NFL hires David Highhill as first executive dedicated to sports betting business
by David Purdum, ESPN
The NFL on Tuesday announced David Highhill as vice president, general manager of sports betting, the league’s first position solely focused on overseeing its business in the legal sports betting industry.
Highhill, who has been with the NFL for 10 years, moves over from the corporate strategy group, where he led the league’s go-to-market sports betting initiatives. In his new role, he’ll be tasked with leading efforts to protect the integrity of the game from gambling-related harm, advance the league’s brand and reputation, grow the value of the NFL’s data and intellectual property and drive fan engagement globally.
In 2018, the United States Supreme Court overturned the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act of 1992, the federal statute that had restricted regulated sports betting to primarily Nevada. Since the ruling, 30 states and the District of Columbia have launched legal betting, and five additional states have passed legislation.
“It’s a growing market, it’s grown a lot in the last three or four seasons,” Highhill said. “What’s ahead is the exciting part of the opportunity.”
Highhill begins his new position in the early stages of the NFL’s pivot on sports betting. Advertisements for sportsbooks aired during NFL games for the first time this last season. The league has also formed partnerships with multiple sports betting operators, and official data is being sold to bookmakers in the U.S.