NFL rejects prediction market deals, keeps three sportsbook partners for 2026
The NFL will stick with three sportsbook partners for the 2026 season and will not sign any deals with prediction market platforms before games begin. The league has held months of behind-the-scenes talks with Kalshi and Polymarket, as well as with the CFTC, but has chosen not to pursue prediction markets as a revenue stream. Kalshi is specifically named as a platform the NFL will not partner with this year. The decision leaves all CFTC-regulated venues without a major U.S. sports league deal for now.
League partnership is the most credible user-acquisition channel for regulated prediction markets. The NFL's no forces Kalshi and Polymarket back into state-by-state marketing fights against sportsbooks with billion-dollar ad budgets. Kalshi now holds zero major league deals despite its MLB team push, while Novig's $125 million first-week volume shows product traction without league imprimatur.
The CFTC's pending rule proposal could still redraw the regulatory boundary, but the NFL's choice signals that leagues see prediction markets as reputational risk, not incremental revenue. For traders, it means narrower liquidity than a league partnership would have delivered. For platforms, the timeline for a 2026-27 season deal just reset to zero.
The NFL joins MLB as the second major sports league to spurn prediction-market partnerships, while Kalshi absorbs another rejection after its push for team-level MLB exclusivity just yesterday.