TLDR
- Major League Baseball announced a deal with Polymarket as its Official Prediction Market, valued at $150-300 million over three years
- MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred and CFTC Chair Michael Selig signed a memorandum of understanding focused on protecting baseball’s integrity
- Polymarket gets exclusive access to MLB logos, digital asset placement, and official league data from Sportradar
- The NHL, MLS, and UFC already have prediction market partnerships, making MLB the largest US sports league to join
- The NFL and NBA remain without prediction market deals, though both leagues have signaled interest
Major League Baseball has struck a deal with Polymarket, making the crypto-based prediction platform its Official Prediction Market. The announcement came on Thursday alongside a separate agreement with the CFTC.
The deal is worth between $150 million and $300 million over a potential three years, according to sources cited by Front Office Sports.
Polymarket and its brokers will get exclusive access to MLB marks and logos as part of the arrangement. The Polymarket brand will also appear on MLB’s digital assets and at league events.
The platform will receive access to official league data through Sportradar. The setup follows the structure of a traditional league sponsorship deal.
MLB already has existing relationships with FanDuel, DraftKings, and BetMGM. The Polymarket deal adds a prediction market layer to the league’s growing portfolio of betting-adjacent partnerships.
MLB and CFTC Agree to Protect Baseball Integrity
MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred and CFTC Chair Michael Selig signed a memorandum of understanding as part of the announcement. The stated goal is to protect the integrity of professional baseball within prediction markets.
“We’ve committed to work together to protect the integrity and resilience of prediction markets relating to professional baseball,” Selig said in a statement.
Manfred called the agreements “imperative steps in proactively managing the new and rapidly growing prediction market space.” He said protecting the integrity of the game on the field remains the league’s top priority.
The move was foreshadowed by Manfred in February. He told reporters that prediction markets came up at owners meetings during discussions about a betting controversy involving Cleveland Guardians pitchers Emmanuel Clase and Luis Ortiz.
Manfred explained that the league wanted owners to understand how prediction markets differ from traditional sports betting. He said the league saw potential in partnering with prediction markets as a way to strengthen its integrity protections.
Other Sports Leagues Are Already in the Prediction Market Space
MLB is now the largest US sports property to partner with a prediction market. But it is not the first.
The NHL signed licensing deals with both Polymarket and Kalshi back in October. Polymarket also holds marketing agreements with MLS and UFC.
While Polymarket’s US platform has not fully launched, sports event contracts are already available on the app. The MLB logo is visible, though baseball-specific markets do not appear to be active yet.
The NFL and NBA are the two remaining major US leagues without prediction market partnerships. NBA Commissioner Adam Silver said at All-Star festivities in February that the league is looking at prediction markets in the same way it evaluates sports betting companies.
The NFL walked back earlier comments from Executive VP Jeff Miller about the fan engagement benefits of prediction markets.
Prediction markets operate on blockchain technology and allow users to buy and sell shares based on the outcome of real-world events. They have drawn attention from both the crypto and traditional finance worlds.
The CFTC regulates these markets at the federal level. The agency’s involvement in the MLB deal signals a continued push toward oversight of prediction market activity tied to professional sports.
MLB’s Polymarket deal was reported at $150-300 million over three years, making it one of the largest prediction market sponsorship agreements in professional sports to date.
