Guest blog by Sanchit Wadhawan
In the summer of 2024, I interned with the National Football League in their legalized sports betting department. While there, I got to work on some really interesting projects related to sports betting and how it impacts the fan experience.
Some of my favorite things I worked on included analyzing trends in betting behavior of NFL fans, leading diligence related to international betting markets, and sizing the landscape of betting sponsorships with sports teams. Some interesting facts I learned this summer from my work include:
-Fans who bet on football also watch more games, buy more merch, attend more games and are generally more engaged than fans who don’t.
-The NFL has way more market power in this space than I thought. Wagers placed on NFL games account for over 1/3 of all dollars bet in the US. NFL games were over 90 of the top 100 most watched broadcasts in 2023. How much more popular the NFL is than any other sport increases opportunities but also increases the obligation they have to their fans to integrate gambling responsibly.
– The NFL does a lot of studies on the fan impact of exposure to gambling content. For example, kinds of bets offered (e.g. parlays, live bets etc.), sportsbooks promotions/commercials, betting segments on pregame shows are all elements of the NFL experience I had to read about.
The second part of my internship experience was learning how the NFL and sports leagues in general operate. I got to meet people in so many parts of the league. For example, I met with the people who put the schedule together and learned about how they think about when to stage certain match ups and how to allocate game inventory to broadcast partners. I met with some of the analytics team who recommend changes to the rules committee, and learned, among other things, why the kick off rule was changed this year. I also got to meet Roger Goodell, the commissioner of the league, who was gracious enough to answer questions from interns for an hour. Finally, we did a field trip to the NFL films office in New Jersey where I got to learn how the NFL documentaries (e.g. Hard Knocks, Netflix’s Quarterback etc.) get filmed and produced.
As a football fan, it was such a dream to learn work with the NFL, and learn how it all comes together. As an aspiring professional, I got to work with a small team on a strategic initiative in a growing market. We worked cross-functionally with the government affairs department, consumer products, sponsorships, and analytics and the exposure I got to so many different parts of the league. The people I worked with were amazing teammates and some of the best in the industry. If I ever get the chance to work in sports again, I would 100% take it after this experience.
