The Cricket South Africa (CSA) body and IMG Arena, the betting arm of the sports and entertainment giant now under the OpenBet banner, have today unveiled a significant partnership.
Through the deal, IMG Arena becomes CSA’s data supplier and betting live streaming partner. The firm will collect detailed match data from CSA’s domestic and national team matches across a wide range of series and competitions, and then distribute that data to “more than 460 regulated sportsbook operators worldwide.”
In addition, IMG Arena will issue live streams of CSA-organized matches to the global betting sector.
The tie-up also incorporates an IMG Arena partnership with CricViz, a cricket-specific data and analytics provider.
This deal adds to what is already a significant relationship between IMG and CSA.
The international sports marketing agency also has a worldwide media rights distribution deal with the governing body, running until 2031. IMG and CSA have been working together for over 30 years.
This latest tie-up will cover men’s and women’s test matches, one-day internationals, and Twenty20 internationals, as well as South African cricket’s various domestic men’s and women’s competitions.
Pholetsi Moseki, chief executive at CSA, said: “Our partnership with IMG Arena is poised to revolutionize the way detailed data is collected, both live and in-venue. This collaborative endeavor will introduce South African cricket to a fresh betting audience, and we are extremely excited about this opportunity."
Mark Wrigley, IMG Arena’s vice president and head of rights, added: “Alongside CricViz, we’re excited to partner with Cricket South Africa to bring fans the ultimate sportsbook experience incorporating reliable, informed data and live streaming.”
Earlier this year, IMG Arena was integrated into OpenBet, a sports betting platform also owned by the Endeavor global sports and entertainment heavyweight.
Technically, IMG Arena is now the sports data and streaming products division of OpenBet.
Last December, meanwhile, IMG Arena unveiled a similar tie-up with the Cricket West Indies (CWI) governing body.
Under that agreement, IMG Arena is the exclusive global data and streaming rights holder for CWI, also in partnership with CricViz.
