Sports Rights Accountant
Sportradar enters into license agreements with sports leagues for the right to supply data and/or live video feeds to the betting industry and the media. These agreements are complex, the rights granted vary by agreement, and they are accounted for as intangible assets under IAS 38, which involves a significant degree of judgement. As part of Sportradar’s SOX controls, every new and amended sports rights license agreement is assessed for capitalization. In this role you support the end-to-end accounting of sports rights and leases in line with IFRS and SOX: operational accounting, contract and payment data maintenance, monthly reporting, reconciliations and process improvements. You work closely with FP&A, Partnerships, Corporate Systems and other Accounting functions.
- Review and analyze sports rights and lease contracts (new acquisitions, renewals and amendments) to support their accounting treatment, including fixed and variable payments, capitalization date, extension and termination clauses, and value-in-kind components
- Perform data entries, postings, reconciliations and supporting schedules for new, renewed and amended contracts
- Maintain detailed records of all sports rights and lease contracts, payments and related accounting calculations
- Support the monthly, quarterly and annual close for sports rights and leases
- Prepare accruals, prepayments, amortization schedules (seasonal straight-line amortization during contract life) and balance sheet reconciliations
- Perform net present value and discounted cash flow calculations, discounting contractual license payments at the incremental borrowing rate plus country risk premium
- Adjust monthly accruals for variable content and revenue share agreements based on business-provided forecasts, actuals, and supporting inputs.
- Support the completeness of the monthly financial package and its compliance with SOX, GAAP/IFRS and statutory requirements for sports rights and leases
- Prepare audit support and documentation for internal and external auditors, and respond to accounting queries in your area
- Identify process improvements and contribute to the standardization and automation of contract review, data entry, calculations, reconciliations and reporting
- Support finance projects and activities involving sports rights assets
- Work with Accounting, Corporate Systems, FP&A and Partnerships to resolve payment, contract and other financial issues
- Bachelor’s degree in Finance, Accounting, Business Administration or a related field (required)
- 3+ years in accounting or a similar financial position (required)
- Hands-on operational accounting experience and practical experience with standard ERP systems (required)
- Prior SOX experience (nice-to-have)
- Experience in a similar industry or at a Big4 firm (nice-to-have)
- Good understanding of GAAP/IFRS (required)
- Practical knowledge of IFRS 16 Leases and IAS 38 Intangible Assets is a strong plus (nice-to-have)
- Experience with net present value and discounted cash flow calculations is desirable (preferred)
- Proficient in Microsoft Office, particularly Excel; able to work with large data sets (required)
- Strong analytical and problem-solving skills with a high level of accuracy and attention to detail (required)
- Able to manage multiple priorities, maintain clear documentation and meet recurring reporting deadlines (required)
- Fluent English (at least B2/C1) (required)
- Competitive salary and benefits.
- Investment in your continued development.
- Work in an international team collaborating with colleagues from all over the world.
Sportradar is a global sports technology company that collects, analyses and distributes sports data to betting operators, sports leagues and media companies. Headquartered in St. Gallen, Switzerland, and founded in 2001, it provides betting services, managed trading, integrity monitoring and audiovisual streaming across hundreds of sports. The company holds official data partnerships with organisations including the NBA, NHL, FIFA and ICC. Sportradar is listed on the Nasdaq stock exchange and employs several thousand people worldwide.