Sportradar has renewed its partnership with MLB through a new eight-year agreement, according to Sports Business Journal reporter Mike Mazzeo.
Sportradar has renewed its partnership with Major League Baseball (MLB) through a new eight-year agreement, according to Sports Business Journal reporter Mike Mazzeo.
Analysts at JMP Securities highlighted the deal would extend Sportradar’s major US rights portfolio beyond the end of the decade, providing enhanced certainty around its revenue and rights stream.
The renewal builds upon the original 2019 agreement, under which Sportradar has been distributing MLB statistics to media companies and regulated sports betting operators in both domestic and international markets.
JMP said in an investor note: “Contract negotiations between SRAD and industry providers have been ongoing over the course of the last year, with our expectation SRAD would win and renew the contract.”
In the prior agreement, Sportradar was in exclusive position as the provider of MLB real-time statistics to media companies, while holding non-exclusive rights for distribution to online sports betting operators, JMP said.
The deal also gave Sportradar exclusive international rights for both in-game data and audio-visual feeds to media companies and regulated sports-betting operators.
Financial projections indicate rights costs will increase throughout 2025, with JMP modelling 15% growth over 2024 levels, followed by an expected 10% reduction in growth rate for 2026.
The agreement solidifies Sportradar’s rights portfolio, which previously had an average of six years remaining on its major sports contracts, according to JMP.
Ahead of the publication of the company’s Q4 report, JMP argued the firm’s international revenue, which is on a largely fixed model, should provide stable, predictable growth with potential upside from new markets.
It added that it expects the US, which generated approximately 20% of revenue in 2024, to increase at least in-line with US online gaming growth.
This, it added, would be supported though improvements and investment around technology from B2C companies in areas like parlays and in-play betting.
JMP added: “Overall, its ties to top sports leagues, like the NBA, MLB, and NHL — three of the top four most-wagered sporting leagues in the US — provide it with an attractive opportunity to upsell clients with value enhancing technology and services to maintain revenue growth in at least the high-double digits in the medium term, in our view.”