[Editor’s Note: Anthem Sports & Entertainment, the parent company of Sportsgrid.com and RotoExperts.com, is currently in litigation against DraftKings]

Bloomberg Technology reported Monday that DFS giants DraftKings and Fanduel are now set to merge after months of discussions. The new combined entity will reportedly be under the leadership of DraftKings co-founder Jason Robins, who is set to become the company’s CEO. Fanduel co-founder Nigel Eccles will reportedly serve as the new Chairman of the Board, and the board itself will be evenly comprised of members from both companies. There is also the possibility of an outside executive coming in to pilot the new company.

Yahoo Finance writer Daniel Roberts tweeted out that the merger is unlikely to be announced this week, but discussions are moving quickly. ESPN first reported late Friday night that a merger between was imminent. But astute fantasy players could have seen this move telegraphed over the last few weeks, as the companies made some strategic moves that brought their philosophies more in lockstep with each other. Here’s some of the events that have apparently led us up to this point.

DRAFTKINGS DROPS LATE SWAP FOR NBA

On Oct. 13, DraftKings did away with their “late swap” practice for NBA contests. For DFS novices, this essentially allowed players to make changes to their lineups in games that had not started yet. The policy shift, which took place Oct. 18, was only announced for fantasy basketball, as football was mid-season. As of now, basketball is the only sport in which late swaps are eliminated.

However, FanDuel never allowed late swaps, and the difference became a bit of a contentious point between the sides and their supporters — FanDuel apologists felt that the full lineup lock allowed a fantasy player to relax and enjoy the results, instead of worrying over lineup changes and news-gathering. DraftKings loyalists argued that the late swap allowed more flexibility and rewarded the players who paid attention to breaking news and lineup changes throughout the night.

Regardless of which side one fell on, the move by DraftKings to drop the late swap may have not shown a full-hearted change in philosophy as much as it lined up the companies to have synergy in their rules.

FANDUEL INTRODUCES SOCCER

In June, an IPSOS poll commissioned by the Fantasy Sports Trade Association revealed that soccer is now the third-most popular fantasy sport, with an estimated 30 percent of fantasy sports players participating (up from 14 percent in 2012).

On Oct.19, FanDuel launched games based around the English Premier League.

While this move fit FanDuel’s launch in the UK as well as its more conservative approach to DFS — there aren’t the same legal issues surrounding sports such as golf or NASCAR — it was also an easy pickup from the stable of DraftKings’ offerings to get the companies more in line. Having soccer helped to match up the companies’ interests and offerings.

FANDUEL SHUTTERS ALPHADRAFT

On Oct. 18, FanDuel announced that it would shutter fantasy eSports site AlphaDraft, which it had acquired in 2015.

While the move didn’t send shockwaves through the fantasy community — a similar site, Vulcun, shut down in early 2016 — it did consolidate most fantasy eSports onto the DraftKings site. In light of the possibly impending merger, there was no need for two eSports offerings, especially if FanDuel’s was operating outside of the FanDuel name.

Additionally, eSports did have some legal concern surrounding it, so FanDuel and DraftKings successfully put all the “hot button” DFS offerings (PGA, NASCAR, MMA, eSports) off on one (i.e. — the DraftKings) side.

FANDUEL AND DRAFTKINGS BOTH POSSIBLY SHORT ON CASH

On Oct. 23, the New York Times published a story about DraftKings and FanDuel nearing a settlement in a case the New York Attorney General brought against them related to false advertising claims.

In the story, two major points jumped out: FanDuel had laid off over 60 employees and sources close to the negotiations told the New York Times that the companies had asked to pay in installments.

The layoffs could have just been a result of dire financial straits, but there also could have been redundancies in positions that were no longer needed with a merger.

As far as the installment plan, with the companies pooling resources to fight legal challenges and hire lobbyists and PR professionals, it’s not a stretch to imagine them both facing the same financial issues. But putting this story out publicly also helped their case against being deemed a monopoly in a merger.

If they are in such bad shape financially, the companies can make a better case that the merger would “substantially lessen competition” — a major component involved in the FTC and DOJ ruling a merger as a monopoly.

With less cash comes fewer commercials and ads, and it allows a company like Yahoo! — on the verge of being acquired by Verizon and widely recognized as the third-biggest DFS site— to bubble up as a legitimate competitor. Add in companies like Fantasy Aces, HotRoster, Fantasy Draft, Rosters, and more…and the tale of two bleeding behemoths who are just trying to survive through a merger helps to make a far stronger case than two companies once valued at $1-2 billion each combining for a mega-DFS monster that will eat up all of the market.

Unconfirmed reports of installment settlement plans could have been a cleverly-placed public story to further the narrative that the companies had to merge to survive, not to corner the market and make more money than if operating separately.

FANDUEL ASKS MICHAEL RATHBURN HIS OPINION ABOUT GOLF…FOR A FEW BRIEF MINUTES

Fanduel just sent out a survey about adding PGA Golf — Michael Rathburn (@FantasyRath) October 27, 2016

FanDuel quickly issued a retraction, saying the email was accidentally sent:

Just got a retraction email from Fanduel about the PGA survey stating it was “out of date”. — Michael Rathburn (@FantasyRath) October 27, 2016

And then, the thrilling conclusion:

So the new Fanduel survey is regarding Thur-Sun NFL and Late swap. — Michael Rathburn (@FantasyRath) October 27, 2016

Assume this was an out-of-date mailer — it still means FanDuel had been poking around with the idea of DFS golf. And that could have been spurred on by wanting to line up both companies’ offerings.

UNANSWERED QUESTIONS

There are still two major unanswered questions regarding the DraftKings/FanDuel merger:

1. What will the new company look like?

In September, SportsGrid’s David Gonos mused on the new name for a merged DraftKings and FanDuel. But, outside of nomenclature, there reamain myriad questions of what the new company will look like:

-will they become one single entity or remain separate games with separate rules under a larger umbrella?

-will FanDuel acquiesce and offer PGA, NASCAR, and MMA games, or will DraftKings fall in line with the more conservative approach and eliminate some or all of those sports?

-this may sound minor, but which UI win out? There are FanDuel and DraftKings loyalists who are passionate about the format, look, and feel they prefer. The sites are almost literally night (DraftKings’ black-heavy background) and day (FanDuel’s white-heavy background).

2. What happens if the merger is blocked?

For all the supposed money woes of the two companies, they still own a significant market share of players. The FTC or DOJ will have to determine what makes a monopoly in a game and field that is less than a decade old, facing significant future legal battles, and constantly making missteps with its handling of both government and judicial challenges.

If the merger is blocked, what becomes of the landscape? And will details of the merger publicly reveal one company to be significantly healthier than the other, leading to a post-blocked world in which players flock to the healthier of the two, leaving the other to fade away?

THE GREAT UNKNOWN

The future for DraftKings and FanDuel will change significantly, as their rapid ascent now faces a crossroads and an assumed brand overhaul.

Will this be good or bad — or, simply, a necessity — for the industry? There won’t be an immediate answer by any means, but we can’t envision a world in which DFS simply fades away.

For more of the best fantasy sports coverage — from rankings, advice, and analysis to breaking news and industry spotlights, be sure to visit RotoExperts.com.