Stats Perform

Stats Perform (formerly STATS, LLC and STATS, Inc.)[1] is a sports data and analytics company formed through the combination of Stats and Perform.[2]

Stats Perform
TypePrivate
IndustrySports technology and data
Founded30 April 1981 (1981-04-30)
Headquarters
London
,
United Kingdom
Key people
Carl Mergele (CEO)
OwnerVista Equity Partners
Websitehttps://www.statsperform.com/

The company is involved in sports data collection and predictive analysis for use across various sports sectors including professional team performance, digital, media, broadcast and betting. The company has also been increasingly involved in artificial intelligence and machine learning.[3] Its clients include media outlets, sports leagues and teams, fantasy sports and sports betting services. As of 2023, the company covers 500,000+ matches and 3900 competition annually from over 300 leagues and competitions.[4]

Stats Perform is headquartered in London with other office locations in Amsterdam, Chicago, Limerick, Aveiro, Buenos Aires, Castelfranco Veneto, Beijing, Bangalore, Chennai, Düsseldorf, Graz, Istanbul, Katowice, Kuala Lampur, Madrid, Nice, Paris, Prague, Sao Paulo, and Sydney. In addition to their offices, Stats Perform have full-time staff all over the globe operating in local markets including Cape Town, Dubai, Seoul, Tokyo, and more.[5]

History

STATS, Inc. was founded in April 1981[6] by John Dewan,[7] who became the company's CEO. The company name is an acronym for "Sports Team Analysis and Tracking Systems". STATS was an outgrowth of the grassroots non-profit Project Scoresheet, a volunteer network created to collect baseball statistics.[8]

Perform Group was originally formed in 2007 via the merger of Premium TV Limited and Inform Group. It was originally involved in content distribution, subscription, advertising and sponsorship, and technology and production.

In 2013, Perform Group acquired Opta Sports. Opta was founded in 1996 and remains part of Stats Perform.[9]

In 2019, Stats merged with Perform Content following its sale to parent company Vista Equity Partners.[10]

Vista Equity Partners ownership, merger with Perform Content

In June 2014, Fox Sports and the AP sold STATS LLC to Vista Equity Partners, a private equity firm.[11][12]

In early 2015, STATS acquired the wire services The Sports Network and Prozone. Vista Equity Partners also acquired Automated Insights, a company involved in using natural-language generation based on big data (including in particular, generating wire reports on sporting events from raw statistics).[13]

In April 2019, Vista Equity Partners announced its intent to acquire Perform Content, the former sports data subsidiary of Perform Group.[14] The company was selling the property to focus more on its sports streaming service DAZN. It was stated that DAZN Group would retain a "significant minority stake" in the surviving entity, which was to focus strongly on the use of artificial intelligence and machine learning.[15][16][17]

On 15 July 2019, it was announced that the merged company would be known as Stats Perform, and operate under STATS CEO Carl Mergele. He stated that the company would "[harness] the power of immense amounts of sports data with unparalleled AI technology".[18][19]

Partnerships with leagues and Federations

Over its history, Stats Perform has built several long-term partnerships with global sports leagues and federations to collect and commercialise sports data. These include Premier League, WTA, FIBA, La Liga and AELTC.[20][21][22]

As well as commercial services, Stats Perform also provides integrity services to major leagues to help in the prevention, detection and response to match manipulation.[23]

Services Offered

Stats Perform divides services into four sections. They are Media, Big Tech, Professional Teams and Betting Operators. The media section services the digital media market through the PressBox platform, a content creation tool, the tech section works with large technology companies to provide them with data feeds, metrics and live commentary. Betting companies also receive ultra-fast data services. Professional sports teams are assisted with detail in relation to player data for recruitment, contractual and opposition research.

Opta

Opta Index Limited was founded in 1996 to analyse 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.

The company was sold to Perform Group in 2013 for £40 million and remains part of Stats Perform.

Importance of Artificial Intelligence

When the merger of the two organisations was announced, CEO Carl Mergele pointed to the importance of AI technology in the future of sports and sports media. Since that point, the organisation has continued to invest in technologies, patents and models in the AI area. As a result, they've been able to deliver a series of products and services from player tracking and content creation to personalisation and predictive analytics.

References
  1. "STATS LLC: Private Company Information". Bloomberg.com. Retrieved 2018-09-23.
  2. McCaskill, Steve. "DAZN Focuses On Streaming As Perform And STATS Merge To Create Sports Data Giant". Forbes. Retrieved 2022-12-07.
  3. "The Evolution of STATS LLC And Its Place In The Sports Technology Landscape". SportTechie. Retrieved 2019-10-14.
  4. "With clients like the NBA and Google, STATS is the coolest data company you've never heard of". Built In Chicago. Retrieved 2015-07-16.
  5. "Contact". Stats Perform. Retrieved 2022-12-07.
  6. STATS website: Timeline
  7. ACTA Sports: The Bill James Handbook 2009
  8. Online, Safari Books. Keep Score, Project Scoresheet–Style.
  9. "Perform Group buys sports data company Opta". Reuters. 2013-07-03. Retrieved 2022-12-07.
  10. McCaskill, Steve. "DAZN Focuses On Streaming As Perform And STATS Merge To Create Sports Data Giant". Forbes. Retrieved 2022-12-07.
  11. Ecker, Danny (2014-05-15). "Stats LLC sold to private-equity firm". Crain's Chicago Business. Retrieved 2015-04-26.
  12. "FOX Sports and AP announce sale of sports data company STATS LLC". www.ap.org. Retrieved 2015-07-16.
  13. "Stats LLC Makes Athlete Performance Outfit Prozone Its Latest Acquisition". SportsBusiness Daily. American City Business Journals. Retrieved 2015-07-16.
  14. "DAZN nears entire data offload to Vista Equity". SBC News. 2019-04-03. Retrieved 2019-10-14.
  15. "DAZN Group to prioritise streaming business as Perform and STATS merge". SportsPro. Retrieved 2019-10-14.
  16. "Report: DAZN owner planning split to increase focus on OTT platform". SportsPro. Retrieved 2019-04-25.
  17. "DAZN Group sells Perform". Broadcast. Retrieved 2019-04-25.
  18. "STATS and Perform confirm merger". SportsPro Media. Retrieved 2019-10-14.
  19. "Stats, Perform Complete Merger, Creating New Data/AI Company". Sports Business Daily. 15 July 2019. Retrieved 16 July 2019.
  20. "WTA and Stats Perform agree six-year data deal - SportsPro Media". www.sportspromedia.com. Retrieved 2021-07-15.
  21. "WTA and Stats Perform serve up breakthrough partnership". Women's Tennis Association. Retrieved 2021-07-15.
  22. "FIBA announces long-term strategic partnership with Perform". FIBA.basketball. Retrieved 2021-07-15.
  23. "Stats Perform brings in-play integrity analysis to the fight against sports manipulation". SBC News. 2021-02-15. Retrieved 2021-07-15.
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