DraftKings, FanDuel End College Fantasy Games After Agreement with NCAA

Daily fantasy sports services DraftKings and FanDuel will suspend all contests on collegiate sports after reaching an agreement with the NCAA.  

The services will cease on all contests—at least temporarily—following the NCAA basketball tournament's conclusion, per David Purdum of ESPN.com. FanDuel released the following statement Thursday:

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[F]anDuel has had months of productive conversations with the NCAA, their member institutions and various state legislators to better understand their concerns around fantasy sports contests based on amateur athletics. It is clear that this is an issue that matters to a variety of constituencies and we feel that the best path forward is to suspend offering these contests pending resolution on the issue within state legislatures.

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DraftKings also provided a statement on the decision:

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We continue to see tremendous support for fantasy sports in legislatures across the country, with nearly 30 states advancing thoughtful and appropriate regulations for fantasy play. [W]e will work closely with the NCAA and lawmakers on a carve-out for collegiate sports in any proposed regulatory framework moving forward. DraftKings is committed to ensuring that fantasy sports players are able to continue to play these skill-based contests that bring them closer to the sports that they love.

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The news comes as part of the ongoing overhaul of the DFS industry brought on by the involvement of the federal government. FanDuel and DraftKings have been scrambling for months to secure the legality of their services after a DraftKings employee won $350,000 in a FanDuel contest last year.

They've secured regulatory agreements with more than half of the nation's states, but this is only part of the process. Eliminating games related to collegiate sports, at least for now, takes away the optics of the companies profiting from non-professional entities. The NCAA has long been against DFS having contests on amateur athletics.

"We have made clear at every point in this national debate that daily fantasy sports competition should not be allowed to be conducted using college, high school and youth sports programs," Donald Remy, NCAA chief legal officer, told Purdum. 

By removing the games from their services, FanDuel and DraftKings may face an easier road to legalizing their games across the United States. Given that many professional sports leagues have supported their existence via sponsorships and partnerships, the road to legalization is now likely to be less bumpy.