How a kid’s love of basketball stats saw him become a world-renowned global expert of sports data

In 1994, Ben Turner, a 10-year-old Australian kid with a fierce passion for basketball, wrote to the National Basketball League (NBL) asking for the standings and statistics for the previous season. No one knew at the time, but this early interest in sports data would culminate in him becoming Head of Sports Content Partnerships APAC and Head of Global Basketball at Sportradar, one of the largest sportstech companies in the world.

“I was astounded that NBL actually responded and faxed me copies of the standings from 1979 to 1994 which I still have to this day. My early obsession with gathering and studying sports statistics never wavered and it’s been wonderful to turn this knack for analysing data and harnessing insights into a career,” said Turner.

Founded in 2001, Sportradar creates engaging and immersive sports data experiences for sports organisations, fans and bettors. Positioned at the intersection of the sports, media and betting industries, Sportradar provides sports federations, news media, consumer platforms and sports betting operators with a best-in-class range of solutions to help grow their business.

Sportradar collects in-game statistics from elite competitions to grassroots competitions for sports federations around the world. Sportradar covers close to a million events annually across all major sports partnering with organisations like the National Basketball Association, National Hockey League, Major League Basketball, The National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing (NASCAR), The Union of European Football Associations (UEFA), Federation of Football Association (FIFA) and Bundesliga (a professional association football league in Germany).

Planting the seed for the future of the sector

The Sportradar journey is very similar to Turner’s own journey where in early-mid 2000s the business was busy investigating what the digital and technology needs of sport were and what needed to be done to fulfil these needs in the future.

Turner was studying at Deakin during the time, completing his Thesis analysing timeouts in Basketball for his Coaching and Administration Honours Degree. Today, you would call the analysis ‘analytics’ but in 2005, Turner compared when and why expert coaches call timeouts and what impact they have on the momentum of the game.

“From 2005 -2007, the sportstech industry was very much in its infancy and there weren’t many companies playing in the live sports data space. The few sports data experts and innovative sport federations and leagues here in Australia were able to be pioneers in this country and then export that technology globally to the world stage,” said Turner.

How Sportradar measures its success

Sportradar is about empowering sports organisations and leagues with technology and data to help them connect directly with the fan.

“At Sportradar, we have a great understanding of those different lifecycles of sports, and possess the technology to support our customers to grow sustainable revenue streams. It's not just about a piece of technology, it’s about what it can do,” said Turner.

Turner believes it’s critical to listen carefully to a customer’s need and then adapt and build bespoke technology to help support them.

“We leverage the expertise of our global team and invest in the latest technology including emerging tech like AI, machine learning and computer visioning - innovations that some sports might not know how to embrace yet. We strive to be a leader, always looking to the future with vision for how new technologies can empower sport to do even more,” Turner said.

NBL1: a case study in data aggregation to build fan engagement

The NBL1 stream 1500 games per year and have games on sports digital streaming platform Kayo every single week. In 2019, the NBL aggregated state league basketball in Australia bringing it together as one national competition but continuing to run competitions in each state called NBL1.

Sportradar was able to package a solution together for the NBL1 and help to build and implement a technology layer which underpinned all the great work it was doing from a competition, administration, sponsorship and commercial perspective.

“We worked alongside the NBL and State Leagues to build in-game data collection, data distribution, automated graphics with sponsor integration, automated production systems and a customised Over-The-Top (OTT) platform for fans to enjoy live and on demand content. The NBL has done a brilliant job of bringing together its sport under a single brand and using technology to operate efficiently, in turn creating new commercial opportunities,” said Turner.

“We were able to test and validate these technologies in Australia before offering these solutions to the world. Some of the technologies that we tested in Australia in 2020 and 2021 (during those interrupted COVID seasons), are now being used by the French National League, the Turkish National League, the Lithuanian National League as well as five or six different leagues in South America,” said Turner.

Turner is proud of the progress of Sportradar in the sector and also acknowledges the important role other Australian sportstech companies played in pioneering in-game data analytics including Champion Data, Catapult Sport and Sporting Pulse (multiple mergers to become GameDay).

“Sportradar has a very talented team that know the global sports data market very well. We continue to leverage this knowledge to innovate and change the way sports data is consumed by fans and monetised. Our deep expertise is ultimately what helps to keep us on top of the game,” concluded Turner.

List to Ben Tuner’s interview on Sport’s Cutting Edge here.

Read more about the partnership between ASTN and Sportradar here: ASTN and Sportradar join forces to accelerate Australian inspired sports technologies.