Tag Archives: genius sports

ESPN, Genius Sports Announce Immersive Experience For The 2022 NCAA Division I Women’s Basketball Championship

Genius Sports Limited (“Genius Sports”) (NYSE:GENI), the official data and technology partner that powers the ecosystem connecting sports, betting and media, today announced a collaboration with ESPN for the NCAA Division I Women’s Basketball Championship using AI-powered tracking data and live video augmentations.

Through its Second Spectrum division, Genius Sports will provide ESPN and consumers with the first live augmented video feeds for women’s basketball, delivering new levels of interactivity and insight to a rapidly growing audience. ESPN will be able to select from a suite of data-driven visualizations, including split-second shot probabilities and distances to 3-point special effects, captured through optical tracking technology that identifies and delivers the precise coordinates of every player and the ball, 25 times a second.

Genius Sports’ technology and augmentation solutions will be utilized during the Women’s Final Four and National Championship games, when this year’s champion is crowned Sunday, April 3 (8 p.m. ET) at the Target Center in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Fans will be able to experience the Second Spectrum enhancements as an alternate viewing option in addition to ESPN’s traditional telecasts of each game.

“Expanding our relationship with Second Spectrum to support of the Women’s Tournament and their fans is another exciting first for us,” said Kevin Lopes, ESPN Vice President, Sports Business Development & Innovation. “The augmented feeds for the NCAA Women’s Final Four and National Championship game will provide fans with an exciting viewing option that leans into innovative stats and visuals.”

ESPN will also have access to Genius Sports’ unique Insight tool, generating advanced statistical insights on individual teams and players. As the Official Optical Tracking Provider of the NBA, Second Spectrum has worked closely with ESPN for the last six years, capturing rich tracking data and delivering augmentations as well as helping to power the first-of-its-kind ‘Marvel’s Arena of Heroes’ alternate broadcast on ESPN in 2021.

“It’s appropriate that during this Women’s History Month we make this announcement with ESPN to bring immersive, player tracking technology to ‘March Madness’ on the Women’s Basketball side. The days of women’s sports being considered second class are behind us,” said Mark Locke, CEO of Genius Sports. “We are proud to work with ESPN, through the best-in-class work Second Spectrum does, to give the millions of fans young and old, an immersive experience for March Madness that will set a new course not just for the NCAA Championships, but for all of sport that is played by women the world over. It is a new high bar that we will push, and there is no better place to raise that bar than the NCAA Women’s Basketball Tournament with ESPN.”

Genius Sports is the exclusive supplier of official NCAA data, having worked alongside the governing body since 2018 to develop NCAA LiveStats, the NCAA’s official tool for the collection, management and distribution of game statistics. Genius Sports is the Exclusive Supplier of Official NCAA Data having worked alongside the governing body since 2018 to develop NCAA LiveStats, college sports’ official tool for the collection, management and distribution of game statistics. NCAA LiveStats will be courtside at every game of the NCAA DI Women’s Basketball Championship, capturing every shot, dunk, rebound, assist and more.

Genius Sports, CFL Partner to Grow Fan Engagement and Extend Media Reach Via Sports Data, Global Tech

Genius Sports, the official data, technology and commercial partner that powers the ecosystem connecting sports, betting and media, today announced a landmark strategic partnership with the Canadian Football League (CFL), the second largest football league globally with over 100 years of history.

Genius Sports will provide a wide range of technology and services that will enable the CFL to accelerate its growth plans and engage new audiences around the world.

As part of the agreement, Genius Sports will have the exclusive rights to commercialize the CFL’s official data worldwide and video content with sportsbooks in international markets, replicating the global distribution and success of its official betting products for the EPL and NFL, among others. In connection with the partnership, in addition to the official data rights agreement, Genius Sports and the CFL have also agreed that Genius Sports will acquire a minority stake in CFL Ventures, the new commercial arm of the League, allowing the Company to benefit strategically and financially from the CFL’s growth.

The CFL will be provided with one of the widest and most innovative data ecosystems in world sport, transforming its relationships with fans, sportsbooks, and media in North America and globally. Bringing together its recent acquisitions of Second Spectrum, Spirable, FanHub and Sportzcast, Genius Sports will power the entire CFL digital infrastructure. This will include live broadcast augmentation, advanced data tracking tools, highly targeted and personalized fan engagement solutions, cross-platform streaming capabilities, play-by-play and scoreboard data collection technology, coaching analytics products, and integrity services to safeguard the league.

“Our partnership with Genius Sports has the potential to launch a new era for the CFL,” said Randy Ambrosie, Commissioner of the Canadian Football League. “It provides access to the technology and tools we need to engage our existing fans, and reach new ones, in exciting, innovative and highly customized ways. This goes beyond transforming our marketing. It can redefine our relationship with fans, partners and other key stakeholders, here in Canada and globally.”

“By providing the CFL with an incredible range of sports technology solutions, Genius Sports is setting a new precedent for sports partnerships,” said Mark Locke, CEO of Genius Sports. “Together, we will revolutionize the entire CFL product, delivering truly immersive experiences for their existing fans and attracting new audiences who crave year-round, top-flight football action.”

This partnership will help facilitate the CFL’s growth ambitions, expanding its audience in the U.S., while extending its reach into new international markets. Genius Sports will help the CFL to capitalize on the growth of the North American sports betting market, maximizing revenue and engagement opportunities.

The transaction is expected to become effective in January 2022. An O’Melveny & Myers LLP team, led by partners Charles Baker and Amy Siegel and counsel Eric Geffner and Rob Catmull together with McCarthy Tetrault LLP, advised Genius Sports on this transformative transaction.

Lacrosse Joining The Sports Gambling Push?

All of the major leagues as well as NASCAR and the WNBA have looked to ways to engage in sports gambling, now it looks like lacrosse is setting the stage as well. Today the indoor National Lacrosse League (NLL) announced an integrity deal with Genius Sports.

The NLL, the largest and most successful professional lacrosse property in the world, today announced a multi-year partnership to ensure the integrity of the league’s games with Genius Sports, a global leader in sports data and technology. Genius Sports will conduct a global assessment of current betting activity on NLL games, and also project the likely growth given the emergence of a legal sports betting market in the U.S.

“As the sports gambling market in the United States continues to take shape, we as a league have a responsibility to make sure all aspects of our product is beyond reproach, and there is no one better to ensure we maintain the integrity of our game than Genius Sports,” Commissioner Nick Sakiewicz said. “The growth of our league, especially amongst digital natives, along with the expansion of the sport of lacrosse in general, makes the area of data analytics, sports betting and fan engagement one of our key focuses going forward.”

“We welcome the National Lacrosse League to our growing list of global league partners,” said Steven Burton, Managing Director Genius Sports. “There is no doubt that lacrosse is growing very quickly and we think the future for the game, especially tied to the product that Nick and his team have built, is very bright, and we are looking forward to helping them in this next expansive phase of business growth.”

According to the deal, Genius Sports will conduct a global assessment of current betting activity on NLL games, and also project the likely growth given the emergence of a legal sports betting market in the U.S. Drawing on its global leadership in advising governing bodies on how to manage betting-related issues, Genius Sports will craft a recommended operational and internal communications framework for the NLL, drawing on best practices around the world. The NLL and Genius Sports will work together to establish an educational program for players, officials and other stakeholders to understand the betting environment and be alert to potential integrity problems, and Genius Sports will monitor the lacrosse betting markets and provide the league with alerts regarding any suspicious activity.

The partnership will officially begin in the coming month.

The NLL is North America’s largest and most premier professional lacrosse league, ranking third in average attendance for pro indoor sports, with 13 teams in key markets across North America. The NLL experienced substantial growth last season with nearly a million total ticket sales, a 28-percent increase from 2017-18, and 60 percent of ticket sales were from people who never played lacrosse. Digital viewership also rose significantly through Turner and B/R Live, showing substantial increases in total unit sales (up 151 percent from last year), average unique viewers (+27 percent) and average minute audiences (+14 percent). Sponsorship revenues are projected at a 29-percent increase from 2018 to 2019.

Genius Sports Group Appointed Serie A’s Exclusive Data Supplier For Betting

AC Milan (Wikimedia-goatling)

Genius Sports Group, a global leader in sports data technology, has been awarded the exclusive right to collect official Serie A betting data in stadia from the start of the 2019/20 season. 

The data will be captured using the Group’s advanced pitchside technology and instantaneously distributed as a live feed to licensed sportsbook operators outside of Italy via its sports betting arm, Betgenius. 

By creating the fastest, most accurate and reliable real-time data feed on Serie A fixtures, Betgenius will offer sportsbooks and their customers access to premium content and a world-class betting experience, while providing the league with a solid return for betting on its games. 

To provide enhanced control and visibility over the use of its betting data, Serie A will launch its first rights enforcement initiative, including the identification and ejection of unauthorised data collectors operating in-stadia. 

Jack Davison, Chief Commercial Officer of Genius Sports Group, said: “Our partnership with Serie A is another example where we work with the most important global sports competitions to ensure our sportsbook operators have complete confidence in the security of their data supply and that our organisation will deliver the most trusted and compelling betting products to operators around the world. We look forward to working alongside Serie A to help extend the reach one of the largest leagues in world football.”

German Football, Genius Partner On Match-Fixing Strategy

Wikimedia Commons/ Steffen Prößdorf

Following a competitive tender process, the German Football Association (DFB) has today selected Genius Sports to launch a new integrity program that will monitor over 7,500 games a year to prevent match-fixing and betting-related corruption.

Beginning with the 2019/20 season, Genius Sports’ Bet Monitoring System will provide vital visibility across global betting on all Bundesliga, 2. Bundesliga, German internationals, women’s and youth team fixtures. By analyzing global odds movements with predictive algorithms, this technology will automatically flag potentially suspicious betting activity in real-time.

The DFB integrity team will now benefit from unprecedented levels of betting intelligence, detailed reports on individual games and analysis of global betting markets that will provide key information from third party sources and bookmakers to support any integrity investigations.

Steven Burton, Managing Director at Genius Sports, said: “Being selected to safeguard the integrity and future of one of the largest football associations in the world is a huge honor for Genius Sports and is a testament to the quality of our services. Our monitoring technology, expertise in analyzing real-time betting and global intelligence network will provide comprehensive protection for the DFB, ensuring their games remain transparent and unpredictable.”

Genius Sports Group secures landmark betting data agreement with Football DataCo

Flickr/Peter Woodentop

Genius Sports Group, the global leader in sports data technology, has been appointed by Football DataCo, the data rights holder of all competitions organised by the Premier League, English Football League and Scottish Professional Football League, as its official supplier of live data to the global sports betting sector.

Through Betgenius, its sports betting division, Genius Sports Group will capture official live game data in-stadia at over 4,000 fixtures a season, and distribute it to hundreds of licenced sportsbook operators around the world in under a second.

Commencing at the start of the 2019/20 season, this multi-year partnership will create the sports betting sector’s fastest, most accurate and reliable data feed for in-play betting products and live betting innovations, in order to drive long term value for sports betting operators around the world.

“English and Scottish football is vital to any sportsbook offering and Genius Sports provided a compelling proposal to maximise the value of live data in the betting market for the Leagues. We look forward to working with Genius Sports, and its sports betting division Betgenius, in developing innovative data feeds for the market to use,” said Adrian Ford, General Manager of Football DataCo.

Mark Locke, Genius Sports Group CEO, commented: “Being selected by Football DataCo as their exclusive official data partner is transformational for our organisation and reinforces our position as the global leader in sports data capture and distribution technology. This partnership upholds our commitment to ensuring sports remain at the heart of a sustainable sports betting ecosystem that is fair and rewarding for all participants.

“The use of secure, UK football league sanctioned data signals the increased maturity of the industry and recognises the value and protections that this official data feed provides. Football DataCo leads the world through its heavy investment in a product that assures operators can have complete confidence in its data supply to power some of most valuable sports betting content in the world, including all Premier League matches.”

NASCAR, Genius Sports Form Landmark Exclusive Betting Data Partnership

NASCAR and Genius Sports, the global leader in sports data solutions, today announced a landmark deal that will see Genius Sports develop an official NASCAR gaming offering for legal sportsbooks. The new agreement is the first step toward creating an advanced live betting product that will drive fan interest and deepen engagement around NASCAR race events.

Genius Sports will utilize NASCAR’s official data feed to build a high-end live betting product to be sold to legal sportsbooks around the world. Exclusive access to NASCAR’s official data allows Genius Sports to create a real-time gaming platform that provides up-to-the-minute odds and a suite of traditional wagers and prop bets. The new initiative will enhance the race day experience and keep fans engaged with the sport for longer periods of time.

“Partnering with Genius Sports allows us to deliver a dynamic fan engagement platform in the rapidly-growing world of legalized sports gaming,” said Brian Herbst, senior vice president, broadcasting and innovation, NASCAR. “This new relationship will provide another entry point to the sport and complements our strategy to create a more immersive experience for fans.”

As a result of the agreement, Genius Sports becomes the exclusive provider of NASCAR data to licensed sportsbooks. The new data partnership marks NASCAR’s first in the growing U.S. sports betting sector.

“NASCAR fans are some of the most devoted in the world, and we look forward to helping them to create a deeper, more connected experience that is both safe and secure as the business of sports betting continues to evolve in the U.S.,” said Mark Locke, Genius Sports CEO. “Furthermore, our global relationships will help bring the excitement of NASCAR racing to new audiences both within the United States and in new territories around the world.”

With 40 cars on the track reaching speeds of over 200 miles per hour, NASCAR’s official data is vital to the development of a gaming platform. Only licensed sportsbooks in regulated territories will have access to the official data, providing greater transparency, accuracy, and cooperation to monitor and safeguard NASCAR events.

Before the start of the 2019 season, NASCAR developed a comprehensive Sports Gambling policy for the industry in which the sanctioning body granted all teams and tracks the ability to sell marketing sponsorships to sports-betting companies and licensed sportsbooks.