The last time Ted Leonsis and Michael Jordan teamed up on a business was 15 years ago, and the end result was a bitter parting.
Jordan played basketball for the Washington Wizards for two seasons and served as the team’s head of basketball operations before he was abruptly dismissed in 2003 by then-Wizards owner Abe Pollin as minority partner Leonsis looked on.
What a difference a dozen years makes.
Leonsis, who now owns the Wizards, the Capitals and Verizon Center, on Tuesday announced that his Revolution Growth partnership is joining fellow National Basketball Association team owners Jordan, of the Charlotte Hornets, and Mark Cuban, of the Dallas Mavericks, in an investment in the Swiss technology firm Sportradar,
The company’s U.S. arm, Sportradar US, is based in Minneapolis and was founded as SportsData in 2010 on the University of St. Thomas campus in St. Paul, providing real-time sports statistics to companies like Google and Facebook. The Swiss company bought SportsData in 2013.
Sportradar collects data from more than 325,000 live sporting events across the planet, including competitions as varied as darts, tennis, soccer and snooker.
“We are the platform that collects and disseminates the greatest amount of live sports data in the world,” said Evan Morgan, a partner with Revolution who orchestrated the investment.
Sportradar digests that data, then sells it to big media companies and to gaming and gambling businesses.
The company has exclusive partnerships to collect and supply data to giant U.S. sports entities such as the National Football League, the National Hockey League and NASCAR racing.
Google, Facebook, Twitter and Fox Sports are among Sportradar’s biggest clients. The company also has locations around the world, including in New York and San Francisco.
The terms of the investment were not disclosed, but the money will be used to expand the firm’s U.S. presence, create software applications and create more content for clients.
