Does the NFL have a deal with Kalshi or Polymarket?
What the NFL actually signed
On 27 August 2026 the league announced multi-year commercial agreements with three operators. DraftKings and FanDuel have been partners in the category since 2021. Fanatics Betting and Gaming is new to the sportsbook category, expanding a relationship that already covered collectibles and official league merchandise.
All three get the same core package: the right to use NFL marks in the sports betting category, presence at tentpole events including the Super Bowl and the draft, integrations across NFL-owned digital properties, and access to real-time official play-by-play, proprietary Next Gen Stats and BetVision through Genius Sports, the league’s exclusive data distribution partner.
Two side deals sit alongside the main ones. DraftKings continues as Official Daily Fantasy Sports Partner, a role it has held since 2019. Fanatics becomes an Official Online Casino Marketing Partner.
The part of the deal that has nothing to do with marketing
Underneath the logo rights sits the clause that makes a league partnership different from an advertising buy. All three partners agreed to adhere to the NFL’s core game integrity policies, to share intelligence with the league, and to work with it to prohibit wagers the league finds objectionable.
The league names the categories: bets tied to officiating, bets tied to injuries, and bets on outcomes that can be known in advance or easily manipulated by a single person.
That is a product veto. If the NFL decides a market is dangerous, it has a contractual route to pull it from DraftKings, FanDuel and Fanatics. That route does not exist for an exchange the league has never signed.
So how does the NFL reach Kalshi?
Through Washington. On 27 July 2026, the day the CFTC’s public comment period closed, the NFL filed a letter on the regulator’s 267-page June draft rule for sports-event contracts. The league allowed that parts of the draft were productive, then wrote that it fell “significantly short” of protecting the integrity of the sport and the fans participating in the markets.
What the NFL asked for maps almost exactly onto the veto it already holds over its sportsbook partners: outright bans on micro-bets, player props and award markets it considers susceptible to manipulation by a single player, stronger rules against insider trading, and a registry of league-prohibited bettors. It added that it was “surprising that further common-sense integrity and consumer protection measures provided in the prior league comment letter were not adopted.”
The NFL also joined the NBA and the NCAA in urging the CFTC to set a minimum trading age of 21. All three have dealt with insider-trading cases over the previous twelve months.
What the league controls, side by side
| Official sportsbook partner (DraftKings, FanDuel, Fanatics) | Prediction market (Kalshi, Polymarket) | |
|---|---|---|
| League contract | Yes, multi-year | None |
| Right to use NFL marks | Yes | No |
| Official real-time play-by-play data | Yes, via Genius Sports | Not from the league |
| Super Bowl and draft presence | Yes | No |
| Bound by NFL game integrity policy | Yes, by agreement | No |
| League can force a bet type off the menu | Yes, by agreement | No — only via CFTC rulemaking |
| Primary regulator | State gaming regulators | CFTC |
The row that matters is the second to last one. Everything above it is money and marketing. That one is jurisdiction.
The NFL is the holdout, not the rule
MLB has gone the other way. The CFTC and MLB signed a first-of-its-kind memorandum of understanding in April 2026 aimed at shielding baseball-related markets from fraud and manipulation. In July 2026 the New York Mets signed a multi-year commercial deal with the exchange Novig — the first partnership between an MLB franchise and a prediction market.
The NFL’s own posture has moved too. In December 2025 written testimony to the US House Committee on Agriculture, executive vice president Jeff Miller wrote that the league was “particularly troubled” that certain contracts fell outside the “purview of state regulatory authorities and the safeguards they impose upon the industry”. By February 2026, ahead of Super Bowl 60, Miller was describing the asset class as “innovative” while saying the league wanted regulatory clarity before choosing a course of action.
Which is the useful way to read the 2026 announcement. “No prediction market deals” is not a stated permanent position. It is what the NFL does while the jurisdiction question is unsettled.
Frequently asked questions
- Does the NFL have a partnership with Kalshi or Polymarket?
- No. For the 2026 season the NFL’s only official sports betting partners are DraftKings, FanDuel and Fanatics. The league has no commercial agreement with Kalshi or Polymarket, and the sportsbook deals do not extend to those operators’ prediction-market businesses.
- Can you still trade NFL contracts on Kalshi without a league deal?
- Yes. Prediction market exchanges list contracts on sporting events under CFTC oversight, not under a licence from the league. A league partnership governs marketing rights, official data access and integrity commitments — it is not what makes a market available.
- Why does the NFL care if it is not being paid?
- Because its sportsbook agreements let it prohibit bet types it considers manipulable, including those tied to officiating and injuries. No equivalent clause binds an exchange the league has not signed, so the NFL has asked the CFTC to impose comparable limits by rule instead.
- Has any US league or team partnered with a prediction market?
- Yes. In July 2026 the New York Mets signed a multi-year deal with Novig, the first partnership between an MLB franchise and a prediction market exchange. The CFTC and MLB had signed an integrity memorandum of understanding in April 2026.
- Does the DraftKings NFL deal cover DraftKings Predictions?
- No. Reporting on the 2026 agreements indicates the sportsbook partnerships do not extend to the operators’ prediction-market operations.
Sources
- NFL, “NFL announces official partnerships with three leading sports betting operators”, 27 August 2026
- ESPN, David Purdum, “NFL renews DraftKings, FanDuel deals, adds Fanatics”, 27 August 2026
- NBC Sports Pro Football Talk, “NFL will have three sportsbook partners, no prediction market deals for 2026”, 27 August 2026
- iGaming Business, Matt Rybaltowski, “Prediction market roundup: NFL pans CFTC integrity draft, NY seeks $36B in damages against Kalshi”, 31 July 2026