Sportradar escalates UK football data battle against Betgenius
Sportradar sends letter before action to rival ahead of potential formal court proceedings
Sportradar has escalated the ongoing battle around official UK football data, sending a letter before action to Betgenius ahead of the potential launch of formal court proceedings.
The 20-page letter, delivered last week, laid out Sportradar’s stance on the issue, including the view that Betgenius’ enforcement of its official rights is an infringement of UK and EU competition law.
Sportradar claims Genius is not negotiating in good faith around opportunities for a sublicence, and its enforcement – ejecting Sportradar scouts from stadiums – is bad for bookmakers and consumers who lack options.
Betgenius will have two-to-four weeks to respond to the letter before Radar could launch formal court proceedings.
Sportradar has never previously sub-licensed official UK football data from the official rights holder, including previous incumbent Perform (Running Ball) or Football Dataco (FDC) directly.
A source close to Sportradar said: “Open-source or ‘unofficial’ data is often stigmatised but it is perfectly legitimate. It is part of every major data supplier’s activities yet some suppliers are less transparent about this than others.
“Deliberately blocking competition, excluding alternative supply and foreclosing the market with a single source information monopoly is unlawful. It stifles innovation and risks the integrity of sports.”
- Betgenius declined to comment for this article, but in an op-ed for EGR earlier this year, the firm pledged to not scout over rights.
“If a sport grants exclusive, in-venue data rights to our competitors, then we will respect this,” Genius said.
The firm does still use TV pictures to scout for its unofficial feeds.
Sportradar has exclusive rights deals of its own with several leagues, including a newly-signed agreement with the NFL.
When asked how it would defend its own official rights, a Sportradar spokesperson told EGR: “We don’t enter into these deals unless we know there is still fair competition for others.
“With [UK football], about 25% of games are available via stream, meaning the only way to get data is by attending the game.
“With all the US sports – they are all available via stream for Genius to get the data.”
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