MLB and Polymarket Sign Exclusive Multi-Year Partnership

Major League Baseball (MLB) announced today that it has signed a multi-year agreement with Polymarket. According to the announcement, Polymarket will serve as MLB’s exclusive Prediction Market Exchange Partner, granting the platform sole permission to use team logos.

The deal grants Polymarket exclusive rights to use official MLB team logos and trademarks, along with access to official league data through Sportradar to settle their markets. The platform will also receive prominent brand exposure across MLB’s digital ecosystem and at league events. 

In exchange, MLB gains a lucrative new revenue stream as well as access to the trading activity on the platform.

While full details of the agreement are not yet public, Front Office Sports, who first broke the story, cited sources valuing the deal between $150 million and $300 million. The length of the deal has not been made clear either, with Front Office Sports labelling it a ‘multi-year’ deal. 

League Commissioner Rob Manfred previously hinted that the organization was exploring this type of partnership. Speaking to the press following an owners’ meeting in Palm Beach, Florida, Manfred stated:

Regarding the new partnership, Polymarket CEO Shayne Coplan said:

MLB is just the latest league to sign an exclusive contract with a prediction market, joining a growing trend across professional sports. The National Hockey League (NHL) paved the way late last year, becoming the first major U.S. sports league to partner with prediction platforms. 

Since then, both Major League Soccer (MLS) and the UFC have inked their own deals with Polymarket.

These partnerships signal a broader shift in how leagues are choosing to proactively manage, monitor, and monetize fan engagement in these markets rather than shy away from them.

However, the news also raises concerns about sporting integrity. Sports betting and major sporting leagues have long had a close relationship. But prediction markets, with their ‘bet on everything’ nature, introduce new and distinct challenges.

This year, there has been a growing clamor over numerous cases of insider trading, proven and otherwise, on platforms like Polymarket.

MLB spent a significant portion of its press release addressing this subject. Notably, Commissioner Robert D. Manfred, Jr. and Michael S. Selig, Chairman of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), signed a historic Memorandum of Understanding today. 

This formal agreement comes exactly one year after MLB first sent a letter to the CFTC advocating for “strong integrity protections in the rapidly evolving prediction market space.”

The press release notes that MLB and the CFTC “memorialized a clear intent to share information with each other regarding the integrity of professional baseball and related prediction markets.”

The release continued: “Shared information will be treated confidentially, facilitating open lines of communication. Designated representatives will meet regularly to identify and discuss any issues that may impact the integrity of MLB’s games and the MLB prediction market landscape.”

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