With MGM Resorts and NBA Forging Historic Sports Betting Partnership, When Will This Romance Conceive An NBA Team For MGM’s T-Mobile Arena?
By ALAN SNEL
LVSportsBiz.com
Now that we have learned that MGM Resorts International has become the official sports betting partner of the NBA, there’s only a single question left: when will this cozy relationship between the NBA and MGM yield a bouncing baby NBA team for T-Mobile Arena?
The historic partnership between a major sports league and a hotel-casino company’s sports betting platforms means MGM Resorts will be provided with NBA and WNBA data, while the use of the NBA and WNBA logos will be displayed across MGM Resorts’ sports gambling platforms.
Here’s Silver’s video comments on the MGM Resorts becoming an official gaming partner of the NBA — the first of its type.
Here’s a beefy part of the press release: “As part of the partnership, MGM Resorts will use official NBA and WNBA data and branding, on a non-exclusive basis, across MGM Resorts’ land-based and digital sports betting offerings throughout the United States.”
Clearly, NBA Commissioner Adam Silver has been at the forefront of the major league sports movement to regulate and legalize sports gambling. And this new NBA betting relationship with MGM Resorts is the most tangible evidence to date that the NBA has no fear about cozying up to casinos and hotel sports books.
“As the landscape for sports betting in the U.S. continues to evolve at a rapid pace, MGM Resorts is a proven gaming leader for us to work with on this groundbreaking partnership,” Silver said in the release.
“Our collaboration will result in the best possible gaming and entertainment experience for consumers through the use of accurate, real-time NBA and WNBA data, and our collective efforts to maintain and enhance the integrity of our games,” he said.
Silver has been poised to pounce on all gambling opportunities, especially after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that states banning sports gambling outside Nevada was unconstitutional.
In lieu of having an NBA team at its T-Mobile Arena, MGM Resorts is now positioned to give sports fans a new fun gambling experience thanks to its new sports betting relationship with the NBA. Here’s MGM Resorts’ press release on the NBA betting partnership.
“This is all about improving the fan experience,” Murren said of the NBA sports betting partnership.
But it’s been no secret that MGM Resorts International CEO Jim Murren covets an NBA team for T-Mobile Arena, which is owned by MGM Resorts, Anschutz Entertainment Group (owners of Staples Center and the Los Angeles Kings) and Vegas Golden Knights majority owner Bill Foley. (MGM and AEG own equal shares of 85 percent of the arena and Foley owns 15 percent.)
Surely, this sports betting partnership is another step toward a closer relationship between the NBA and MGM Resorts.
More press release statements: “The NBA has always been an innovator at the forefront of sports evolution, and MGM Resorts is thrilled to partner with the league to revolutionize sports betting in the United States,” Murren said.
“Integrating the NBA’s assets and having official NBA data showcased across the MGM Resorts platforms will provide us with a distinct advantage and instill more confidence in knowing that our data is directly from the NBA,” he said.
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MGM Resorts and the NBA will also partner on best-in-class practices to protect the integrity of NBA and WNBA games, including anonymized real-time data sharing.
The NBA and MGM Resorts will also work together to create a series of integrations across NBA platforms, including a special digital content series.
MGM Resorts will be promoted across the NBA’s digital assets including NBA TV, NBA.com, the NBA App and NBA social media platforms. Additionally, the NBA will be promoted across MGM Resorts’ sports betting platforms.
Having an NBA team as a co-anchor with Las Vegas-based UFC and the NHL Golden Knights at T-Mobile Arena would add 40 plus dates of a programming at the $375 million arena that opened more than two years ago.
MGM Resorts International has a title sponsorship with the NBA Summer League that just ended earlier this month. Murren and Silver were seen rubbing elbows during the summer league in Las Vegas.
And the resort/casino/entertainment company bought the WNBA Stars and moved the women’s team from San Antonio to a renovated Mandalay Bay Events Center, where the MGM-owned Las Vegas Aces play Wednesday night in their quest to go from a last-place team in San Antonio to a WNBA playoff club on the Strip.
Las Vegas-based MGM Resorts has about 80,000 workers at its 12 hotel-casinos up and down the Strip in Las Vegas and many more outside Nevada.
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