IMG ARENA, a leading sports data business for the betting, media and professional sectors, has secured the exclusive worldwide betting data and streaming rights for British Basketball League (BBL).
The multi-year deal includes BBL’s domestic UK betting streaming rights and marks the first time that the data and streaming rights have been packaged together. It covers the 10 franchise-strong BBL Championship, its end-of-season BBL Play-offs, and knockout competitions, the BBL Cup and BBL Trophy.
IMG ARENA will capture and deliver FastPath data from over 214 games per season for its global network of over 460 sportsbook operators. In addition, IMG ARENA will also distribute live streaming for betting. This expands IMG ARENA’s portfolio of top tier basketball, which already features EuroLeague, NBL Canada, Italy’s LBA and Spain’s ACB.
As a key partner, IMG ARENA will help BBL deliver on its growth strategy, following the basketball organisation’s recent £7m investment from 777 Partners.
Mark Wrigley, Senior Director, Rights at IMG ARENA, said: “Basketball is a sport that we are incredibly passionate about and committed to helping grow its global reach. The BBL and its competitions are an exciting addition to our portfolio, increasing our offering of premier-level basketball from key territories around the world.”
Andy Webb, Chief Operating Officer at BBL, said: “BBL has a stated mission to grow basketball and its following in the UK and beyond. Working with IMG ARENA helps us to do this by maximising returns from an important commercial asset while also widening BBL’s audience and fan engagement.”
Headquartered in London, IMG ARENA is a sports data and technology hub serving the sport, sport betting and sport media industries. IMG ARENA delivers live streaming and data feeds for more than 45,000 sports events annually, as well as for on-demand virtual sports products and front-end solutions including the UFC Event Centre. IMG ARENA’s clients include the ATP, UFC, DP World Tour, PGA Tour, EuroLeague, MLS and the FA.