(AsiaGameHub) –   Hard Rock Digital has landed a pioneering partnership that grants it licensing rights for MLB players. 

The multi-year agreement, struck with MLB Players Inc. and OneTeam Partners, will allow the company to utilize players’ names, images and likenesses in its sports betting-focused advertising campaigns, which are designed to lift engagement and visibility for both the athletes themselves and the Hard Rock Digital brand. 

Hard Rock Digital Obtains Licensing Rights to Utilize MLB Image and Likeness

The partnership also covers the entire North American market, enabling Hard Rock Digital to quickly roll out these assets across both its digital and physical retail channels. The company will have permission to use the likenesses and visuals of athletes including Tarik Skubal, Vladimir Guerrero Jr., and Shohei Ohtani, among a wide roster of other players.

The company may deploy these assets in whatever format it deems appropriate, with the goal of driving higher sports fan engagement through betting-focused activations. Speaking about the opportunity to collaborate with the well-known brand, MLB Players, Inc. president Evan Kaplan shared the following remarks:

“Fans feel a personal connection to athletes. As sports betting continues to evolve, the user experience is shifting from a screen filled only with betting odds to something more familiar, more intuitive, and more closely tied to the game itself. This partnership with Hard Rock Digital ensures that this connection is genuine, properly licensed, and reflective of the value MLB players bring to the sport.”

This agreement marks a key milestone for MLB Players, Inc, which was previously wrapped up in legal disputes with leading sportsbooks, including FanDuel, DraftKings, and bet365, over allegations that those operators had improperly used baseball athletes’ imagery and likenesses without prior authorization.

After a settlement was reached, the wider industry now appears to have collectively recognized the need to enter formal commercial partnerships to secure valid licensing rights. 

A comparable case from the NCAA also drew widespread public attention. A federal court rejected the NCAA’s request to immediately block sportsbooks from using “March Madness” branding, ruling that there was no urgent “irreparable harm” even in the case of potential trademark infringement.

While the NCAA claims its intellectual property is being misused, the case remains active, with sportsbooks defending their use of the branding as necessary nominative fair use to identify the tournament.