Genius Sports expands senior team with Couchmans partner hire
Steven Burton will head-up Genius Sports' Integrity Services division as supplier looks to ramp-up sports federation partnerships
Genius Sports has strengthened its commercial team through the hire of recognised sports lawyer Steven Burton from law firm Couchmans.
Burton, who joins Genius Sports at the start of September, will lead the commercial side of the supplier’s Integrity Services division as it looks to expand its roster of integrity partnerships which currently includes the likes of the English Premier League and Major League Baseball.
The appointment will be seen as something as a coup for the recently rebranded sports data technology and distribution firm, with Burton having been both partner and head of Couchmans’ sports data, betting and integrity team.
Burton has been involved in some of the biggest and most valuable sports data deals of all time, including those involving Football DataCo, which incorporates the Premier League, English Football League and Scottish Professional Football League.
More recently, Burton advised the International Tennis Federation in it negotiations for a new five-year data rights deal covering more than 90,000 tennis matches per year – the largest single package of official data rights in world sport.
Genius Sports chief executive Mark Locke said he was glad to have secured the services of Burton for “such an important role” within the business.
“The combination of innovative technology and official partnerships is crucial in enabling sports federations to maximise commercial revenues whilst protecting the integrity of their competitions,” Locke said. “Steven’s track record in these areas speaks for itself.”
Burton said he was “incredibly excited” about his new role at Genius Sports, a firm which he had seen work closely with some of his clients while with Couchmans.
“Having spent my entire professional career helping sports leagues and federations to exploit their official data, maximise their revenues and protect their integrity, it was important for me to join an organisation that has a proven track record of working in partnership with sports,” Burton added.
Genius Sports was created in April following a merger between sportsbook supplier Betgenius and data management firm SportingPulse, although former remains a division within the wider business.