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Doug Hood, AGCO: No one should have their head in the sand on sports integrity
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Features
Time to read: 5 min
Doug Hood, AGCO: No one should have their head in the sand on sports integrity
May 7, 2024
Calvin Samut, Socios: “Storytelling is among the most powerful marketing tactics”
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Cricket
Time to read: 4 min
Calvin Samut, Socios: “Storytelling is among the most powerful marketing tactics”
April 23, 2024
credit: Argentine Football Association (AFA)
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Features
Time to read: 9 min
AFA: Why the 2022 World Cup was an on and off-pitch Argentine success
April 11, 2024
Riyadh, Saudi Arabia - Marina Storti, WTA Ventures: the importance of the Middle East for tennis’ global growth
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Asia
Time to read: 6 min
Marina Storti, WTA Ventures: the importance of the Middle East for tennis’ global growth
April 10, 2024
Matt Fowler, IBIA: Sharing knowledge can go a long way in protecting sports’ integrity
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Features
Time to read: 7 min
Matt Fowler, IBIA: Sharing knowledge can go a long way in protecting sports integrity
March 14, 2024
How Florida’s ‘massive soccer appetite’ landed it 2026 World Cup host status
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Features
Time to read: 6 min
Jason Siegel: Realising Orlando's potential as a US sports hub
March 7, 2024
credit: SMH
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Asia
Time to read: 5 min
Lasha Machavariani: SMH Sports using ‘the positive power of sports’ in Euarsian media
March 1, 2024
credit: Shutterstock
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Football
Time to read: 3 min
Premier League warned independent regulator may step in on EFL deal
March 1, 2024
BOXXER nets record 746k viewers for Wardley v Clarke on Sky Sports
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Boxing
Time to read: 11 min
BOXXER’s Ben Shalom: Finding the right partners for boxing’s global growth
February 27, 2024
Genius and Extrela Bet: three pillars for protecting safeguarding Brazilian sports
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Fan Engagement
Time to read: 6 min
Thomas Carvalhaes, Vai de Bob: Brazil and LatAm lead the way in sponsorship innovation
February 1, 2024
Stuart Simms: Tech-led strategy behind Oddschecker’s Fair Play Sports transition
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Europe
Time to read: 9 min
Stuart Simms: Tech-led strategy behind Oddschecker’s FairPlay transition
January 29, 2024
Trade unionism enters the ring - Boxing’s Smith bros confident of GFU’s impact on combat sports
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Boxing
Time to read: 8 min
Trade unionism enters the ring - Boxing’s Smith bros confident of GFU’s impact on combat sports
January 24, 2024
Sofascore
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Europe
Time to read: 2 min
Oddschecker and Low6 continue cooperation with WhoScored.com deal
January 11, 2024
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Europe
Time to read: 3 min
Nye Expekt: Navigating the tricky path of sports sponsorship regulation
December 29, 2023
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Europe
Time to read: 8 min
Alex Frost: Finding racing’s North Star as UK Tote Group CEO
December 27, 2023
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Basketball
Time to read: 5 min
FIBA: why 3x3 basketball continues to reach new heights
December 20, 2023
The sports landscape has a huge range of commercial stakeholders, from governing bodies and tournaments themselves to data distributors, broadcasters and betting operators. Representing these respective sectors, IMG Arena’s Commercial Partnerships Manager for Golf, Rowan Northcott, DraftKings’ Head of Golf Trading, Stuart Purling, and PGA Tour’s VP Gaming, Scott Warfield, discussed with SBC why golf is the ideal in-play betting product. SBC: Rowan, can you give us an introduction to IMG ARENA and golf? RN: IMG ARENA signed long-term deals with the PGA TOUR, DP World Tour and LPGA Tour in 2018, 2019 and 2022 respectively, with the vision that golf was a sleeping giant within the sports betting landscape. Since then, we have also been fortunate to add golf’s largest events to our portfolio including the Ryder Cup, PGA Championship and Presidents Cup, underlining our commitment to the sport for the foreseeable future. Following the establishment of these partnerships, we created the Golf Event Centre, a turnkey golf betting solution. The Event Centre uses shot-by-shot data to allow fans to follow every shot in an immersive 3D environment. Our data hub ingests this shot data to generate an odds feed enabling fans to bet on every shot, from every player, and on every hole, encompassing 30,000+ different markets at each tournament. Live streaming from two par three holes and an enhanced statistics suite is seamlessly integrated in the product to provide a holistic offering for our sportsbook clients and give golf bettors a one-of-a-kind experience. SBC: What prompted IMG ARENA’s investment in golf? RN: Golf has all the hallmarks of a perfect in-play betting sport. Before we formally entered this space there were no more than 10 markets available, with settlement at the end of the round or tournament. With three to five minutes between every shot, golf is perfectly suited to in-play with bettors having ample time to evaluate the market and selection. Each tournament offers around 35,000 shots per tournament, producing a staggering amount of betting opportunities for fans of the sport. The global nature of golf from every time zone equates to significant “up-time” as sportsbooks have access to live golf from Thursday-Sunday. We knew it would take time for bettors to acclimatise to our offering, but we are now seeing signs, particularly in the booming US market, of in-play golf betting very much taking off. I often think back to when Scott and I were at this year’s WM Phoenix Open. Looking on at the famous 16th hole, we saw first-hand how excited fans were about placing bets on which player would hit it closest to the pin. This sums up the fast-paced and innovative betting activity that we are trying to create that was amplified by one of golf’s most famous tournaments. The excitement created for bettors gives all 35,000+ shots of a tournament its own story. SBC: Scott, now that the Golf Event Centre is established within operators’ platforms and the PGA TOUR’s fans are becoming more affiliated with your tournaments as a betting proposition, what comes next in this journey? SW: With the Golf Event Centre now available to the vast majority of the betting population, we are focused on growing the reach and engagement of the product through a few key avenues. In 2023, we brought the Golfbet content brand in-house which, through both our O&O and social properties, is a key lever to engage and inform golf bettors. With the PGA TOUR’s robust ShotLink data and tournament access, we can bring golf storytelling to life through a betting lens unlike any other platform and are continuing to invest in content production and innovative data tools. In addition to digital and social innovation, we have an opportunity to capitalise on the intersection of media and betting through our robust media ecosystem, including broadcast and D2C streaming. Over the coming months, fans will continue to see an organic evolution of our live coverage to incorporate engaging decision-making data alongside live competition. Last, but not least, we are continuously finding new ways to collaborate with our official betting operator partners across our collective platforms to bring world-class golf offerings to sports fans and bettors. SBC: Rowan, what are IMG ARENA’s plans for golf as a betting proposition? RN: The first challenge is to place the correct insight in front of the customer at the right time to help them make an informed decision. Therefore, we are doubling down on statistics and insights. Visualisation of these insights is key, so we released our very own strokes gained model this year and challenged our data engineers to make this information digestible. Hence the use of radar charts, percentages and rankings tables. Secondly, we want to focus on offering fans the chance to watch and bet, rather than watch or bet. Interactive streaming and bringing all the features of the product into one place is a key focus of ours across a range of sports, not just golf. Finally, in 2024, we have a host of exciting new features coming next year using AI that should add a completely new dimension for the bettor – again adding to engagement
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Data
Time to read: 5 min
PGA Tour, IMG & DraftKings: Why golf is the perfect in-play betting sport
December 18, 2023
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Behind the Badge
Time to read: 2 min
Behind The Badge Podcast: Real Betis - The commercial push for LatAm growth
December 7, 2023
Better Collective: Playmaker M&A significant for LatAm sports media leadership
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Europe
Time to read: 4 min
Better Collective: Playmaker M&A significant for LatAm sports media leadership
November 27, 2023
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Features
Time to read: 3 min
Eddie Lewis: David Beckham’s arrival brought seismic shift to MLS 
November 7, 2023
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Features & Analysis
Time to read: 3 min
Liga F players to strike over collapsed pay negotiations
September 8, 2023
Sofascore
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Europe
Time to read: 7 min
Ivan Beslic, Sofascore: satisfying fans' hunger for insights and stats
August 3, 2023
White Premier League flag waving in the wind
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Football
Time to read: 1 min
Gambling’s future role in English football explored in latest SBC Leaders Magazine issue
May 23, 2023
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Featured Articles
Sideline Moves: Arsenal layoffs
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Features
Time to read: min
Sideline Moves - Arsenal to cut 60 jobs amid new Arteta deal
October 16, 2026
Paramount-Warner Bros acquisition complete
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Features
Time to read: min
New Paramount-Warner Bros deal creates $55bn sports conglomerate 
October 7, 2026
Michael Jordan at SBC Summit 2026
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Basketball
Time to read: min
SBC Summit: Michael Jordan on sport branding, NASCAR, and more
September 29, 2026
Manchester City found guilty of almost all 155 charges
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Features
Time to read: min
Manchester City found guilty of almost 115 Premier League financial breaches
September 25, 2026