Kuljeet Sindhar has been with the NBA for over 7 years building partnerships and creating activities that keep fans engaged. Like NASCAR and the rest of the major sports leagues in the United States the NBA has dived into the world of gaming building partnerships.
The NBA has its own broadcast tailormade for bettors on NBA League Pass, a short of window of information while a game is in progress, the broadcast has been so successful that the NBA will have it going forward. Nonetheless, Sindhar and the NBA know that they need to provide fans the right amount of content and not deviate from the leagues ultimate goal, keeping the fans engaged with the world of the NBA.
Sindhar sat down with Bolavip and discussed the NBA’s footprint with betting partners, how the league works to keep betting content just right, and ultimately provide fans with the best experience possible.
The NBA and gaming partners
Bolavip: In a nutshell, what has the NBA learned from their gaming partners?
Kuljeet Sindhar: Well, there are different verticals that we are involved with, if we look at fantasy sports that’s something that has been a U.S. and global initiative, a very passionate pastime for many decades. So, it’s something that the (NBA) has been involved with for a while now. On the betting side, that is something more recent, we got thereafter the U.S repealed the law prohibiting states legalizing sports betting. What we found out is that the U.S. sports betting market was huge, with or without prohibition, the internet and online gaming had changed everything. So (the NBA) felt it was better to protect the integrity of our sport, with sports betting being brought into the light, legalized, we can monitor it with our authorized gaming operator partners… then for our participation the underlying theme here is fan engagement… studies have shown that fans who play fantasy or predictive sports watch more games, watch for longer, and will watch games they normally wouldn’t.
BV: You mentioned fan engagement, but what exactly are the fans engaging more with or what triggers that engagement? Stats, winning money?
KS: I would say all of the above. People who bet on a game and have a financial interest they want to watch because they want to see if they win or lose. In fantasy sports, it’s about playing with your friends… fantasy sports are more about bragging rights with friends than a cash payout and those fans will watch more games to see what is happening in their fantasy picks. I don’t think there is one particular thing that makes people watch, outside of gaming there are fans who are very interested in the lifestyle and what happens outside of NBA games. It’s just great entertainment, fans engage with the league in different ways and our goal is to put the league in front of our fans, the authentic NBA experience through a different lens so fans can see it through their own passions.
BV: How are the sports betting partnerships evolving for the NBA?
KS: From a betting perspective, we are looking at understanding “what do fans want to see”, and how do we give it to them… (The NBA) wants to service the content that our fans want to see, for example, on NBA.com in France we have recently integrated odds for the first time, so fans on NBA.com in France can toggle odds on in the schedule page of NBA games, and if they do then odds from our partner, La Française des Jeux, are shown to the fan who opts into that experience. We are also experimenting with different telecasts, NBABet Stream is an alternate telecast that gives fans an experience catered to gaming, … There is a main broadcast that fans have always seen and an alternate experience that fans interested in gaming can choose to view on our NBA League Pass and is something that we plan to continue.
BV: Does the NBA have plans to place gaming brands on their jerseys like in world soccer? How far does the league think it needs to go with sports betting?
KS: At the moment the (NBA) does not allow betting partners on jerseys and there is no plan to change that… in our partnerships we are making sure we are not over-exposing our fans to sports betting What differentiates us is our international reach, basketball is a truly global sport, and we have betting partners in Australia, Europe and Latin America. It really shows the fan base we have. We look at this from a global perspective. We are mindful of what is happening in some international markets, e.g. Italy, Spain, where regulation has become more restrictive and that we work with our partners to strike the right balance and create opt-in mechanisms, as I mentioned with odds on NBA.com in France, so that we provide fans who want the sports betting experience with the opportunity to engage.