The Professional Squash Association, the organiser of top competitions in the sport, has increased its equity stake in international technology provider Sports Data Labs and will collaborate to explore opportunities in the sports betting space.
In an expanded partnership, the PSA has upped its stake in the company through its new commercial arm, Squash Media and Marketing (SMM).
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SD Labs and the PSA first teamed up in an innovative partnership in 2018 that commercialised physiological data for the first time.
The two parties said the tie-up has since provided over 750 hours of real-time, in-game biometric data to broadcast partners and paid out over $100,000 to players based upon use of their data.
The PSA made a strategic investment in SD Labs in 2019, having worked with the company for two years, and is now enlarging its shareholding position in the USA-based data technology company.
In April 2019, Aser Group, the global investment company founded by Italian sports executive Andrea Radrizzani, became the single largest investor in SD Labs.
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By GlobalDataIn addition, SMM and SD Labs have signed a new collaboration agreement with a view to creating a new betting experience for the North American market based upon real-time, in-game athlete data that will “fuel novel betting opportunities and products, while providing new revenue streams for athletes and complimentary technology organisations within the sports betting ecosystem for the first time”.
Mark Gorski, SD Labs co-founder and chief executive, said: “We are thrilled to develop this ground-breaking opportunity with the PSA. Our experiences tell us that the incorporation of real-time, in-game athlete data into sports betting products and models – and its tremendous value in helping us understand why outcomes occur – will fundamentally change the way sports are bet on and how fans interact with data.
“This partnership with the PSA will set us on a path to reimagine how entirely new value can be created and distributed in the sports betting ecosystem for leagues, athletes, sensor manufacturers and other stakeholders who will be foundational to the value being generated.”
Alex Gough, PSA chief executive, added: “Sports Data Labs has established a bold vision with us that we believe has the potential to create significant value for both the PSA and our players.
“They have been a pioneer in the athlete data space and their track record of supporting our tour globally over multiple seasons, while providing real value for the sport and our players, gives us great confidence in their abilities to bring an entirely new opportunity to the sports betting ecosystem with us.
“We believe athlete data will play a big part in driving new revenue and visibility for the tour and players in the future and look forward to working closely with the SD Labs team to make our collective vision a reality.”
The PSA launched its Squash Media and Marketing arm earlier this year in partnership with the Wanda-owned Infront agency, which acquired a minority stake as part of an eight-year commercial agreement.
Infront will be responsible for the monetisation of media, betting, sponsorship and digital rights of all SMM controlled properties until the end of the 2028-29 season.
