Sportradar Completes IMG Arena Integration, Expands Sports Technology Portfolio

Sportradar AG has largely completed the integration of rights acquired from IMG Arena last November, a move that delivers the company official data rights to prominent sports properties while expanding its technological capabilities. The acquisition provided Sportradar with rights to some of the most famous properties in world sport, as well as a broad portfolio of lower-tier content, according to Chief Commercial Officer Ed Blonk. The deal takes Sportradar into sports like golf and mixed martial arts that it had not previously covered, facilitating expansion of innovations into new areas.

The integration gives Sportradar 30,000 new streams and grows the company's portfolio of events, enhancing content distribution and expanding products across new sports and leagues. Sportradar now has official coverage of Roland Garros, Wimbledon and the U.S. Open tennis Grand Slams, as well as MLS soccer in the U.S. and EuroLeague Basketball. The deal was cash positive for the company, with Endeavor Group Holdings Inc. and OB Global Holdings LLC. providing financial consideration to Sportradar along with cash prepayments to certain sports rightsholders.

With integration largely complete, Sportradar can now focus on generating revenue from the acquisition, which the company said will be accretive to its bottom line. Converting the acquisition into material new revenue is being driven by incorporating IMG Arena rights into Sportradar's existing tech stack, which delivers more ways to monetize content. The new content will be made available to the company's larger distribution network of clients while offering upsell opportunities to existing Sportradar clients who already used IMGA feeds.

Following competitor Genius Sports' diversification through its announced $1.2 billion acquisition of digital media and gambling company Legend, Sportradar remains the only pure-play sports technology business. This enables Sportradar to expand its offering in soccer, tennis and basketball and build on what it said is already a broad array of engagement tools across marketing, social media and in-stream integrations. One area Sportradar is developing further is integrating iGaming products into its extensive sportsbook offerings.

With principal focus on APAC, EMEA and North America, Sportradar expects the new IMGA rights will deliver high-volume content in core revenue-driving markets. The blend of premium events with high-volume longtail content supports continuous, 24/7 coverage with key additions in soccer across Europe, North America and Australia. As IMGA content deepens Sportradar's coverage and data for innovation, the company said it is also a reciprocal process with Sportradar's existing tech stack now being wrapped into newly acquired properties.

For example, the 4Sight Streaming fan-engagement tool, which responds to in-game action with 3D-graphics overlays, and the player-tracking Virtualized Live Match Tracker previously developed by Sportradar are both being rolled out to prime IMGA content. The company is confident clients, partners and their end users will notice the positive difference the Sportradar effect will have on their content. With IMGA integration complete, Sportradar is focused on growing, innovating and generating revenue from its expanded portfolio of sports technology assets.