Sportradar US, Formerly SportsData, Continues To Grow, Inks Deal With NFL

The Sports Video Group is pleased to welcome Sportradar US as a corporate sponsor. The company, which until recently operated as SportsData LLC and was acquired by Sportradar AG in 2013, was founded in 2010 and is recognized as the fastest-growing sports data provider in the U.S.

With a veteran technology team and more than 200 data-entry analysts, Sportradar US captures live play-by-play, scoring, and statistical data and delivers it in real time to a wide range of media, technology, and sports companies for use in Web, mobile, and second-screen applications.

Under a recently announced multiyear agreement, beginning with the 2015 NFL season, Sportradar US will be the National Football League’s exclusive distributor of comprehensive statistics to digital outlets.

The company will provide official real-time scores, player statistics, and play-by-play data (Game Statistics and Information System/GSIS) as well as the NFL’s proprietary Next Gen Stats. This partnership will allow the NFL to distribute statistical data in new and innovative ways across a variety of endpoints, including apps, social-media platforms, and connected devices.

Next Gen Stats, the initiative launched in the 2014 NFL season, comprises real-time, location-based data — speed, acceleration, distance traveled — for all players in all games. This information, alongside GSIS, will be distributed by Sportradar US to give fans a closer look into the game and allow them to experience it in new ways. Insights from Next Gen Stats will be available for fans in the stadium, at home, and everywhere else that NFL content is consumed.

“We look forward to our partnership with Sportradar US,” says Vishal Shah, VP, media strategy and business development, NFL. “Statistics are core to the fan experience, and being able to broadly deliver new, differentiated viewpoints is compelling. Next Gen Stats is an exciting initiative that adds tremendous breadth and depth to our sport. The ability to partner with Sportradar US, with its focus on technology and high-quality data distribution, enables the NFL to bring these great experiences to the rapidly growing sports-data market and our fans.”

Says Sportradar US President Ulrich Harmuth, “Coming right after our decision to rebrand SportsData as Sportradar US, this deal is an important milestone for our company and in particular underlines our commitment to securing a leading position in the U.S. sports-data market. We are thrilled to partner with the NFL in developing a completely new data category that will boost the fan experience as well as improve how the NFL and its partners interact with their fans. At Sportradar, we pride ourselves on being both a development and a technology partner to leagues and customers, and we are looking forward to working hand in hand with the NFL and exploring all the innovative possibilities this partnership opens up for both organizations.”

In addition to providing official feeds from the NFL and NASCAR, the company now covers more than 20,000 events live across professional football, baseball, basketball, hockey, and golf, as well as collegiate football and basketball.

The company provides data solutions for such global companies as Google, Turner Sports, IBM, Facebook, and Twitter. Headquartered in Minneapolis, Sportradar US recently opened a 20,000-sq.-ft. state-of-the-art office dedicated to collecting, processing, and monitoring data as well as housing client-support, IT, and development teams.

Parent Sportradar AG is a global leader in providing sports data and content. More than 800 businesses in more than 80 countries rely on its data depth and quality services. Headquartered in Switzerland, the company has offices in more than 30 locations around the world and employs more than 1,000 highly experienced staff members worldwide.