Eighteen European Soccer Leagues Issue a Tender for Finding a Betting Data Partner

A number of European soccer leagues have issued a tender that seeks partners who will help with the on-site collection of live data for betting purposes. The tender covers 8,100 matches per year across 18 different countries. It includes a three- to five-year deal that would make the rights available in 2022 and is being presented by the European Leagues, a group that represents the commercial interests of soccer leagues across the region.

A Collective Effort for Finding a Suitable Partner

The tender was reviewed by online sports news provider Sportico and is one of the rarer times European leagues have engaged in the pooling of rights. According to Sportico, the tender includes the top domestic leagues in Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, the Netherlands, Portugal, Austria, Romania, Greece, Israel, Serbia, Slovakia, Finland, Kazakhstan, Latvia, Switzerland, Norway and Sweden.

The tender will also pioneer the inclusion of women’s matches, namely the women’s leagues from Germany and Denmark, and it will further add the third-tier German men’s league and even some of the summer leagues that play during the European major leagues’ off-time. 

The European Leagues’ head of business, Chris Gerstle, commenting on the tender, said that it is good to see so many countries come together. Gerstle firmly believes that the European Leagues’ process of collectivization of rights is something that is profitable to both the organization’s members and the sports market as a whole. 

Benefiting from a Growing Market

Despite the severe problems that the COVID-19 pandemic has posed to the sports betting industry and the migration to esports betting it prompted, sports betting is back on track and growing strong. In light of this, the European Leagues realize the importance of finding a suitable data-collecting partner. 

The group will now seek a potential partner or partners. It will either look for an exclusive deal with a single party or multiple non-exclusive deals with several partners. Тhere are more prospects for finding a reliable exclusive partner this time, as the process has begun earlier, compared to other times the European Leagues have issued a tender.

The European Leagues hope that because of their numerous matches and because of the importance of the European sports market, the companies that mediate between holders and sportsbooks will consider taking them up on the proposed data deal. The four most coveted companies are Genius Sports, IMG Arena, Sportradar and Stats Perform, as they have made quite a name for themselves on the betting data market. 

The tender will be open to bids until August 23. Then, the European Leagues will announce their decision on September 30.