Opta Sports

Opta Sports, formerly Opta Sportsdata and more commonly known as Opta, is a British sports analytics company. Opta provides data for more than 30 sports in over 70 countries, with clients ranging from leagues and federations to broadcasters and betting websites.[1] The company was founded in 1996, and acquired by Perform Group in 2013. In turn, Perform Group was acquired by Vista Equity Partners in 2019, merging it with STATS LLC to form Opta's current parent company, Stats Perform.

For the Dutch government agency abbreviated as "OPTA", see Onafhankelijke Post en Telecommunicatie Autoriteit.

Opta Sports
IndustrySports analytics
Founded1996
HeadquartersPaddington, London, United Kingdom
Number of employees
400+ (2012)
ParentStats Perform
Websitestatsperform.com/opta

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] Sky Group acquired the Sports Internet Group in 2000[5][6] 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.[7] In 2011, the company entered the US market when it opened an office in New York and partnered with Major League Soccer.[8]

Offices

Opta is headquartered in London with additional offices in Europe located in Limerick, Aveiro, Munich, Bassano del Grappa, Milan, Paris, Madrid, and Amsterdam. The company opened offices in New York City and Sydney in 2011.[9][10][11]

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. "BBC News | BUSINESS | BSkyB buys Sports Internet". news.bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 26 February 2021.
  6. Newswires, Dow Jones (11 May 2000). "BSkyB to Acquire Sports Internet For $461.1 Million, Swings to a Loss". Wall Street Journal. ISSN 0099-9660. Retrieved 26 February 2021.
  7. Barnett, Michael (4 September 2014). "Data Professional: Simon Banoub". Marketing Week. Retrieved 8 December 2017.
  8. Melville, Adrian (15 September 2011). "Statistics Investment Paying Off In Major League Soccer". Forbes. Retrieved 8 December 2017.
  9. "Company history". Opta Sports. Retrieved 8 December 2017.
  10. McKenna, Brian (6 June 2013). "Sports performance data analytics fuels Opta's business expansion". Computer World. Retrieved 8 December 2017.
  11. "Contact". Stats Perform. Retrieved 5 February 2023.
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