Sportradar secures first motorsport deal with MotoGP

Sportradar has agreed its first motorsport-focused integrity partnership with the MotoGP motorcycling series.

From the 2017 season, Sportradar will offer its Integrity Services across MotoGP, Moto2 and the Moto3.

Sportradar will utilise its Fraud Detection System to monitor and analyse betting movements and patterns across all races, and also deliver five education and prevention workshops to MotoGP participants and stakeholders.

“Prevention of any problem is always more prudent than cure and, for sure, betting-related sport fixing is a problem; it is a problem that thankfully has not hit our sport but it is one that is causing real concern across other sports worldwide,” Carmelo Ezpeleta, chief executive of MotoGP promoter Dorna Sports, said.

“We do not want to get to the point where we are remedying a problem that has encroached onto motorcycle racing, if we can avoid it by being proactive and resolute.”

Andreas Krannich, managing director Integrity Services at Sportradar added: “We do speak to sports who feel distant or immune to the problem of fixing.

“That is not MotoGP’s stance; they have been inquisitive, invested and definitive.

“They have sought the full suite of our Integrity Services to ensure that no stone is left unturned and that no compromises are made.”

Meanwhile, Sportradar has also entered an integrity partnership with the Italian SuperLega, the country’s top division of club volleyball.

Sportradar Integrity Services will deliver a series of volleyball-specific education workshops to all 14 clubs in the SuperLega.

“The first consideration that we made, when we evaluated the integrity programme with our partners Sportradar, was on the health of our sport,” SuperLega president Paola De Micheli said.

“Our second thought, of course, was focused on the sport’s protection; and there is only one way to protect it: education, culture and providing clear information to our members.

“We will travel to each club and outline what happened in other sports where the risks of match-fixing was underestimated; we will ensure there is no doubt about how critical an issue sport’s integrity is.”

Marcello Presilla, who heads up Sportradar’s Integrity initiatives in Italy, added: “In yet another first, it is Italy’s volleyball league which has taken the lead in rolling out a series of workshops in each and every club in the SuperLega and I cannot wait to meet with the inspirational athletes and arm them with the information they need to keep SuperLega the most respected league in the world.”

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