Sports betting firm Sportradar and the National Hockey League (NHL) have put the finishing touches to a new 10-year partnership according to a report this week published by Sportico.
Under the terms of the deal, the Swiss company gains exclusive rights to distribute NHL data to sportsbooks and media companies in the US and globally. It will also distribute live streams to gambling operators – including out-of-market games to sportsbooks in the US – using its ad:s platform to help the NHL identify international betting sponsorships.
Steve Byrd, Sportradar’s US head of sports content and partnerships, was quoted by Sportico, saying: “The NHL is a huge opportunity for us in a lot of markets where we have big betting operator clients, in Scandinavia, Eastern Europe and elsewhere. We’re excited to have video rights to stream games there, and to be doing these sponsorship packages that tie a lot of the rights together.”
Also quoted was Stephen McArdle, the NHL’s Senior Executive Vice President for Digital Media and Strategic Planning. He said: “We’re admittedly just at the starting point of this journey on tracking and using the data to tell stories.
“Having another partner who is fully invested in learning along with us the right ways to share that data, to present that data, and in the sports betting context the right ways to use that data, that’s very important to us.”
In the report, Sportradar CEO Carsten Koerl told Sportico: “The NHL has been a terrific partner for Sportradar for nearly seven years. This agreement truly highlights the global, multi-vertical, wide-ranging capabilities of Sportradar’s technology solutions and reflects how we use data to create engaging, personalized experiences for our partners and customers.”
The financial element of the partnership has not been disclosed, but late bidding last year is believed to have exceeded $250m.
