Sportradar has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire US-based sports technology and analytics firm Synergy Sports.
Strengthening its position in the US market, Sportradar is the only data provider to hold official ‘keystone’ partnerships with the big four sports leagues – the National Football League (NFL), the National Basketball Association (NBA), the National Hockey League (NHL) and Major League Baseball (MLB) – with the NFL reportedly in talks to extend its data deal with Sportradar.
Meanwhile, Synergy has established league-wide relationships with the NBA, MLB and the NCAA Division I women’s and men’s basketball and over 90% of NCAA Division I men’s baseball.
“Sportradar is the perfect partner to accelerate the evolution of Synergy Sports in the US and around the world,” noted Nick Maywald, Executive Chairman of Synergy Sports. “Our team is extremely excited to become part of the Sportradar story, the global leader in understanding and leveraging the power of sports data and content.
“Their extensive knowledge in providing mission-critical content to all types of sports-related customer groups complements our technology-based league relationships centered around our video technology and analytics products. Data is in the DNA of both companies and this partnership will deepen our relationships with both Professional and College sports in the US and internationally.”
The agreement comes hot on the heels of Sportradar’s acquisition of personalised messaging platform Fresh Eight.
Set to close in Q2, subject to regulatory approvals, the addition of Synergy Sports will complement Sportradar’s 360-degree product suite, as well as support its drive to ‘deepen and broaden its relationships with key sports organisations globally’.
Outside of the US, Synergy’s landmark partnership with FIBA to create the ‘FIBA Connected Stadium’ provides basketball teams, leagues and federations with a full end-to-end technology platform offering automated video production and graphics.
This combination of US and international business, said Sportradar, makes Synergy a seamless fit into its own vision for the ‘evolution of the way sports content will be created, digitised and delivered’.
Carsten Koerl, Sportradar Group CEO, commented: “Sportradar is the leading data and technology provider to betting operators as well as media companies and sports leagues globally. Adding Synergy Sports to the Sportradar family will expand our product offering into US college sports data and video analytics and further cements our relationships with the major sports organisations in the US and around the world.
“We have huge respect for the talented, energetic and passionate management team that Nick Maywald and Mark Silver have built at Synergy Sports. Like Sportradar, their focus is always sport and the customer, and we are looking forward to working with them to expand the business and unlock exciting new commercial opportunities for our sports partners.”
In addition, Sportradar will build on the popularity of Synergy Sports’ best-in-class video technology, Synergy Automated Camera System, by layering on top its own video and OTT product suite enabling the development of deeper technology-enabled relationships with sports organisations.
