BOSTON – The son of the Super Bowl Champion New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft, envisioned a future with widespread in-game wagering and segmented broadcasts that will give National Football League fans everything from traditional commentary to a heavy dose of sports betting on that particular game.
Jonathan Kraft, president of the Kraft Group, spoke during a panel discussion today on the view of U.S. sports and wagering over the next decade as ICE North America kicked off at the Boston Convention Center.
Jonathan Kraft, president of the Kraft Group (r) speaks at ICE North America
The conference started on the one-year anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Court striking down a federal ban on single-game sports wagers outside Nevada and sparked the national proliferation of sports betting.
“I don’t think anything has changed our business model,” Kraft said. “The baseline has remained the same. When we think about our football businesses what we are really focused on is changes (legalizing sports betting) to drive further engagement, especially with people who are under the age of 30 and who grew up in an era of short attention spans. They always want to be engaged with whatever is they are doing.”
Kraft said the NFL is spending a lot of time thinking about how it can create a platform that will allow it “in real time while the game is going on to allow proposition betting within the game.” That will drive engagement and interest from the younger generation who might not want to sit and watch a three-hour platform, he said.
“That is the thing we are spending the most time on,” Kraft said. “The challenge when you start to think about is in creating proposition bets in real time, and the data collection needs that go along with it.”
The NFL would not be involved in booking any bets, Kraft said.
Kraft said from an NFL’s perspective the ability to have its games delivered digitally means that people that don’t have an interest in sports betting can get the same traditional experience they always had with play-by-play and color commentators.
“If you are somebody what wants to experience gaming within the game, you will have the ability to choose an alternate theater screen,” Kraft said. “Maybe the betting will be the primary and the people that don’t want to do that will take it on the other.”
Kraft said he envisions a screen at the bottom that shows real-time proposition bets. It’s probably two to three years away.
“I think you will see segmenting come to broadcasts from what people want to experience,” Kraft said. “For people who want nothing to do with gaming, they can watch our games. For people who might want to do it casually, there might be something for them and people that want hardcore and constant betting analysis action, there might be a version of the broadcast for that. I have to believe all sports will migrate in that direction.”
