Opta Sports

Opta Sports, formerly Opta Sportsdata, is a British sports analytics company. Opta provides data for 30 sports in 70 countries, with clients ranging from leagues to broadcasters and betting websites.[1] The company was founded in 1996, and acquired by Perform Group in 2013. In turn, it was acquired by Vista Equity Partners and STATS LLC in 2019.

For the Dutch government agency, see Onafhankelijke Post en Telecommunicatie Autoriteit.
Opta Sports
IndustrySports analytics
Founded2001
HeadquartersStrand, London, United Kingdom
Number of employees
400+ (2012)
ParentStats Perform
Websitehttps://www.optasports.com

History

Opta Index Limited was founded in 1996 to analyze Premier League football matches and was contracted by Sky Sports for their television broadcasts of the 1996–97 season. The following season, Opta became the official statistics provider for the league itself and became sponsored by Carling.[2][3] In June 1999, Opta was acquired by internet betting service Sports Internet Group for £3.9 million.[3][4] BSkyB acquired the Sports Internet Group in 2000 and sold Opta to Sportingstatz Limited, a data service co-founded by Aidan Cooney.

Opta debuted its current real-time data collection process for football matches in 2006, leading to an expansion in new data offerings across different sports.[5] In 2011, the company entered the US market when it opened an office in New York and partnered with Major League Soccer.[6]

The company was sold to Perform Group in 2013 for £40 million.[7] Perform, in turn, spun out its sports data business in 2018 and sold it to Vista Equity Partners in 2019, merging it with STATS LLC to form Stats Perform.[8][9][10]

Clients

Opta data is used in the betting industry, the print and online media, sponsorship, broadcasting and professional performance analysis. Clients include Sky Sports, ESPN, Arsenal F.C., Oulala Fantasy Football,[11] The All Blacks, Manchester City F.C., William Hill, Major League Soccer,[12] The Guardian,[13] BBC Sport,[14] and Castrol.

Offices

Opta is headquartered in London and has a satellite UK office in Leeds. Additional offices in Europe are located in Munich, Bassano del Grappa, Milan, Paris, Madrid, and Amsterdam. The company opened offices in New York City and Sydney in 2011, followed by a new branch in Montevideo in 2012.[15][16]

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References
  1. McGuinness, Ross (3 January 2012). "Spectators who are on the ball: A look inside the world of sports stats". Metro. Retrieved 1 November 2015.
  2. "Who are Opta Index?". Opta Index Limited. Archived from the original on 13 December 2000. Retrieved 8 December 2017.
  3. "Sports Internet Group plc Results for the period to 31 August 1999". Sports Internet Group plc. 21 December 1999. Retrieved 8 December 2017 – via Investegate.
  4. "Sports Internet". The Guardian. 29 June 1999. Retrieved 8 December 2017.
  5. Barnett, Michael (4 September 2014). "Data Professional: Simon Banoub". Marketing Week. Retrieved 8 December 2017.
  6. Melville, Adrian (15 September 2011). "Statistics Investment Paying Off In Major League Soccer". Forbes. Retrieved 8 December 2017.
  7. Rushton, Katherine (16 June 2013). "Sports data firm Opta to be sold to Perform". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 8 December 2017.
  8. "STATS and Perform confirm merger". SportsPro Media. Retrieved 2019-10-14.
  9. "Stats, Perform Complete Merger, Creating New Data/AI Company". Sports Business Daily. 15 July 2019. Retrieved 16 July 2019.
  10. "DAZN Group sells Perform". Broadcast. Retrieved 2019-04-25.
  11. "Scoring System Oulala.com". Oulala.com. Retrieved 11 July 2014.
  12. MLS Joins Forces With Opta Sports: More Statistics Will Soon Be Available
  13. World Cup 2010 statistics: every match and every player in data
  14. Football data suppliers
  15. "Company history". Opta Sports. Retrieved 8 December 2017.
  16. McKenna, Brian (6 June 2013). "Sports performance data analytics fuels Opta's business expansion". Computer World. Retrieved 8 December 2017.
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