The National Football League will kick-off the 2023 season later tonight with the defending Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs hosting the Detroit Lions at Arrowhead stadium in a match-up broadcast by Comcast-owned (CMCSA) -) NBC.
The Chiefs, lead by start quarterback Patrick Mahomes, are Vegas bookmakers' favorite to win this season's championship, followed by the Philadelphia Eagles, whom they defeated in Super Bowl LVII last February, the Buffalo Bills and the San Francisco 49ers.
Around $24 billion is expected to be wagered on NFL games over the 2023-2024 season, according to betting website TheLines, including $17.1 billion in straight bets and nearly $7 billion in so-called parlay bets.
The surge in overall betting comes amid the launch of legalized sports gaming in several U.S. states, including Ohio and Massachusetts, and could provide a notable revenue surge for groups such as DraftKings (DKNG) -) and Penn Entertainment (PENN) -).
Disney, in fact, has agreed terms with Penn on a content partnership deal that will see the gambling group pay $1.5 billion over 10 years, as well as an equity kicker, in exchange for the use of brand rights, promotions and other forms of cooperation as it relaunches under the a new name: ESPN Bet.
Ad sales will also prove crucial for a host of broadcasters, including Comcast, Disney's (DIS) -) ABC and ESPN, Paramount Global's (PARA) -) CBS and Fox (FOXA) -) given the billions paid for linear and digital packages over the coming years.
Amazon (AMZN) -) has agreed to pay $1 billion each year to broadcast all Thursday night match-ups -- apart from the season-openers -- while Alphabet-owned (GOOGL) -) YouTube will pay $2 billion a year offer the NFL Sunday Ticket package on its digital TV platform for the first time ever this season.
Comcast-owned NBC is also reportedly paying around $110 million for the rights to a Saturday Wild Card playoff game that it will likely broadcast over its Peacock streaming service as well as a regular season matchup between the Bills and the San Diego Chargers.
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