Sports Reference

The company was founded in Philadelphia by Sean Forman in 2004 and incorporated as Sports Reference LLC in 2007.{{cite news |last1=Wagner |first1=James |title=From a Church in Philadelphia, Sports Reference Informs the World |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/13/sports/sean-forman-sports-reference.html |access-date=February 14, 2019 |work=The New York Times |date=February 13, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190214011608/https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/13/sports/sean-forman-sports-reference.html |archive-date=February 14, 2019 |url-status=live}}{{cite web|title=Company Overview of Sports Reference, LLC|url=http://investing.businessweek.com/research/stocks/private/snapshot.asp?privcapid=53311244|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151006233718/http://investing.businessweek.com/research/stocks/private/snapshot.asp?privcapid=53311244|archive-date=October 6, 2015|access-date=November 8, 2013|publisher=Bloomberg Businessweek}} The company operates databases of sports statistics for several sports. They include Pro Football Reference for American football, Baseball Reference for baseball, Basketball Reference for basketball, Hockey Reference for ice hockey, FBref for association football (soccer), and pages for college football and basketball. Sports Reference maintained a section on the Olympics from 2008 to 2020.{{cite web |title=Sports Reference Main Page |url=https://www.sports-reference.com/ |website= Sports Reference |access-date=April 2, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100201172906/http://www.sports-reference.com/ |archive-date=February 1, 2010 |url-status=live}} The sites attempt a comprehensive approach to sports data. For example, Baseball Reference contains more than 100,000 box scores while Pro Football Reference contains data on every scoring play in the National Football League (NFL) since {{nfly|1941}}. The college basketball section includes data on NCAA Division I men's basketball, with incomplete data going back as far as 1892—predating the first NCAA divisional split (1956) and the NCAA itself (1906). Division I women's basketball stats were added in 2023.{{cite web |url=https://www.sports-reference.com/blog/2024/02/sports-reference-expands-womens-college-basketball-data/ |title=Sports Reference Expands Women's College Basketball Data |first=Mike |last=Lynch |work=Sports Reference Blog |publisher=Sports Reference LLC |date=February 15, 2024 |access-date=February 18, 2024}} Sports Reference purchased the baseball trivia game Immaculate Grid on July 11, 2023, and integrated it with its sites.{{cite news |last1=Kepner |first1=Tyler |author1-link=Tyler Kepner |title=The Hottest Thing in Baseball Is a Grid of Nine Blank Squares |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2023/07/11/sports/baseball/immaculate-grid.html |url-access=subscription |access-date=30 August 2023 |work=The New York Times |date=11 July 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230828055257/https://www.nytimes.com/2023/07/11/sports/baseball/immaculate-grid.html |archive-date=28 August 2023 |url-status=live |language=en}}{{cite news |last1=Winkie |first1=Luke |title=The Trendy New Trivia Game That's Like Wordle for Straight Men |url=https://slate.com/human-interest/2023/10/immaculate-grid-nfl-mlb-sports-trivia-game.html |access-date=11 November 2023 |work=Slate |date=1 October 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231111114359/https://slate.com/human-interest/2023/10/immaculate-grid-nfl-mlb-sports-trivia-game.html |archive-date=11 November 2023 |url-status=live |language=en}}

File:SR-Olympics.png

Sports Reference added a site for Olympic Games statistics and history in July 2008,{{cite web |url=https://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/blog/?p=5 |title=Olympics at Sports Reference Launches |website= Sports Reference |date=July 9, 2008 |author=sean |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080726042758/http://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/blog/?p=5 |archive-date=July 26, 2008}}{{cite web |url=https://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/about/ |title=About This Site |website= Sports Reference |access-date=July 20, 2018 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080729035411/https://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/about/ |archive-date=July 29, 2008}} including statistics from the first Games to the most recent.

The company announced in December 2016 that the Olympics site was to shut down in the near future due to a change in its data licensing agreement.{{cite web |url=https://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/down.html |title=Site Closing |date=December 16, 2016 |website= Sports Reference |access-date=November 13, 2017 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161219000502/https://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/down.html |archive-date=December 19, 2016}} Data for the 2016 Summer Olympics were added,{{Cite web |title=2016 Rio de Janeiro Summer Games |url=https://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/summer/2016/ |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180720165957/https://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/summer/2016/ |archive-date=July 20, 2018 |access-date=July 20, 2018 |website=Sports Reference}} but the site was not updated for the 2018 Winter Olympics.{{cite web |url=https://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/winter/ |title=Winter Games Index |website= Sports Reference |access-date=July 20, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080707092830/http://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/winter/ |archive-date=July 7, 2008 |url-status=dead}} Sports Reference closed its Olympic site on May 14, 2020.{{cite web |title=Site is Closed |url=https://www.sports-reference.com/olympics.html |website= Sports Reference |access-date=May 15, 2020 |archive-date=October 3, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191003122720/https://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/athletes/br/cliff-bricker-1.html |url-status=live }}

The providers of the Olympic data, known as OlyMADmen, launched a new site called Olympedia in May 2020.{{cite news |last=Lohn |first=John |date=May 27, 2020 |title=Comprehensive Olympedia Database Available to Public; Loaded with Information |url=https://www.swimmingworldmagazine.com/news/comprehensive-olympedia-database-available-to-public-loaded-with-information/ |work=Swimming World |access-date=September 24, 2021 |quote=OlyMADmen, an international group of Olympics experts and historians, have made their exhaustive Olympics database available |archive-date=September 24, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210924201336/https://www.swimmingworldmagazine.com/news/comprehensive-olympedia-database-available-to-public-loaded-with-information/ |url-status=live }}{{cite news |last=Perelman |first=Rich |date=May 27, 2020 |title=LANE ONE: Staggering, brilliant, astonishing portal to Olympic history opens with debut of Olympedia.org |url=https://www.thesportsexaminer.com/lane-one-staggering-brilliant-astonishing-portal-to-olympic-history-opens-with-debut-of-olympedia-com/ |work=The Sports Examiner |access-date=September 26, 2021 |archive-date=September 26, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210926145622/https://www.thesportsexaminer.com/lane-one-staggering-brilliant-astonishing-portal-to-olympic-history-opens-with-debut-of-olympedia-com/ |url-status=live }}{{cite web |last=Mallon |first=Bill |date=May 27, 2020 |title=Olympedia now open to the public |url=https://olympstats.com/2020/05/27/olympedia-now-open-to-the-public/ |website=OlympStats.com |access-date=May 27, 2020 |quote=the result many years of work by a group of Olympic historians and statisticians called the OlyMADmen |archive-date=June 6, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200606103935/https://olympstats.com/2020/05/27/olympedia-now-open-to-the-public/ |url-status=live }}{{cite web |url=https://www.olympedia.org/static/about |title=About |website=Olympedia |quote=The group that has compiled the database refers to itself as MADmen — MAD being an acronym for several of the early members of the group, but also signifies their commitment to the project in another sense. |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200614210347/https://www.olympedia.org/static/about |archive-date=June 14, 2020}} According to Slate, editing of "Olympedia [was] restricted to about two dozen trusted academics and researchers who specialize in Olympic history."{{Cite web |last=Harrison |first=Stephen |date=July 26, 2021 |title=How to Use Wikipedia When You're Watching the Olympics |url=https://slate.com/technology/2021/07/tokyo-2020-olympic-games-wikipedia.html |work=Slate |access-date=July 29, 2021 |archive-date=July 26, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210726164036/https://slate.com/technology/2021/07/tokyo-2020-olympic-games-wikipedia.html |url-status=live }} The site is owned by the International Olympic Committee (IOC).{{Cite news |last=Bauernfeind |first=John |date=27 February 2017 |title=IOC looks to acquisition of Olympedia as step toward modernizing Olympic recordkeeping |url=https://www.sportsbusinessjournal.com/Journal/Issues/2017/02/27/Olympics/Olympedia.aspx |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230529021255/https://www.sportsbusinessjournal.com/Journal/Issues/2017/02/27/Olympics/Olympedia.aspx |archive-date=May 29, 2023 |access-date=29 May 2023 |work=Sports Business Journal |language=en}} On December 29, 2023, OlyMADmen member Bill Mallon announced that they would no longer be able to update Olympedia because the IOC declined to renew the contract necessary to permit them to do so.{{Cite tweet |number=1740775591106982323 |user=bambam1729 |title= In 2016 Olympedia was purchased by the IOC but we have had a contract with them to update it since that time. |first=Bill |last=Mallon |author-link=Bill Mallon |date=2023-12-29 |access-date=2024-04-04}}{{Cite tweet |number=1740775660107297146 |user=bambam1729 |title=As of 1 Jan 2024 our contract with the IOC is not being renewed. The OlyMADMen will no longer update Olympedia after today, 29 Dec.

|first=Bill |last=Mallon |author-link=Bill Mallon |date=2023-12-29 |access-date=2024-04-04}}

{{Reflist|colwidth=35em}}

• {{Official website}}
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Category:American sport websites

Category:Sports records and statistics

Category:Companies based in Philadelphia

Category:Privately held companies based in Pennsylvania

Category:American companies established in 2004

Category:2004 establishments in Pennsylvania

Category:Data companies