The National Football League’s Arizona Cardinals have named Gila River Hotels & Casinos as the NFL team’s official hotel and casino partner in a 15-year deal.
The partnership includes Cardinals-themed contests, custom Cardinals-designed hotel rooms, and other promotions throughout the NFL season at all three properties in the Phoenix area: Wild Horse Pass, Lone Butte and Vee Quiva.
The Gila River Hotels & Casinos, which are owned by the Gila River Indian Community, will also broadcast Cardinals games each week. The Chandler, Arizona-based company has already been aligned with the neighboring Arizona Diamondbacks of Major League Baseball.
The Cardinals’ move is emblematic of the NFL’s further embrace of legalized sports betting after team owners successfully lobbied the league to reverse its longstanding ban against casino advertising in 2018.
In January 2019, the NFL named Caesars Entertainment as its official casino sponsor. A number of teams have also established casino partnerships including the Dallas Cowboys, Buffalo Bills, Green Bay Packers, Baltimore Ravens, New York Jets and Seattle Seahawks.