WNBA agrees fantasy sports partnership with FanDuel

The Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA), the sister league of the National Basketball Association (NBA) in North America, has entered into a partnership with daily fantasy sports (DFS) operator FanDuel.

Under the deal, which represents FanDuel’s first agreement with a women’s professional sports league, the DFS brand will serve as the official one-day fantasy partner of the WNBA.

FanDuel will launch the ‘Official One-Day Fantasy Game of the WNBA’, which will allow fans to compete against each other for daily WNBA prizes.

The game, which will launch ahead of the new WNBA season that tips off this weekend, is available via the FanDuel website, the FanDuel mobile application and the WNBA website.

FanDuel will also launch the ‘WNBA Tip-Off Challenge’, a mini competition that runs from May 13-20 and will enable fans to enter a series of special edition, free-to-play games for the chance to win various prizes.

“We are constantly looking to innovate by finding new opportunities to engage with our passionate fans and introduce the WNBA to wider audiences,” said WNBA president Lisa Borders said.

“This partnership with FanDuel and our new one-day fantasy game will be a fresh, unique way for fans to further connect with their favourite WNBA players and teams throughout our season.”

In 2014, FanDuel launched the ‘Official One-Day Fantasy Basketball Game of the NBA’ in what was its first strategic partnership with a major professional sports league.

Nigel Eccles, chief executive of FanDuel, added: “The NBA has been a fantastic partner as we continue to build out our consumer offerings to appeal to all sports fans.

“We first launched NBA contests in 2009, debuted NBA InPlay late last year, and are now extending our basketball offerings to include WNBA, giving our users even more opportunities to play fantasy contests.”

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