham United FC, Tottenham Hotspur, AS Roma and FC Barcelona.  Marketing will be heavily concentrated in the U.K. and Yahoo will work with Mondogoal to ensure that cash games are provided in regions where permitted.

Darren Heitner is a lawyer and the Founder of South Florida-based HEITNER LEGAL, P.L.L.C., which has a focus on Sports Law and Entertainment Law.

Darren Heitner
Darren Heitner