Sportradar AG faces legal claims alleging that its control and distribution of official sports data from key leagues is unfair and discriminatory towards rival sportsbook suppliers.

Malta-based sportsbook solutions provider Altenar confirmed that it has filed multi-million-pound lawsuits against the Nasdaq-listed sports data and technology group.

Claims have been lodged in the US District Court of New Jersey and the High Court in London, with Altenar alleging that Sportradar has abused its position as a principal data partner to major US sports leagues. 

The St Gallen-headquartered international sportstech has a broad partner portfolio including the National Hockey League (NHL), National Basketball Association (NBA), Major League Baseball (MLB), and the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP).

Altenar contends that Sportradar has restricted access to essential live data and betting odds, in breach of both Section 2 of the Sherman Act and the UK Competition Act.

The supplier further claims that Sportradar has denied it access to critical data required to operate its sportsbook platform, such as support odds generation. It also accuses Sportradar of favouring its own products and selected partners, distorting competition in the market.

Legal filings cite: “Sportradar is trying to maintain its market dominance by unfairly eliminating its competitors. It is relying on its monopoly on sports data to squash businesses with a competing offer, despite previously decrying other companies for doing exactly the same.”

By denying or restricting essential data of popular sports leagues, Altenar believes that Sportradar has placed a ‘structural barrier’ on its business to provide a sportsbook platform. The only exception among the ‘big four’ is the NFL, whose official data rights are held by rival Genius Sports.

Sportradar’s data and IP partnerships with major US sports leagues sit at the centre of the dispute, having secured and repeatedly renewed “exclusive data and innovation” agreements with the NBA, NHL and MLB.

Sportradar no stranger to competition claims

This is not the first time Sportradar has faced scrutiny over competition concerns. 

The company’s acquisition of IMG Arena was scrutinised by the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) for potentially breaching the country’s competition law, though it was ultimately greenlit by the regulator.

Sportradar was also sued, alongside its main rival and fellow sports data giant Genius, in Texas in March 2025. The claimant, PANDA Interactive, asserted that the duo had suppressed competition by limiting access to the sports data that the two companies officially controlled.

In Altenar’s case, the Isle of Man firm believes that Sportradar is abusing its ‘exclusive rights’ to favour its sports betting solutions offered by the platform ORAKO (launched in 2022) and solutions of NSoft (acquired in 2022).

The firm is seeking a court order to end what it labels Sportradar’s ‘refusal to supply’, alongside millions in damages. It has commissioned Cahill Gordon & Reindel LLP to represent it in the US and Thorndon Partners to represent it in the UK.

“Sportradar is trying to maintain its market dominance by unfairly eliminating its competitors,” an Altenar spokesperson said.

“It is relying on its monopoly on sports data to squash businesses with a

competing offer, despite previously decrying other companies for doing exactly the same.

“We remain open to discussions with Sportradar, but its unilateral and aggressive actions have left us with no choice but to take legal action.”

The implications of Altenar’s challenge are significant. Altenar seeks a legal intervention on the boundaries of ‘exclusive terms’ of data partnerships in how official data for sports leagues should be distributed, in a ‘fair manner’ and removed from interest.

Conversely, a successful defence by Sportradar would reinforce the current model, consolidating the position of data incumbents and raising further barriers to entry.

A keyword Sportradar may raise in its defence is the word ‘exclusive’ – if the firm has exclusive rights to a sports league’s data, does that not mean it should hold  privileged rights as to who can access this data?

Sportradar provided the following response to SBC, on Altenar’s legal proceedings:  “While we prefer not to comment on pending litigation, we strongly disagree with the claims made by Altenar, which we believe are without merit and contain numerous inaccuracies. 

Sportradar will address these through the legal process. We encourage stakeholders to rely on our public disclosures and SEC filings for a complete and accurate view of our business.”