Books Preparing for Possible Big Ten Restart with College Football Futures

Posted on September 15, 2020

BREAKING Big Ten Football news: It’s not just fans in the Northeast and Midwest eagerly anticipating another vote to possibly launch a 2020 Big Ten football season in mid-October.

NJ online sportsbooks, most of whom service states represented in the athletic conference, is currently considering options for futures markets, including the recently launched national championship odds.

Four of the major sportsbooks available in New Jersey and elsewhere posted odds Friday for the national champions as crowned by the College Football Playoff.

Big Ten Football News

We’ll continue to share Big Ten football news as we get it. It is not yet clear if the Big Ten were to approve and start a season that teams would be eligible for the semifinals on New Year’s Day. 

  • Clemson is the current top choice across all participating books with Alabama a close second.
    • Those prices and positions might change if Big Ten favorite Ohio State gets to play and earns a shot at the national title.
  • The Buckeyes are fielding an excellent team but would likely have the toughest schedule among top-priced teams, including a road game at Penn State. 

DraftKings’ head of sports and racebook operations Johnny Avello said Monday his company would offer a second pool for the national title futures.

“You just don’t add to this pool because customers have already made wagers on this pool,” he said. “Maybe [the Big Ten]’re not going to participate in [the CFB Playoff] but if they’re gonna participate in this it would require a new pool.”

Players who have made wagers currently and up to any release of new odds would be eligible for the original market. Avello said tickets would likely cash for players whose team made the National Championship Game on January 11th but lost to a Big Ten opponent who wasn’t part of the first market. 

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Avello expects the market to be overall smaller than previous years, given the fewer teams involved and shorter window for betting. However, if the Big Ten does compete, he expects those backers to grow the handle. 

A spokesperson for FanDuel said the company will likely keep the same pool going and add Big Ten teams to the market if deemed eligible.

The original decision came “when customers saw ESPN personalities picking their top 4 for the playoff during the course of the week.”

Mattias Stetz, Chief Operating Officer of PlaySugarHouse.com’s parent company Rush Street Interactive, said the book had created original odds with all ten FBS conferences included and adjusted odds as each conference decided not to play. Removing Big Ten teams shifted odds the most as he expects this would allow two teams from the Southeastern Conference to make the playoff.

“Also, this means that the odds for Alabama and Clemson shortened, meaning they are more likely to be the #1 ranked team at the end of the season,” he said. “Finally, having less teams in the future allows us to be more aggressive with the odds, meaning taking a smaller vig.”

Currently, there is no confirmed date on a vote to restart the Big Ten football season, following meetings this weekend among the responsible officials. 

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