Deal expands on a seven-year relationship

Sportradar and the National Hockey League (NHL) have entered into a milestone ten-year global partnership.

The Switzerland-based sports data and content company took to Twitter on June 29 to share news of its strategic, multi-faceted tie-up with the NHL:

Sportradar becomes the official partner of the NHL for betting data rights, media data rights, and betting streaming rights. The agreement also makes Sportradar an NHL official integrity partner.

The clutch of new official rights deals bolsters Sportradar’s official global data distributor agreement with the NHL, which has been in place since 2015. According to an official Sportradar news release, it will also continue as an NHL official integrity services provider, which involves using a fraud detection system to monitor global gaming activity and trends.

Strategic expansion of the NHL’s reach

Tuesday’s partnership upgrade underlines the NHL’s recognition of the importance of increasing its fan engagement. The sports data giant’s news release highlights this strategic gambit, stating that its technology solutions will leverage expanded NHL reach and give fans “deeper access and enhanced insights into the game.”

NHL’s recognition of the importance of increasing its fan engagement

Under its new rights aegis, Sportradar will distribute NHL-sanctioned data and statistics to global third-party media, technology, and sports wagering firms. This also includes disseminating real-time data from the NHL’s new puck and player tracking technology.

NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman underpinned the capabilities Sportradar has to help the league to place stats, insight, and video content in front of tech-savvy fans who “constantly crave new and compelling ways to engage with our sport.” Bettman added that the global scale of Sportradar’s offerings will give fans, media, and sports wagering firms a “greater depth of data and a more immersive experience with the game.”

The June 29 deal also allows Sportradar to provide live streams of NHL games to sports betting operators’ digital platforms.

Alliance eyeing world expansion

Sportradar’s news release added that the pair will be working together to forge sports wagering partnerships outside of North America. In this context, Sportradar referenced its ad:s data-powered marketing solution, which played a role in the NHL’s recent sports betting deal with the Czech Republic sportsbook Tipsport, the league’s first-ever European betting partner.

Sportradar Global CEO Carsten Koerl said his firm looked forward to the expanded continuation of the near-seven-year partnership with the NHL. He added that the new deal illustrated the capabilities of his firm’s “global, multi-vertical, wide-ranging” technology solutions and its utilization of data to create “engaging, personalized experiences for our partners and customers.”

Sportradar’s expanded NHL deal gives the Swiss brand more joy this year following its multi-year US deal with Churchill Downs Incorporated’s online sports betting arm Twinspires. Sportradar is bouncing back from a blow it received on April 1 when the National Football League ditched it for London-based rival Genius Sports.