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Infront to Become ITF Official Data Partner
Infront, the international sports media and marketing agency, has been selected as the successful bidder for the ITF’s global data and betting streaming rights for the period 2025-2029, following an extensive RFP process that began in early 2023 and saw a number of bidders submit detailed proposals.
The deal, beginning in 2025, encompasses a number of ITF produced events marking a significant step in the development of Infront’s data business.
The new five-year agreement will help to deliver an enhanced fan experience through rich data and metrics, create new commercial opportunities and develop compelling data stories around ITF events.
Innovations will include a new umpire scoring solution, with Infront supplying more than 650 handheld devices to be transported around the world as per the requirements of the ITF competition calendar.
The partnership will produce a significant financial uplift for the ITF, allowing for increased funding for global tennis development and continued investment in the competitive pathway, which has seen record prize money for women in two consecutive years across the ITF World Tennis Tour.
The parties will now work together to agree and finalise contractual terms in preparation for the new rights cycle.
Kelly Fairweather, CEO of ITF, said: “Bringing matches alive through live scoring and streaming is at the heart of the fan, participant, media and market engagement in our competitions, as well as being pivotal to growing our game and essential to integrity. We’re delighted to appoint Infront as our Official Data Partner from 2025-2029.
“Tennis fans are at the centre of what we do at the ITF and the new partnership with Infront will enable us to provide a better end-to-end experience for all fans. We will also see innovation out on the court and a significant financial uplift from these rights that we will use to support the player pathway and the development of tennis globally.
“I would like to take this opportunity to thank all bidders who took part in this competitive tender process. I would also like to thank our current partner, Sportradar, for everything they have delivered for us over more than a decade and we look forward to continuing to work with them in the remaining period of our partnership to the end of 2024.”
Chris Catling, Senior Director of Infront, said: “This partnership is monumental for Infront. We’ve been diligently working on expanding our operations in this area of our business, specifically what we can offer our range of customers when it comes to data.
“The Infront technology arm, The Lab, will be key to driving technology innovation. This agreement with the ITF, an Olympic federation, is a testament to our efforts and we look forward to implementing our innovative solutions with the ITF and collaborating with them to elevate the growth of tennis.”
The new contract with Infront is another commercial outcome of “ITF2024”, the ITF’s long-term plan for sustainable growth. Since its introduction, the strategy has helped drive a significant upturn in the ITF’s financial performance and enabled record levels of funding for the global game. The ITF’s reinvestment in tennis has grown by 95.4% or $41.5 million since 2015 to $85.0 million last year.