New NFL agreement allows owners, players to enter in-stadium sportsbooks market

The new collective bargaining agreement (CBA) between NFL and the National Football League Players Association (NFLPA) takes the league through 2030 and paves the way for a future with owners and players profiting off bets placed by gamblers at sportsbooks inside stadiums.

After decades of firm opposition to sports betting, allowing sportsbooks in stadiums is a landmark shift in the league's position. In the years ahead, NFL owners could be competing with bookmakers for a share of the growing American sports betting market.

According to language in the CBA, owners and players will share revenues generated "by the operation of gambling-related businesses located in or physically attached to an NFL Stadium," ESPN reports. During halftime, spectators could be able to pick up a three-team parlay from a bookmaker renting space at the stadium, for instance.

Revenue from "gambling on any aspect of NFL games, any performance of NFL players in NFL games or in any other NFL/Club-related activity" is included in the agreement that even mentions potential profits from slot machines "located in or physically attached to an NFL Stadium."

The CBA indicates that sportsbook operations from the stadiums could run during the offseason as well, although players would receive a smaller percentage of profits from bets on sports other than the NFL.

Some of the gambling revenue split by owners and players could be based on the outcome of wagers, defined in the CBA as "the aggregate net difference between gaming wins and losses [not the total amount wagered] net of all excise taxes or other gambling or gaming-related taxes or surcharges actually paid or owed."

"This is forward-looking language that addresses revenue sharing from activities in the event they take place in the future," NFL vice president of communications Brian McCarthy told ESPN. "There's no certainty or timeline as to when these activities would be implemented."

Legal sportsbooks have begun operating in 17 states, with another wave of jurisdictions preparing to follow. Illinois and Washington, D.C., sports betting laws allow professional sports venues to apply for licensing. At Capital One Arena in Washington, D.C., construction is underway on a sportsbook that will be run by bookmaker William Hill U.S. There have been discussions of putting a sportsbook in or near Wrigley Field in Chicago, and pending sports betting legislation in Virginia permits gambling licenses for sports venues, something that was included at the urging of Washington Redskins owner Daniel Snyder.

"We have seen Maryland looking at bringing the Redskins into the fold and being a licensee," said Sara Slane, a betting industry consultant for sports and media companies. "Virginia has done that as an enticement to get the Redskins to come into their state. Sports betting has morphed into so many other opportunities that I don't think anyone had quite predicted."

Virginia is one of the states looking for an online-only sports betting market, so physical betting windows at stadiums might be unnecessary. Any spaces dedicated to betting may feel more like sports bars that showcase point spreads and odds at the stadium's bookmaker.

JCJ Architecture, a firm with extensive clients in the hospitality market, including casinos, has seen an uptick in requests for sportsbook designs, including in sports venues. JCJ principal managing director Paul Hamel said the company has collaborated on more than a dozen sportsbook projects across the nation, with more in the pipeline. "Since retail/wagering windows are still not allowed, stadium sportsbooks will essentially function as lounges where individuals can bet on their smartphones," Jeanne Muscolino, senior associate for JCJ's hospitality sector, told ESPN.

In February, the NFL said it would begin allowing teams to have betting lounges in their stadiums and accept sponsorships from sportsbooks, but under current policy, stadiums remain prohibited from having physical betting windows.

Seven states are home to NFL teams and have legal sports betting markets: Indiana, Illinois, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Michigan and Nevada. Colorado, North Carolina and Tennessee have passed legislation and are planning to launch sportsbooks this year. Since 2007, the NFL has played games in the United Kingdom, where sports betting is legal. The league, however, has closed down any betting kiosks inside the stadiums during games.