As Polymarket continues to ramp up its return to the U.S. market, the company has hired former Fanatics Chief Business Officer Ari Borod to lead its sports business after the executive settled a lawsuit filed by his former employer.
Borod had served on the C-suite team at Fanatics for four and a half years, first as Chief Commercial Officer before transitioning into the CBO role. During his tenure, Fanatics expanded into sports betting and casino gaming and established a competitive online gaming footprint across the U.S.
“Thrilled to share that I’ve officially joined Polymarket as President of Sports Business Development,” Borod announced in a LinkedIn post on Thursday. “As Polymarket continues to expand its global footprint, the mandate is clear: build partnerships that help bring prediction markets to the center of how fans experience the game. Scaling this category the right way is just as important as scaling it quickly.”
The plan for Borod to swap Fanatics for Polymarket was first reported by Front Office Sports (FOS) in early February.
Fanatics sued to block Borod’s exit
It seems Borod’s exit was not amicable. As first reported by FOS this week, Fanatics sued Borod in Florida state court in January in an attempt to block his exit to join Polymarket. In a petition for a temporary injunction, Fanatics claimed that Borod’s contract had a non-compete obligation lasting one year beyond the end of his employment at the company.
A since-unsealed response from Borod filed on Jan. 29 in the Circuit Court of the Fourth Judicial Circuit in and for Duval County, Florida, fiercely contested that notion, stating that Fanatics “concocted a meritless claim” to try to stop him joining Polymarket. Borod also stressed that while his contract with Fanatics included some stipulations, including preventing him from diverting business away from Fanatics or using confidential information, there was no future non-compete clause in place.
“Plaintiffs have failed to demonstrate they are entitled to a temporary injunction, which is an extraordinary and drastic remedy,” reads the conclusion of Borod’s Jan. 29 response in court.
The two sides ultimately agreed in early February to settle the lawsuit out of court.
“The parties have reached an out-of-court resolution of their dispute and have no further comment,” a Fanatics spokesperson told SBC Americas.
Polymarket and Fanatics: Competitors or not?
It could be argued, as Fanatics did, that Polymarket is a direct competitor to Fanatics. The prediction market platform offers sports contracts that could be viewed as competing products with both Fanatics Markets and Fanatics Sportsbook’s state-regulated sports betting business.
In his filing, Borod argued that Fanatics “vastly overstates” that position, arguing that as Fanatics is registered as an Introducing Broker and Polymarket is a Designated Contract Market (DCM) and Derivatives Clearing Organization (DCO), the businesses “are complementary, not competitive.” Borod notes Fanatics’ own deal with another DCM/DCO, Crypto.com.
Borod’s filing in response to Fanatics’ lawsuit also downplays his role in Fanatics Markets. “Borod had sparse (at best) involvement in the actual development, launch, or marketing of FMX,” reads a note in Borod’s filing.
Meanwhile, Borod also claimed that Fanatics Chief Executive Officer Michael Rubin and Fanatics Betting and Gaming CEO Matt King invested in a bona fide Polymarket competitor, Kalshi, before the launch of Fanatics Markets. Borod also alleged that Fanatics has agreed to buy an unnamed DCM to run its own exchange rather than directing customers to Crypto.com’s contracts. Borod said that he was unaware of that deal prior to it being revealed in Fanatics’ filing, and that he still does not know the name of the target exchange.
Remember Mike Hermalyn?
The litigious furor around Borod’s move, which may be the highest-profile executive switch from an online sportsbook to a prediction market company to date, puts Fanatics on the other side of the coin after it was involved in a lawsuit over its own hiring of a DraftKings leader.
After DraftKings’ former Senior Vice President of Growth Mike Hermalyn left to take up a new role as Fanatics’ Head of VIP in early 2024, DraftKings sued its ex-employee in Massachusetts, alleging that he violated a non-compete and concocted a plan to steal confidential product information and defect to a competitor. DraftKings also alleged that Hermalyn was involved in multiple inappropriate incidents with female DraftKings employees.
Court orders allowed Hermalyn to continue to work for Fanatics under certain restrictions. Almost a year after his move, in December 2024, DraftKings and Hermalyn settled the matter and DraftKings voluntarily dismissed its lawsuit against its former employee.
