With one giant step forward, the National Football League made significant progress in moving forward in the sports betting industry. Compared to the other major leagues, including NHL, NBA and MLB, the NFL has placed the topic of sports betting on the sideline for quite a long time, even though they were to generate the most from it, compared to the other leagues. From being relatively slow in making any moves towards strengthening sports betting within the league, NFL just closed a deal with SportsRadar, which placed them in a position to make more money off betting, than any other professional association.
The Deal – History and Future
The partnership between the NFL and SportsRadar is not a new one. Up to now, the company entailed that SportsRadar has been the distributor of in-game and play-by-play data to various media outlets. The value of the extension of the partnership is rooted in the fact that SportsRadar will now be able to optimize the data of NFL to gambling operators which will significantly increase the opportunities for in-game bets to be placed.
The multi-year deal has given SportsRadar the exclusivity of being the official distributor of NFL data to any sport-betting operator, operating legally within the United States or overseas. It has been a slow start for the National Football League to move towards embracing the industry of legal sports betting, yet with a projected increase in revenue from the capitalization off sports gambling, is estimated around $2.33 billion. This estimation was done by the American Gaming Association as well as Nielsen. This means that the NFL is the major sports league, standing to make the most of the sports betting industry, compared to others.
Additional Responsibilities of SportsRadar
SportsRadar didn’t only gain exclusivity in distributing the data, but also the responsibility to monitor the sports betting activities going on during NFL games. This isn’t a easy thing to do, especially with the rising amount of NFL betting tips on different Sports betting sites. This is where the user must check and review every betting site and decide which one is legit and which one isn’t. The user on his end has the ultimate control over where he puts his money at and the best thing to do is to read the reviews on each operator. Now, let’s get back to SportsRadar. They need to be on the lookout for irregular activities which might be indicative of fraud. Thus, making them the league’s watchdog. This is a critical position to the NFL, who wants to be able to maintain the confidence of their fans to keep up their integrity within the major leagues.
The NFL Is Planning On Delivering on Consistent Data
Hans Schroeder, the NFL Media CEO, stated that regardless of the size of the market, they want to ensure that the data and the feed, which is being delivered to them, is both the best-in-class as well as consistent. The best way to do this is to assign the position to a company which is globally a leading supplier of sports data. Carsten Koerl, the CEO of SportsRadar, commented that they are situated in the ideal position to be able to provide the support which the NFL requires. Since they are a top market leader globally, they can offer products of innovation which will only improve the experience of fans and punters. This will all be done to keep the integrity of the National Football League intact, especially during competitions.
