Stats Perform
{{Short description|British sports technology and data company}}{{Advert|date=February 2025}}{{Infobox company
| name = Stats Perform
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File:New Stats Perform Logo 2021.png
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| type = Private
| founded = {{start date|1981|04|30|df=y}}
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| hq_location_city = London
| hq_location_country = United Kingdom
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| key_people = Carl Mergele (CEO)
| industry = Sports technology and data
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| owner = Vista Equity Partners
| website = {{URL|https://www.statsperform.com/}}
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Stats Perform (formerly STATS, LLC and STATS, Inc.) is a sports AI company formed through the combination of Stats and Perform.{{Cite web |last=McCaskill |first=Steve |title=DAZN Focuses On Streaming As Perform And STATS Merge To Create Sports Data Giant |url=https://www.forbes.com/sites/stevemccaskill/2019/04/15/dazn-focuses-on-streaming-as-perform-and-stats-merge-to-create-sports-data-giant/ |access-date=2024-04-24 |website=Forbes |language=en}}
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 began investing in AI in 2015. It has nearly 400* patents for sports AI, 140+ AI models and 8 foundational Generative AI models which power advanced analysis for its clients.{{Cite web |date=2015-04-16 |title=The Evolution of STATS LLC And Its Place In The Sports Technology Landscape |url=https://www.sportsbusinessjournal.com/Daily/Issues/2015/04/16/Technology/the-evolution-of-stats-llc-and-its-place-in-the-sports-technology-landscape.aspx |access-date=2024-04-24 |website=www.sportsbusinessjournal.com |language=en}}
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 3,900 competitions annually and produces an infinite number of datapoints per game.
Stats Perform is headquartered in London, with other office locations including Limerick, Aveiro, Castelfranco Veneto, Beijing, Bangalore, Chennai, Graz, Katowice, Madrid, Nice, Paris and Prague. Until STATS, LLC's merger with Perform in 2019, its headquarters were in Chicago, Illinois. Due to COVID-19, all Chicago based employees moved to a remote work environment, and in 2023, the Chicago office officially closed.
In addition to their offices, Stats Perform have full-time staff all over the globe operating in local markets including the United States, Sydney, Cape Town, Buenos Aires, Singapore, Thailand, Dubai, and Tokyo.
History
STATS, Inc. was founded in April 1981{{Cite web |url=http://biz.stats.com/timeline.asp |title=STATS website: Timeline |access-date=2009-09-21 |archive-date=2009-11-04 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091104065434/http://biz.stats.com/timeline.asp |url-status=dead }} by John Dewan,{{Cite web |url=http://www.actasports.com/detail.html?id=9780879463670 |title=ACTA Sports: The Bill James Handbook 2009 |access-date=2009-09-21 |archive-date=2010-03-16 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100316224559/http://www.actasports.com/detail.html?id=9780879463670 |url-status=dead }} 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.{{Cite book|title = Keep Score, Project Scoresheet–Style|url = https://www.safaribooksonline.com/library/view/baseball-hacks/0596009429/ch01s04.html|first = Safari Books|last = Online}}
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.{{Cite web |last=Hurrell |first=Will |title=Inform/Premium merger |url=https://www.broadcastnow.co.uk/inform/premium-merger/121451.article |date=2007-09-06 |access-date=2024-04-24 |website=Broadcast |language=en}}
In 2013, Perform Group acquired Opta Sports. Opta was founded in 1996 and remains part of Stats Perform.{{Cite news |date=2013-07-03 |title=Perform Group buys sports data company Opta |language=en |work=Reuters |url=https://www.reuters.com/article/perform-opta-idUSL5N0F90L520130703 |access-date=2022-12-07}}
In 2019, Stats merged with Perform Content following its sale to parent company Vista Equity Partners.{{Cite web |last=McCaskill |first=Steve |title=DAZN Focuses On Streaming As Perform And STATS Merge To Create Sports Data Giant |url=https://www.forbes.com/sites/stevemccaskill/2019/04/15/dazn-focuses-on-streaming-as-perform-and-stats-merge-to-create-sports-data-giant/ |access-date=2022-12-07 |website=Forbes |language=en}}
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.{{Cite web| last = Ecker| first = Danny| title = Stats LLC sold to private-equity firm| work = Crain's Chicago Business| access-date = 2015-04-26| date = 2014-05-15| url = http://www.chicagobusiness.com/article/20140515/BLOGS04/140519841/stats-llc-sold-to-private-equity-firm}}{{Cite web|title = FOX Sports and AP announce sale of sports data company STATS LLC|url = http://www.ap.org/Content/Press-Release/2014/FOX-Sports-and-The-Associated-Press-Announce-Sale-of-Sports-Data-Company-STATS-LLC|website = www.ap.org|access-date = 2015-07-16}}
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).{{Cite web|title = Stats LLC Makes Athlete Performance Outfit Prozone Its Latest Acquisition|work= SportsBusiness Daily|date= 5 May 2015|publisher=American City Business Journals |url = http://www.sportsbusinessdaily.com/Daily/Issues/2015/05/05/Finance/Stats.aspx|access-date = 2015-07-16}}
In April 2019, Vista Equity Partners announced its intent to acquire Perform Content, the former sports data subsidiary of Perform Group.{{Cite web|url=https://sbcnews.co.uk/europe/2019/04/03/dazn-nears-entire-data-offload-to-vista-equity/|title=DAZN nears entire data offload to Vista Equity|date=2019-04-03|website=SBC News|language=en-US|access-date=2019-10-14}} 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.{{Cite web|url=http://www.sportspromedia.com/news/dazn-perform-stats-merge-streaming-business-vista-acquisition|title=DAZN Group to prioritise streaming business as Perform and STATS merge|website=SportsPro |date=15 April 2019 |access-date=2019-10-14}}{{Cite web|url=http://www.sportspromedia.com/news/dazn-len-blavatnik-perform-content|title=Report: DAZN owner planning split to increase focus on OTT platform|website=SportsPro|date=17 October 2018 |access-date=2019-04-25}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.broadcastnow.co.uk/broadcasting/dazn-group-sells-perform/5138568.article|title=DAZN Group sells Perform|website=Broadcast|language=en|access-date=2019-04-25}}
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".{{Cite web|url=http://www.sportspromedia.com/news/stats-perform-merger-vista-dazn-artificial-intelligence-data|title=STATS and Perform confirm merger|website=SportsPro Media|date=25 July 2019 |access-date=2019-10-14}}{{cite web|url=https://www.sportsbusinessdaily.com/Daily/Morning-Buzz/2019/07/15/Stats.aspx|title=Stats, Perform Complete Merger, Creating New Data/AI Company|date=15 July 2019|publisher=Sports Business Daily|access-date=16 July 2019}}
In October 2020 Stats Perform experienced a three week outage affecting key customers, including Yahoo! Sports. Yahoo! Sports apologized for this outage "While we have never experienced an outage like this in our 20-year-plus history, you deserve better and we expect better of ourselves."{{Cite web |date=2020-10-30 |title=Stats outage resolved |url=https://sports.yahoo.com/stats-outage-resolved-210159060.html |access-date=2020-10-30 |website=Yahoo! Sports |language=en-GB}}
In December 2020 Stats Perform acquired Thuuz Sports’ AI-powered fan engagement tools.{{Cite web |last=Long |first=Michael |date=2020-12-02 |title=Stats Perform acquires Thuuz Sports' AI-powered fan engagement tools |url=https://www.sportspromedia.com/news/stats-perform-thuuz-sports-automated-fan-engagement-technology/ |access-date=2024-04-24 |website=SportsPro |language=en-GB}}
In July 2021 Stats Perform acquired 13strides, a visual content studio for sport.{{Cite web |last=Salmon |first=Kaleah |date=2021-07-31 |title=Stats Perform Acquires 13 Strides |url=https://ministryofsport.com/stats-perform-acquires-13-strides/ |access-date=2024-04-24 |website=Ministry of Sport |language=en-US}}
In March 2023 Stats Perform is sued for allegedly stealing exclusive soccer data. Rival IMG argues that Stats Perform uses “spies” at games of the English Premier League (EPL) and other European leagues to collect data for which IMG has exclusive rights. {{Cite web |last=Gibbs |first=Erik |date=2023-03-30 |title=Stats Perform Faces Lawsuit for Allegedly Poaching Exclusive Soccer Data |url=https://www.casino.org/news/stats-perform-facing-lawsuit-for-allegedly-poaching-rivals-exclusive-soccer-data/ |access-date=2023-03-30 |website=Casino.org |language=en-US}}
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, streaming and AI capabilities. These include Premier League, WTA, FIBA, La Liga and Serie A.{{Cite web|title=WTA and Stats Perform agree six-year data deal - SportsPro Media|url=https://www.sportspromedia.com/news/wta-tennis-stats-perform-data-betting-feeds-streaming-deal|access-date=2021-07-15|website=www.sportspromedia.com|date=27 November 2020 }}{{Cite web|title=WTA and Stats Perform serve up breakthrough partnership|url=https://www.wtatennis.com/news/1906120/wta-and-stats-perform-serve-up-breakthrough-partnership|access-date=2021-07-15|website=Women's Tennis Association|language=en}}{{Cite web|title=FIBA announces long-term strategic partnership with Perform|url=http://www.fiba.basketball/news/fiba-announces-long-term-strategic-partnership-with-perform|access-date=2021-07-15|website=FIBA.basketball|date=5 February 2016 |language=en}}{{Cite web |last=Jones |first=Rory |date=2022-08-17 |title=LaLiga signs five-year Stats Perform data and betting streaming deal |url=https://www.sportspromedia.com/news/laliga-stats-perform-streaming-data-partnership/ |access-date=2024-04-24 |website=SportsPro |language=en-GB}}
However, in October 2024 Stats Perform abruptly moved to withdraw from its agreement for betting rights to Italy’s Serie A, shocking staff on both sides of the deal. This after the two parties spent months going back and forward on contractual points. {{Cite web |last=Ross |first=Martin |date=2024-10-31 |title=EXCLUSIVE: Stats Perform seeks abrupt end to Serie A deal |url=https://www.sportbusiness.com/news/exclusive-stats-perform-seeks-abrupt-end-to-serie-a-deal/ |access-date=2024-10-31 |website=SportBusiness |language=en-US}}
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.{{Cite web|date=2021-02-15|title=Stats Perform brings in-play integrity analysis to the fight against sports manipulation|url=http://sbcnews.co.uk/sportsbook/2021/02/15/stats-perform-brings-in-play-integrity-analysis-to-the-fight-against-sports-manipulation/|access-date=2021-07-15|website=SBC News|language=en-US}}
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. Today the Opta brand, its stats and Opta AI predictions are seen in sports media all over the world.{{Cite web |date=2024-04-08 |title=El superordenador de Opta dicta sentencia para los cuartos de Champions: el City, el más favorito |url=https://www.marca.com/futbol/champions-league/2024/04/08/66142a3f46163f75838b4597.html |access-date=2024-04-24 |website=MARCA |language=es}}{{Cite web |last=Church |first=Ben |date=2024-04-05 |title=A supercomputer is tracking one of most exciting soccer title races for years. It keeps coming up with different predictions |url=https://www.cnn.com/2024/04/05/sport/opta-supercomputer-premier-league-arsenal-liverpool-manchester-city-spt-intl/index.html |access-date=2024-04-24 |website=CNN |language=en}}{{Cite news |title=Who will win the World Cup? The computer says... |url=https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/63489985 |access-date=2024-04-24 |work=BBC Sport |language=en-GB}}{{Cite web |last=Arts |first=Electronic |date=2023-07-13 |title=EA SPORTS FC™ 24 Gameplay - Official Site |url=https://www.ea.com/games/ea-sports-fc/fc-24/gameplay |access-date=2024-04-24 |website=Electronic Arts Inc. |language=en}}
References
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