PGA Tour to start integrating gambling content ahead of official product launch
Pro golf organisation to debut odds graphics and betting segments in video and digital assets
The PGA Tour will start integrating sports betting content into its programming and digital assets ahead of the launch of its official data feed in the US market next year.
Speaking to EGR last week, the PGA Tour’s SVP for business development Norb Gambuzza said the Tour would “soon” start debuting betting-related graphics and having on-screen talent [on Golf Channel] discuss odds.
“The content discussion is something that’s going on right now inside our place,” Gambuzza said.
“It involves a lot of people and we’re putting a lot of thought into it. But we are going to start to move our teams to start presenting some content that has some gambling-related items in it.
“We’re probably not going to jump into the deep end of the pool and all of a sudden you’re going to log on the PGA Tour app and there’s going to be this big giant gaming section talking to you. We’re going to be cautious about it.”
Gambuzza said the content was a way of getting fans more engaged with the betting side of the sport before its official data product is launched in early 2020 in partnership with IMG Arena.
When asked about the challenges of discussing betting at an educated and coherent level, Gambuzza said: “We acknowledge that we need to bring subject matter experts into our house in order to talk about that.
“What you’ll probably see first is a third-party content partnership that takes our brand, our data, and also takes our editorial expertise, but gets that content out from experts who know how to do this.”
As a comparison, Nascar has a betting content deal with content group The Action Network.
Gambuzza likened the content rollout to the Tour’s recent deal with DraftKings and embracing of DFS, which saw a new Fantasy tab added to the PGA Tour site with analysis and insight.
As part of the drive to prepare fans for betting, the Tour has looked into free-to-play concepts but held off thanks to the relative lack of F2P concepts from other leagues.
“We’ve looked at the games that are out there across other leagues and talk to our partners, and those games are not necessarily getting the kind of pickup and traction that people want,” Gambuzza said. “We’re still looking at it.”