American betting activity on football is exploding — but that historic increase in wagering is a mixed blessing for the NFL.

The American Gaming Association said a record 73.5 million American adults — equal to about 28% of all U.S. adults — plan to bet on the NFL season, an astounding 57.7% increase from the comparable 46.6 million last year, itself a record at the time.

Five years after the U.S. Supreme Court allowed individual states to set their own gambling laws, that massive influx in gambling activity is helping to support a still-increasing line of business for the NFL that includes an official data agreement with Genius Sports, a series of sponsorships with major sportsbooks such as FanDuel and DraftKings, physical sportsbooks at or near several NFL stadiums, and most recently, a deal for an NFL-themed slot machine.

But the league is also grappling with unprecedented levels of player-related gambling offenses, sparking ongoing debate as to how best to manage the continued encroachment of legal betting.

Ten players have been suspended this year for gambling violations — leading to rising calls of hypocrisy since owners such as Dallas’ Jerry Jones and New England’s Bob Kraft are DraftKings investors.

This past offseason and training camp were marked by a sharp increase in education measures on league policies by both the NFL and individual teams, while the league has even looked to the U.S. Congress for help.

While the Detroit Lions have a long way to go to rival the Kansas City Chiefs, their clash with the defending Super Bowl champions to open the NFL season is a small but significant victory for the long-tortured franchise.

Thursday night’s game — on NBC at 8:20 p.m. ET — is one of four primetime showcases for the Lions this season. Combined with their traditional Thanksgiving Day game, that makes five exclusive national broadcast windows that will spotlight Detroit for the entire country — an unprecedented number typically reserved for the league’s best and most popular teams.

The Lions may be the NFL’s newest media darlings, but the hype is being felt at home, too. This summer, Detroit sold out its season tickets for the first time since the team moved into Ford Field in 2002. 

Although the Lions ranked 29th in average attendance last year with 63,429 fans per game, they ranked 17th in average capacity percentage — filling up 98.3% of the 65,000-seat Ford Field.

Money Talks

After narrowly missing out on the playoffs last season with their first winning record since 2017, the Lions are betting favorites to win the NFC North — a feat some Detroit fans may never have thought they’d see again.

Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes is already a two-time Super Bowl champion, a two-time league MVP, and arguably remains the NFL’s best player. 

But he’s also helping set a new standard for athletes who want to develop an extensive sports investment portfolio during their playing careers. 

Still just 27, Mahomes has steadily amassed a range of investments rivaling — and perhaps surpassing — those of older, more seasoned veterans of many U.S. pro sports.

Mahomes’ holdings — many in tandem with his wife, Brittany — include stakes in MLB’s Kansas City Royals, MLS’ Sporting Kansas City, the NWSL’s Kansas City Current, a Major League Pickleball franchise, human performance company Whoop, athlete recovery brand Hyperice, sports nutrition company Biosteel, and Kansas City-area locations in the Whataburger chain. 

The ongoing expansion of the San Antonio-based Whataburger — which saw formal restaurant openings this past offseason, with more on the way — is part of the native Texan’s collaboration with franchisee KMO Burger to “bring a gift from my first home to my second home.”

The assets add to the $503 million contract Mahomes signed with the Chiefs in 2020, which remains the largest ever in U.S. pro team sports — though perhaps not much longer, depending on MLB phenom Shohei Ohtani this winter.

In 2021, Mahomes said, “I’m trying to build an empire off the field in every way.” He is clearly well on his way.

Watching football at sports bars is nothing new — but this season, there’s a twist.

In March, the NFL and RedBird Capital created EverPass Media, a company designed to capitalize on the distribution of live sports — particularly exclusively streamed games into commercial establishments like bars, restaurants, hotels, and casinos.

EverPass launched with the exclusive out-of-home rights to NFL Sunday Ticket. DirecTV was the first deal signed — keeping Sunday Ticket at its business customers as the league’s out-of-market package transitions to YouTube. But a source told Front Office Sports that EverPass is still in the market selling Sunday Ticket’s out-of-home rights to other interested providers.

“When you think about the out-of-home market, there’s a number of different stats out there, but somewhere between 15-25% of the overall viewership of sports content in this country happens out of home,” Everpass CEO Alex Kaplan said to FOS. “That’s a huge market.”

EverPass has also tapped Peacock to distribute its live sports content to bars and restaurants, including an exclusive NFL playoff game. The deal was notable for being structured around a streamer, as opposed to satellites like the DirecTV deal. Interested commercial establishments can buy the Peacock Sports Pass.

As streaming technology continues to evolve, EverPass plans to be flexible in how it distributes content. “We think we can make money that way,” Kaplan explained.

DirecTV has a separate deal with Amazon for the commercial rights to distribute “Thursday Night Football” — a pact Everpass could theoretically vie for as it grows. “We’re having lots of conversations,” Kaplan said. “We already have a lot in a short amount of time. I think there’s more to do out there.”