North American ice hockey's top-tier NHL has brought in live scores-based digital platform Sofascore as a new global partner.
Through a multi-year tie-up unveiled today, Sofascore (which has its headquarters in Croatia) will work in collaboration with the NHL on developing next-gen NHL statistics and data that can be accessed on Sofascore's platforms by users.
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This will be done in collaboration with sports data and technology heavyweight Sportradar, an official data partner of the 32-team NHL (through a decade-long deal running until 2031).
The deal represents SofaIT-owned Sofascore's first time working with or covering the NHL via its platforms, and has been announced with the 2026-27 NHL regular season having begun on September 29.
The new information and analytical data set to be made available on Sofascore includes play-by-play and live event mapping, next-gen shot maps, a new metric tracking 'offensive intensity', a new item called 'attack zones', and advanced 'expected value' models (including statistics such as expected goals specifically related to individual goalkeepers).
These stats will be created using the NHL Edge positional data owned by the league, which tracks both individual players, and the puck.
Jason Jazayeri, group vice president of business development at the NHL, commented: "Innovation and fan engagement are at the heart of everything we do, and our partnership with Sofascore reflects both priorities. Together, we're unlocking ways for fans around the world to experience the NHL through new advanced stats, powered by NHL Edge data."
The NHL-Sportradar deal sees the firm serve as the official betting data rights, official betting streaming rights, and official media data rights partner of the league, as well as its official integrity partner. It has been reported as being worth $100 million in total.
Over the last few weeks, the NHL has announced a significant number of new commercial partnerships. These include tie-ups with Black Box Wines, software giant Adobe, Anheuser-Busch InBev (AB InBev), and food delivery service DoorDash.
