Opta Sports

Opta Sports
Industry Sports media
Founded 2001
Headquarters Strand, London, United Kingdom
Products Sports analysis
Number of employees
 400+ (2012)
Parent Perform Group
Website www.optasports.com/ Edit this on Wikidata

Opta Sports, formerly Opta Sportsdata, is an international sports analytics company based in the United Kingdom. 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 has been operated as a wholly owned subsidiary of Perform Group since 2013.

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] Opta entered a partnership with Major League Soccer in 2011, leading to its expansion to the American sports market.[6] The company was sold to Perform Group in 2013 for £40 million.[7]

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,[8] The All Blacks, Manchester City F.C., William Hill, Major League Soccer,[9] The Guardian,[10] BBC Sport,[11] 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.[12][13]

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. 1 2 "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. ↑ "Scoring System Oulala.com". Oulala.com. Retrieved 11 July 2014.
  9. ↑ MLS Joins Forces With Opta Sports: More Statistics Will Soon Be Available
  10. ↑ World Cup 2010 statistics: every match and every player in data
  11. ↑ Football data suppliers
  12. ↑ "Company history". Opta Sports. Retrieved 8 December 2017.
  13. ↑ McKenna, Brian (6 June 2013). "Sports performance data analytics fuels Opta's business expansion". Computer World. Retrieved 8 December 2017.
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