The 2021 NCAA Men’s Basketball Championship, also known as “March Madness”, or “Big Dance”, will begin this week. This crazy college basketball tournament (67 games played in 19 days in Indiana) will start tomorrow and the final will be played on Monday, April 5th.
Last year’s NCAA championship was one of the first of several major US sporting events to be canceled due to the coronavirus pandemic. And therefore the 2021 edition of March Madness could be more followed than ever, given the pent-up expectations for the event.In the spirit of the madness of March, here are three titles that are likely to be among the winners in the wake of the start of the great ball.
DraftKings
This year’s March Madness will be one of the sporting events on which more will be bet in history. According to projections from the PlayUSA industry group, the NCAA 2021 tournament could generate between $ 1 and $ 1.5 billion in legal bets.Unlike other popular sporting events that are bet on, such as the Super Bowl or the World Cup Final, the NCAA tournament has the advantage of having numerous games to bet on.
And that bodes well for DraftKings, (NASDAQ: DKNG), whose stock has seen strong gains in recent months, with Americans pouring into its sports betting platform as more and more states legalized them.
The stock of the sports betting operator, based in Boston, Massachusetts, which debuted on the stock exchange via a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) in April last year, has soared about 44% so far this year, compared with up 5.5% in the S&P 500 index in the same period.
DKNG closed at $ 67.14 yesterday, after hitting an all-time high of $ 74.07 at the end of last week. At current levels, DraftKings is valued at approximately $ 26.6 billion, making it the most valuable company in the sports betting industry.
With betting on this year’s NCAA tournament expected to reach new heights, the DraftKings stock is well positioned to continue its upward march in the days and weeks to come.Honorable Mentions: Penn National Gaming (NASDAQ: PENN), Flutter Entertainment (OTC: PDYPY), MGM Resorts (NYSE: MGM)
Coca-Cola
As one of the three largest sponsors of the NCAA tournament, along with AT&T (NYSE: T) and Capital One Financial (NYSE: COF) the iconic Coca-Cola (NYSE: KO) brand is expected to be a major beneficiary of the March madness. of this year.
- Coca-Cola is an official NCAA “Corporate Champion” partner, which means its on-pitch announcements and TV commercials will appear regularly throughout the tournament.
- And that bodes well for the beverage giant’s notoriety, which ties directly to the development of positive consumer awareness and popularity.
Unsurprisingly, London-based Brand Finance, a brand valuation firm, recently named Coca-Cola the strongest brand in the US, ousting Disney (NYSE: DIS) and beating names like Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) and Amazon (NASDAQ). : AMZN).
Also note that Coca-Cola owns Powerade, the official March Madness sports drink. As in previous years, Powerade will offer limited edition 28-ounce commemorative bottles with numbers from 0 to 99, giving consumers the ability to choose the number of their favorite shirt.