The National Basketball Association (NBA) announced a new partnership deal with Sportradar Group AG. As part of the new deal, which should start with the 2023-24 season, the NBA will receive an equity stake in Sportsradar and will start using its various solutions to grow its US and international operations and fan engagement.
The multi-year partnership will see the NBA, WNBA and NBA G League all benefit from Sportradar’s technologies. Sportradar is known as the world’s leading provider of technological solutions for sports organizations, leagues and sports betting operators, and its products are guaranteed to take NBA’s exposure to a whole new level.
The partnership builds upon a previously established one from 2016, when Sportradar became the official provider of real time NBA statistics.
Sportradar is currently partnered with the NHL, MLB, NASCAR, FIFA, UEFA, ICC and ITF, testifying to the reach and relevance the company has in the sports and sports betting industries.
With this partnership, Sportradar becomes the exclusive provider of NBA, WNBA, and NBA G League data worldwide, which means any official NBA data for news networks, betting operators and others will flow through Sportradar.
Apart from official NBA data, Sportradar will also be the exclusive distributor of all live game video used by international sports betting operators to power their live betting platforms.
Sportradar will also receive expanded distribution rights for player tracking data. The company pledged to create a dedicated team of professionals to develop new solutions to improve NBA fan engagement.
The team will use all available data to help improve the understanding of the game, enrich fan engagement and revolutionize the way betting operators and media partners use the data.
“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,” said Sportradar Global CEO Carsten Koerl. “Basketball is the largest US 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.”
Koerl added that Sportradar believes the expanded partnership will contribute to its “profitable business and continued growth. The remaining time left on the existing deal, and this new multi-year agreement, gives us significant runway to partner with the NBA and develop exciting solutions across our teams, betting and sports entertainment verticals.”
Scott Kaufman-Ross, senior vice president and head of gaming and new business ventures for the NBA, said Sportradar “has been a terrific partner as the league has navigated its exploration into the global sports betting landscape.
“As the market matures, we are thrilled to extend our partnership with Sportradar to utilize data and insights to create new fan experiences and innovate around the NBA globally.”
Sportradar will continue to provide NBA statistics, in addition to new data and live video feeds, while also working closely with the NBA to protect the integrity of the game using its Universal Fraud Detection System to monitor betting trends and global betting activity for all three NBA leagues.
