- Betting data services company Sportradar has extended their betting and streaming services partnership with Germany’s Bundesliga soccer circuit.
- Sportradar is one of the major players in international sports betting data aggregation and have partnered with many of the top leagues and sportsbooks worldwide..
- Earlier this year, Sportradar struck a massive betting data agreement with international soccer sanctioning body UEFA.
As sports betting continues to grow in popularity and penetrates deeper into the mainstream–particularly in North America–one segment of the industry has proven to be particularly successful. Of the entire sports betting ecosystem few segments have been as profitable and influential as data services providers. Data has always been crucial to running a sportsbook dating back to the days of the racing wire at the start of the 20th Century. During the past couple of decades, a live odds feed was essential for any serious sports bettor or bookmaker. The concept of aggregating and selling betting data is definitely nothing new.
That said, the game has changed completely. The amount of data needed to run a serious betting operation has grown in scope, scale and complexity. Today, it’s not enough to have up to the minute lines and scores. Sportsbooks also need statistical data for individual sports, risk management services, free-to-play data, esports betting, virtual sports games and live streaming of games in progress–among any number of other services. Throughout the world, sports leagues have contracted with several companies to package and market their data for betting purposes. Some jurisdictions require official league data but even where this isn’t mandated there are competitive reasons that a sportsbook might want it. For example, a league data deal might also include rights to use intellectual property and trademarks such as team names and logos. Depending on the market, having this ability could be essential for brand perception–if every other sportsbook has official league logos and yours doesn’t it can damage credibility.
Two of the biggest players in the betting data market are London based Genius Sports and Switzerland based Sportradar. These two companies have been chopping up the betting data market during the past year or two trying to line up exclusive deals with sports leagues. Genius Sports has exclusive partnerships with the NFL, Premier League, NCAA, NASCAR and the PGA Tour. Sportradar has deals with Major League Baseball, the Electronic Sports League esports circuit, the National Hockey League and World Snooker. In the past couple of months they announced an unprecedented worldwide betting distribution deal with soccer sanctioning body UEFA. Most recently, they expanded an already existing partnership with the National Basketball Association (NBA) that will see the pro hoops league taking an equity stake in Sportradar.
Earlier this week, Sportradar extended an existing agreement of their partnership with a major international sports league. The German Bundesliga soccer circuit is now one of the most influential in the sport and they’ve agreed to a five year extension of their partnership with Sportradar. With the league growing in popularity worldwide, they’re looking to Sportradar to help continue that trend. Here’s the specifics of the partnership from a press release announcing the deal:
The Bundesliga is the world’s fastest growing professional football league with more than 1 billion fans around the globe. As the official provider of betting and streaming rights for the Bundesliga and Bundesliga 2 outside the US and DACH regions until the conclusion of the 2025-26 season, Sportradar will sublicence the rights for moving images from those competitions to its network of sportsbook operators. The agreement further enables Sportradar to continue to collect and distribute live match data, providing its customers with access to a fast, accurate and reliable feed.
Over the course of the agreement, Sportradar will provide bookmakers with a range of innovative tools that will enhance the way fans experience and interact with international Bundesliga content. This includes allowing sportsbook operators to provide their clients with video clips of Bundesliga matches through the Live Video Notification solution, an AI-driven sports video technology that delivers rich media content direct to fans’ mobile phones via an instantaneous push notification.
New to the partnership is a virtual gaming title called Virtual Sports Bundesliga. From the description in the press release it sounds like they’re redefining the cutting edge in the virtual sports genre:
Finally, Sportradar has launched Virtual Sports Bundesliga, a first of its kind, AI driven virtual sports gaming solution that integrates real match video highlights from 3,500 Bundesliga archive matches to create an interactive gaming experience for fans. A team of more than 100 Sportradar specialist data operators edited 10 years’ worth of video content into dynamic event clips such as players entering the pitch, scoring goals or stepping up to take a penalty.
You can check out a demo of Virtual Sports Bundesliga along with all of Sportradar’s other virtual sports products at this link:
VIRTUAL SPORTS BUNDESLIGA @ SPORTRADAR
Robert Klein, Bundesliga International CEO, spoke of his league’s long running relationship with Sportradar:
“This is a long-term and trusted partnership, built up over many years and with a shared vision for excellence. We see this extension with Sportradar as a blend of working with established partners to create innovative opportunities and products.”
Ed Blonk, Chief Commercial Officer, Sportradar is excited to help his company’s longtime partner grow their international presence:
“For the best part of two decades, Sportradar has enjoyed a successful partnership with Bundesliga International and the DFL, working closely together to deliver the highest quality products available in market. These rights remain an important part of our portfolio and we’re excited to embark on the next phase of the relationship, using our market leading technologies developed specifically for the world of sport to help Bundesliga International develop new and exciting ways to engage fans around the world.”
The partnership between Sportradar and the Bundesliga began more than 15 years ago with a multi-year partnership that included international broadcast and betting rights.
