Sportradar Clinches Partnerships With European Handball Federation, Penn National Gaming

Sportradar is entering a long-term partnership with The European Handball Federation (EHF) and EHF Marketing (EHFM) to include official data collection and distribution to media organizations and betting operators. In addition, the company also inked a deal with Penn National Gaming to use official National Football League (NFL) data on their sports betting platforms.

European Handball Federation
The multi-year agreements, set to run until 2030, will see Sportradar, as the ‘official data partner’ of EHF and EHF Marketing, collect and distribute official EHF data to multiple media and betting entities. In addition, Sportradar will utilize the full breadth of its technological capabilities, including AI and machine learning, to develop new solutions for analyzing data and identifying new insights to improve the sport and provide an unrivaled experience for fans and EHF partners.

“As European handball enters a new era, the agreement with Sportradar is another important piece of the puzzle to elevate our sport to new and unprecedented heights,” says Martin Hausleitner, Secretary General of the European Handball Federation. “We are making a significant step forward, not only in terms of the number of matches we are offering live scouting for, but also when it comes to the depth of data available for our fans and partners.”

The deal includes the collection of live data and comprehensive statistics for more than 1,500 national team and beach handball matches and more than 750 European Cup matches per season across all of European handball’s elite club competitions.

For the European Handball Federation, the agreement includes the Men’s and the Women’s EHF EUROs and their Qualifiers, the EHF’s younger age category events, the European matches of the World Championship Qualification and the Beach Handball EUROs.

On the side of EHF Marketing, the contract includes all matches in the EHF Champions League Men and Women, the EHF European League, and the EHF European Cup.

“It is absolutely vital to offer high quality and accurate data from the EHF’s club competitions,” says David Szlezak, Managing Director of EHF Marketing. “With this new cooperation, we are adding to the top-level scouting we have already achieved with Sportradar. For example, right from the first rounds, data collected in the new EHF European League will be on EHF Champions League standards. We are looking forward to working with Sportradar over the next decade to realise the full potential of this data.”

The announcement of the new cooperation follows the existing partnership between Sportradar and EHF and EHF Marketing which started when a multi-faceted data, marketing, and digital services agreement was signed in June 2017.

In February 2018, Sportradar further expanded its scope with the organization to include the provision of education and monitoring services aimed at safeguarding the integrity of the EHF’s competitions.

The agreement with EHF underlines Sportradar’s expertise within handball and strengthens a portfolio that includes long-term relationships with HBL (German Handball Bundesliga), DHB (German Handball Association), spusu LIGEN (Handball League Austria) and HBF (German Handball League Women).

“We have a longstanding relationship with EHF and EHFM and we are delighted to have further extended our partnership to secure a long-term data and distribution rights agreement,” says David Lampitt, Managing Director, Sports Partnerships at Sportradar. “We will be working alongside them to continue to grow the sport via our extensive network of media and betting partners.”

Penn National Gaming
As part of the partnership, Penn National has the ability to offer a wide array of live, in-game wagering options on NFL games at its retail sports betting locations and on its Barstool Sportsbook app, which is expected to launch in the third quarter of 2020.

“We are thrilled to be partnering with Sportradar for NFL data in advance of the upcoming football season,” said Jon Kaplowitz, Senior Vice President of Penn National’s interactive gaming division. “Delivering official NFL data to our growing, loyal audience, including over 66 million Barstool fans and our 20 million casino customers, will provide tremendous wagering opportunities where we operate sports books across the country.”

The partnership will allow Penn National to use the official NFL play-by-play data feed for live in-game wagers on the Company’s sports betting platforms.

“Penn National is at the forefront of sports betting in the US, and we are delighted to extend our partnership to include official NFL data,” said Neale Deeley, Vice President of US Sales and Gaming, Sportradar. “We look forward to working together and providing a unique betting experience for their loyal customers during the upcoming NFL season and beyond.”