Catapult Sports wins FBS College Football contract

Sports data, technology and analytics company Catapult Sports (ASX: CAT) has secured direct access to one of the world’s biggest sports leagues having won a contract to manage video exchange services to all 130 Division 1 College Football teams.

Following the competitive tender process, all movement of Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) video will be managed by Catapult. The goodwill notion of sharing footage is ingrained into the traditions of College Football to best prepare teams against each other, and improve the overall strength of competition.

“Catapult has the sports world’s leading credentials when it comes to housing, organising, and distributing video content,” said Catapult CEO, Will Lopes.

“This partnership is validation for our platform, a testament to our efficient product development capabilities, and a big motivation for us to continue obsessing over our customers at all levels with innovative solutions that enhance professional sport and the loyal audience it brings.”

Through the sharing of historic game footage, College Football players are able to simulate the same game preparation process that they will encounter at the professional level, whilst also encouraging coaching staff to be more creative with their play calling each season.

While the process originated from coaches physically handing over reels of film to their opposition, Catapult successfully tested a cloud-based platform for two weeks with 70 FBS schools over a 2 week period prior to being awarded the contract.

Although technology behind the platform is relatively simple, the greater opportunity has now been presented for Catapult to showcase their data analytics capabilities directly to FBS schools, many of which have seemingly unlimited spending when it comes to their College Football Program. Beyond the basic video sharing platform, schools will have additional services purchasable for add-on editing and event data.

Specialising in wearable devices which have been designed for high performance athletes, Catapult offers a range of products that collect data that enables coaches to optimise output and performance. Many of their devices are already used in most professional leagues around the world where Catapult secures revenue from the sale of devices and recurring revenue from data analytics and support services.

For FY20, Catapult Sports is expected to report $100m revenue and $11.5m EBITDA.