Sportradar Group (NASDAQ:SRAD) CFO Craig Felenstein said the company is focused on executing the strategy it outlined at its investor day about a year ago, emphasizing what he described as consistent revenue growth, continued EBITDA margin expansion, and higher cash conversion as key priorities heading into 2026.
2026 outlook: growth, margins, and cash flow
Felenstein said Sportradar is “ahead” of the multi-year framework it shared previously, and reiterated that the company’s strategy centers on expanding within an “expanding market,” increasing share of wallet with existing customers by selling more content and products, and moving into adjacent opportunities such as iGaming and prediction markets.
He attributed confidence in margin expansion to what he described as strong cost visibility, including multi-year sports rights agreements and no “new sports right of scale” coming up for roughly five years. Felenstein also highlighted cash generation, saying the company converted about 56% of EBITDA to cash flow in 2025 and expects that metric to improve further in 2026.
Geographic mix and exposure to U.S. online sports betting
Addressing how Sportradar’s business is tied to U.S. sports betting trends, Felenstein said the company is geographically diverse, with about 70% of revenue generated outside the U.S. He said most international contracts are fixed-fee arrangements with built-in escalators, which he characterized as supporting consistent international growth.
In the U.S., he said about 30% of revenue is domestic, with some contracts—such as those tied to DraftKings and FanDuel—based on a percentage of sportsbook revenue. He described recent U.S. trends as “a little bit choppy” but said he expects the market to continue expanding over time, with incremental opportunities potentially coming from prediction markets.
Prediction markets: early-stage, viewed as an opportunity
Felenstein said prediction markets have created “noise” and uncertainty in the broader industry, but Sportradar views them “only as an opportunity.” He said there may be more potential clients in prediction markets than in U.S. online sports betting, given the number of participants in the ecosystem.
He described several categories of potential counterparties and where Sportradar could fit:
- Exchanges, which may seek data as well as fan acquisition and engagement tools
- Brokers, which may also seek acquisition and engagement products
- Market makers, which he said are looking for real-time, low-latency data to help reduce risk
Felenstein said Sportradar has begun conversations with participants and is working to determine the appropriate revenue models, noting that the company has not yet done a “significant deal” with a market maker or an exchange.
He also referenced a recent announcement involving Major League Baseball and Polymarket, stating MLB noted Sportradar as its official data partner in that release. Felenstein said Sportradar is now working with MLB to monetize MLB data within prediction markets, adding that league alignment had been a limiting factor because Sportradar wants to use league data only in ways league partners support. He said Sportradar has relationships with roughly 400 league partners globally and expects additional leagues to work with the company on monetization approaches.
IMG ARENA acquisition: rights monetization and accretion
Discussing the IMG ARENA transaction, which closed in November, Felenstein called it a “unique deal” and said Sportradar was paid to take the rights. He framed that as evidence of Sportradar’s scale, citing relationships with roughly 800 sportsbooks globally.
He said the company’s plan was for the deal to be accretive on three dimensions:
- Revenue
- EBITDA margin
- Free cash flow
Felenstein said those accretion goals are “already happening” and could expand in 2026 and potentially 2027. He added that Sportradar has seen positive early customer response, including “significant” take-up from Tier 1 operators, and expects to build on that as IMG’s basketball, tennis, and soccer rights are sold across existing sportsbook relationships.
Capital allocation: buybacks prioritized, M&A remains on the table
Felenstein said Sportradar ended the year with approximately EUR 365 million in cash, generated EUR 167 million of free cash flow in 2025, and has no debt. While he said the company will continue investing in its core business and will keep evaluating M&A, he emphasized that acquisitions must be additive to revenue growth, margin expansion, and cash flow—criteria he said can be difficult to meet.
He said the company currently views share repurchases as the best use of capital, noting it has been “pretty aggressive” with buybacks and that the board increased the repurchase authorization from $300 million to $1 billion.
Felenstein also highlighted a new iGaming initiative announced during the event: the launch of Playradar, a brand he described as an offshoot of Sportradar. He said iGaming is attractive in part because 70% to 80% of Sportradar’s sportsbook partners also have an iGaming component, and he cited a market size figure he had “last seen” of over $100 billion. He added that the company does not plan to make a large upfront investment that would pressure margins, instead intending to “incrementalize” into the opportunity over time.
On artificial intelligence, Felenstein said Sportradar has used AI-driven models for years and expects AI to support additional data collection, product development, and operating efficiency. He said the company believes computer vision-based data collection could rise from about 50% of its total today to around 75% to 80% over time, enabling more data points and potentially more micro-markets, while also helping automate certain customer service and back-office processes.
About Sportradar Group (NASDAQ:SRAD)
Sportradar Group is a global leader in digital sports data and content, delivering real-time statistics, analytics and sports betting solutions to clients across the gaming, media and sports federation sectors. The company aggregates and processes live data from more than 800,000 sporting events each year, providing feeds for pre-match and in-play odds, visualization tools and managed trading services. Its products also include integrity services, which monitor betting markets for irregularities and help sports organizations safeguard competition outcomes.
Founded in 2001 and headquartered in St.
