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DraftKings and FanDuel, the two largest daily fantasy sports operators, have agreed to merge, the companies announced Friday.The merger, pending regulatory approval, is expected to close in the second half of 2017. Until then, both sites will continue to operate under their respective brand names.Terms of the agreement were not disclosed, but sources close to the negotiations told ESPN that it is basically a 50/50 split between the fantasy giants. Each company will have three seats on the board, with one independent director. At closing, DraftKings CEO Jason Robins will be the CEO of the new company, while FanDuel CEO Nigel Eccles will become the chairman of the board.The name of the joint company has not been revealed. It will have headquarters in New York and Boston.We have always been passionate about providing the best possible experience for our customers and this merger will help advance our goal of building a transformational global sports entertainment platform, Robins said in the release announcing the agreement. Joining forces will allow us to truly realize the potential of our vision, and as a combined company we will be able to accelerate the pace of innovation and bring a richer experience to our customers than we ever could have done separately.Being able to combine DraftKings and FanDuel, added Eccles, presents a tremendous opportunity for us to further innovate and disrupt the sports industry. While both companies have accomplished much already, this transaction will create a business that can offer a greater variety of offerings, appealing to new users, including the tens of millions of season-long fantasy players that havent yet tried our products.The merger is expected to draw scrutiny, potentially from the Federal Trade Commission. FanDuel and DraftKings make up more than 80 percent of the daily fantasy marketplace, but they are looking to pool their resources to grow their customer base by tapping into the much larger season-long market, a source privy to the companies strategy told ESPN. An estimated 40 million North Americans play only season-long fantasy sports, eight times more than the number of those who play daily fantasy.The benefit of the merger to the consumer, an important test for regulators, will be increased overall competition in the marketplace, the source said. The source added that DraftKings and FanDuel will work together in a streamlined fashion to conquer regulatory hurdles, which have hampered both businesses. They believe it could further open the fantasy market to entrepreneurship.Some smaller fantasy operators also view the merger as an opportunity.Prior to the tumult of the past year, FanDuel and DraftKings were well on their way to becoming multibillion-dollar pillar business[es] in sports, said Jeremy Levine, founder and CEO of DRAFT, a competing fantasy site. There still will be massive business built in this space, but it wont be FanDuel or DraftKings individually. Due to the merger, the opportunity is now there for the few companies that were able to survive and strengthen in the past year.In the meantime, with legal fees and regulatory costs mounting, the merger between DraftKings and FanDuel was seen as a necessity by some investors. Multiple high-volume players told ESPN they stopped playing because of the increasing rake, the commission fee charged by the sites. Overall play on both sites was described as soft by players.DraftKings and FanDuel each have approximately 320 employees.FanDuel was launched in July 2009 in Edinburgh, Scotland, and rose to the top of the industry with an innovative, condensed version of traditional season-long fantasy sports. DraftKings came along three years later and quickly took aim at FanDuel, creating, at times, a hostile rivalry between the two leading operators and their CEOs.Both companies attracted large investments from media conglomerates and venture capitalists. They formed partnerships with professional sports leagues. The NBA has equity in FanDuel; Major League Baseball and the NHL are partners with DraftKings, along with 28 of the 32 NFL franchises.At their peak, the companies were each valued at more than $1 billion. But things changed in the fall of 2015.Heading into last football season, the sites unleashed massive marketing blitzes, flooding the airwaves with commercials touting million-dollar prizes. The two companies spent an estimated $750 million combined on ads, marketing and related expenses in 2015.The relentless advertising attracted a bevy of new users but also the attention of lawmakers and regulators.The scrutiny intensified after a DraftKings employee won $350,000 playing in an NFL contest on FanDuel. There were accusations the employee used inside information. An investigation by DraftKings found the employee did not use internal information that potentially could have given him an unfair advantage in submitting his winning lineup, but the damage had been done, and a firestorm of controversy ensued.In November 2015, New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman sent cease-and-desist letters to DraftKings and FanDuel, eventually forcing the companies out of one of their most important states for several months. Alabama, Delaware, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Mississippi and Texas joined New York in ruling daily fantasy violated state gambling laws.FanDuel stopped operating paid contests in Texas, but DraftKings filed suit against Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton and continues to offer games in the state. Paxtons office said it would assess the impact of the merger on the pending litigation.Both sites are still involved in litigation against Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan and also are contending with a consolidated class-action suit. They recently settled with Schneiderman over false advertising claims, agreeing to each pay $6 million. The settlement with Schneiderman, sources said, was one of the last hurdles before the merger could be completed.Nine states have passed legislation clarifying the legality of fantasy sports in the past two years. With the new laws came increased regulatory costs in the form of licensing fees and taxes. Theyve taken a toll on the companies finances and, along with legal costs, ultimately forced the merger, sources said.The New York Times reported both sites were having trouble meeting their day-to-day financial obligations, and multiple sources told ESPN that DraftKings and FanDuel were months behind on paying vendors and lobbyists. The merger, upon approval, would allow the companies to split legal fees and regulatory costs. Without it, some questioned whether they would survive.Up until recently, it seemed unlikely Eccles and Robins would be able to work together. They were known rivals and had different views on which direction to take the industry. DraftKings, for example, offers contests on golf and NASCAR, while FanDuel avoided those sports over legal concerns.They were the Jets and the Sharks, said Al Zeidenfeld, a high-level daily fantasy player and contributor to ESPN. You think the Jets and the Sharks would form one super neighborhood gang? No.Both platforms will remain separate and operational through the 2017 NFL season, while the deal is completed, the sites said.ESPN senior writers Don Van Natta and Darren Rovell contributed to this story. Morris Claiborne Super Bowl Jersey . As he recorded his 23rd and 24th points of the evening, a segment of the sellout Air Canada Centre crowd expressed their appreciation for the Raptors point guard with a smattering of MVP chants. Tyreek Hill Super Bowl Jersey . 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MORGANTOWN, W.Va. -- Skyler Howard was waiting for something good to happen to West Virginias offense.That occurred in the fourth quarter, when the Mountaineers came from 13 points down to beat Kansas State 17-16 on Saturday in the Big 12 opener for both teams.You know the snowball effect where you get one thing going wrong and the snowball just keeps getting bigger and bigger and bigger? Howard said. Youre looking around like, man, we need a spark. We need something to happen.Our guys came together and kept fighting. Nobody was down or pointing fingers.Despite being held scoreless in the first half for the first time in three seasons, West Virginia improved to 4-0 for the first time since 2012. The Mountaineers broke a four-game losing streak to the Wildcats since joining the league that year.I just couldnt be more proud of our team for having the courage to go out there and do that in the second half, said West Virginia coach Dana Holgorsen.Kansas State (2-2) had a chance to win it. But Matthew McCrane, who earlier made three field goals, missed a 43-yarder wide left with 2:03 left. West Virginia got the ball at its 26 and ran out the clock.Kansas State was limited to 108 yards of offense in the second half.Our execution was not as good as it needs to be, said Kansas State coach Bill Snyder. We just probably didnt move the ball like we should. We struggled offensively in the second half when we had to have some movement. Couldnt get first downs.West Virginias turnaround began when Shelton Gibson caught a 52-yard pass near the end of the third quarter and KaRaun White caught a 7-yarder on fourth-and-6 four plays later. Justin Crawford ran nine yards on first-and-goal and he finished the drive with a 1-yard TD run with 13:41 left to cut the deficit to 16-10.A 31-yard punt later gave West Virginia the ball back at its 43, annd Howard converted a third-down pass to KaRaun White at the Kansas State 9 before scrambling to find Jovon Durante in the right corner of the end zone from 7 yards out with 6:11 left for the final margin.dddddddddddd.I saw a little window and we took it, said Howard, who finished 24 of 41 passes for 298 yards with one interception. In the grand scheme of things, we make that play a lot in practice. But to finally do it in a game, it paid off.West Virginia squeaked by for the second straight game. A week ago the Mountaineers were ahead of BYU by 16 points in the fourth quarter and needed Maurice Flemings interception to seal the 35-32 win .Finding a way to win is the most important thing, Holgorsen said.THE TAKEAWAYKANSAS STATE: The Wildcats entered the game with the nations top defense but gave up 422 yards to the Mountaineers. Kansas State was held to 286 total yards of offense and Jesse Ertz completed 10 of 30 passes for 166 yards.Snyder said Ertz was not like he has been in the last couple of weeks. But once again, West Virginia had an awful lot to do with that.WEST VIRGINIA: The Mountaineers left plenty of points off the board. Rushel Shell fumbled the ball away at the Kansas State 3 late in the third quarter, and Josh Lambert earlier missed a 30-yard field goal.POLL IMPLICATIONSWest Virginia could get enough votes to sneak into the AP Top 25 poll but needed a more convincing win to ensure that happens. The Mountaineers entered Saturdays game four spots out of the poll.UP NEXTKANSAS STATE: Hosts Texas Tech next Saturday.WEST VIRGINIA: Heads into a bye week before playing its first true road game of the season at Texas Tech on Oct. 15.---AP College Football website: www.collegefootball.ap.org ' ' '