#7. Opta Sports - Andrew Cox - From collection to monetization, one of the first data business story in the sport industry

Opta Sports is one of the most famous sports data and analytics companies in the world! Founded in 1996, the company was acquired by Perform Group in 2013 and more recently by Vista Equity Partners in 2019.

Opta initially started collecting data and producing sports content as part of Sky Sports. A decade later, as an independently owned business, the company launched its pioneering real-time data collection processes that would go on to revolutionise data use across football. Today, as part of Stats Perform, Opta data is relied upon by some of the largest sports organisations and federations in the world.

As you will have understood, this new episode is dedicated to sports data, its growing importance and impact on the evolution and business of sport. And we had a very special guest to talk about it!

Former Chief Strategy Officer at Stats Perform and Managing Director of Opta - and now advisor at LaSource - Andrew Cox was invited to tell us about his 20 years of working in the world of sports data.

Timeline:

- Andrew Cox's personal and professional background
- Creation of Opta Sports back in 1996
- Early days of sports data when it was a blank sheet of paper
- The infrastructure to gather the content and to process the data
- The first client for sport data: the media? the clubs for performance? Betting companies?
- A look back to 20 years spent within the data industry
- The ingredients of the Opta success
- More data, we are only just at the end of the beginning!
- What is going to be key in the sports industry in the next 5 years?
- The world of startups, VCS and leading sports organisations

Episode:

Spotify: https://lnkd.in/dqxwhRB

Apple: https://lnkd.in/dH7ehym

Deezer: https://lnkd.in/dzUn-m3