The National Basketball Association (NBA) has announced a multi-year partnership with Sportradar to grow US operations, increase its international footprint and drive fan engagement.
The collaboration begins with the 2023-24 NBA season, as Sportradar looks to enhance NBA, Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA) and NBA G League, whilst also providing the NBA with an equity stake in the company.
“Sportradar has been a terrific partner as the league has navigated its exploration into the global sports betting landscape,” commented Scott Kaufman-Ross, Senior Vice President, Head of Gaming & New Business Ventures, NBA.
“As the market matures, we are thrilled to extend our partnership with Sportradar to utilise data and insights to create new fan experiences and innovate around the NBA globally.”
Additionally, the new relationship includes expanded distribution rights regarding the use of player tracking data. Sportradar promises that it will also establish a ‘dedicated team’ to innovate and transform the fan experience.
This will include utilising data to create a deeper understanding and appreciation of the game, developing new data products to enrich fan engagement, and ‘revolutionising’ how sports betting data is utilised by betting operators and media partners.
“We are delighted that the NBA has chosen Sportradar as the Official Partner who can support the global popularity and explosive growth of the game,” noted Carsten Koerl, global CEO, Sportradar.
“Basketball is the largest U.S. sport in the world by popularity and, as a market leader, we are best positioned with the technological expertise and industry relationships to help the NBA entertain fans globally. We believe that this agreement will generate significant revenue and contribute to Sportradar’s profitable business and continued growth.”
This deal extends a relationship that began in 2016, when Sportradar and the NBA announced a multiyear partnership, which made Sportradar an Official Provider of Real-time NBA League Statistics, as the organisation continues to use Sportradar’s Universal Fraud Detection System (UFDS) to monitor global betting activity and trends worldwide.
“The remaining time left on the existing deal, and this new multi-year agreement, gives us a significant runway to partner with the NBA and develop exciting solutions across our teams, betting and sports entertainment verticals,” concluded Koerl.
Sportradar today announced its third quarter 2021 financial results, which revealed that revenue increased 30% compared to the third quarter of 2020 to €136.8 million ($158.7 million), driven by a ‘robust growth’ across all geographies and business segments. Moreso, in terms of the US, income increased by 119% compared to the third quarter of 2020.
