NBA’s high-tech partnership with Sportradar could change the face of in-game betting, and soon

Major League baseball has been a constant for sportsbooks this summer, but bettors may have noticed the emergence of “No-run first inning” (NRFI) and ‘Yes-run first inning’ (YRFI) bets being promoted.

That particular prop bet is part of the latest revolution of “microbetting,” in which data is captured, processed and delivered to media entities and sports betting operators in mere seconds to create unique betting markets that are poised to grow.

A company on the microbetting forefront is Sportradar, a sports technology firm that has relationships with the NBA, the NHL, and Major League Baseball. At a basic level, it handles the tracking and managing of various types of data, from statistical information that appears on television broadcasts to specific player data.

As a partner with 98% of betting operators, Sportradar is a major player in a landscape that will feature Fanatics and ESPN BET entering the sports betting market.

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“With those relationships, there are over 300 bet types and close to 4 million odds passed through our hands every minute on a global basis,” said Andrew Bimson, president and COO of Sportradar, North America. “Servicing those operators is critically important for them to be able to take that data and push it to consumers.”

Which brings us to Sportradar’s recent partnership extensions with Caesars and FanDuel that include special access to NBA optical tracking data, through Sony’s Hawk-Eye technology, opening the door for the expansion of in-game betting markets as soon as this season.

Optical tracking is the use of a computer-generated system to determine real-time movements and positions of objects — or, in a sports sense, players. Sportradar’s computer vision technology captures data much faster than humans can, improving its accuracy, Bimson said.

“Shaving something from six or seven seconds down to three or four doesn’t sound like a lot, but in the environment of technology moving and data moving as quickly as it can, every millisecond matters when it comes to live updates on the media side, or trading environments inside of the betting and gaming side,” he said. “If a coach is looking at real-time data and being able to make positional changes or make play changes at a particular point in time, they need that information as quickly as possible.”

The NBA, which uses Sportradar as an exclusive provider of its data worldwide in a partnership that dates to 2016, is excited about this new endeavor. The league, often at the forefront of innovation, says it uses sports betting as a vehicle to enhance the fan’s experience.

“Incorporating optical tracking data made a lot of sense to us to create a more robust data feed [and] unlock new possibilities for what sports betting could look like and how our data could create new experiences,” said Scott Kaufman-Ross, the head of gaming and new business ventures for the NBA. “We have always believed that sports betting is a part of the fan experience, so we want to be using technology and using NBA assets to make that as engaging for the fans that choose to consume our product.”

When discussing what these enhanced betting markets could look like, Kaufman-Ross said an example may be the probability of Stephen Curry hitting several 30-foot-three-pointers in a game, with the help of player-specific optical tracking data.

The NBA experimented with wagers on the first team to score 15 points last season in DraftKings’ betting market that rivals baseball’s “YRFI” and NRFI,” but an important part of the process is having markets that betting operators and sporting leagues feel comfortable with.

“You’ll start to see different types of bets that will be in-play bets, that will be a little bit more elongated to capture more time or allow the operator to establish a market that they feel comfortable with, [a bet] that actually engages the consumer beyond that one pitch, or one pass, or one basket,” Bimson said. “The leagues don’t want that — they don’t want that narrow of an attention span.”

“In a fast-paced game like the NBA, where you have constant back-and-forth action, you need real-time data, you need that technology to make that experience match up to how the fan is consuming the game,” added Kaufman-Ross. “That’s why that commitment to technology and real-time data is so critical to the future of how people bet on the NBA.”

The NBA has a product council that meets every month to discuss and explore emerging technologies and products to enhance user experience, Kaufman-Ross said.

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While sports betting operators continue to explore the possibilities of in-game betting and using real-time data from companies like Sportradar, a priority is improving the user experience. Bimson said that before there is a huge surge in additional microbetting markets, he expects a “technology overhaul” in the next 12 to 18 months.

“If you look inside of all their earnings calls, they’ll talk about their road map, and they’ll talk about their desire to really improve the user experience,” Bimson said. “Some of those operators have paused on moving into markets in favor of fixing up their platforms. They don’t want to go into a market with a poorly constructed platform.”

The NBA has a multiyear partnership with Sportradar and plans on using the time to tap into the buzz around sports betting on the league and its corresponding stars on the court, capitalizing on live-game betting opportunities.

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“That is a whole new area of opportunity that we’re working on with Sportradar of how we use data and technology to make the live game experience more interactive, versus sort of the more passive experience that you’ve had traditionally on linear television,” Kaufman-Ross said.

Founded in 2001, Sportradar has 275 media partners, and more than 3,000 professional and collegiate teams use the company as a data provider. It also has partnerships with the MLB, NHL, NASCAR, UEFA, FIFA, and the Bundesliga, among others worldwide.