By Paul Nicholson
September 5 – Sports data gathering giant STATS has acquired Bloomberg Sports, the sports data and analytics leaders in the US sports market. The merger creates a powerful data, technology, analytics and content group serving a broadbase of clients from media to leagues and teams globally.
STATS is a specialist in delivering real-time scores, historical sports information. It also distributes licensed content from the Associated Press and has a turnkey fantasy sports operation.
Bloomberg Sports (BSports), only launched in 2010, has a data analytics system built on the technology developed by business news provider Bloomberg. It rapidly built itself a market leading position in the analysis of the mass of data provided in sports. Its analysis is used by teams and media.
BSports stand-out success has been in Major League Baseball where just every team now uses the (frighteningly accurate) BSports Pro2 integrated data system that predicts the outcomes of events and player match-ups.
In football, STATS has long been a supplier of live data feeds and analysis. BSports only recently entered the football market but has made inroads in a crowded marletplace with its consumer tool for European football called Match Analysis, a predictive and analytic tool forecasting game results and scores to help bettors “beat the bookie”.
No price has been released for the acquisition. Bloomberg Sports will keep its name for the forseeable future.
BSports President Bill Squadron will remain with the company and will report to STATS CEO Gary Walrath. The BSports division will continue to use the underlying Bloomberg Sports technology.
“When we started Bloomberg Sports, our goal was for it to become the industry-leading provider of creative, premium data analytics services to sports professionals and fans, which is exactly what’s happened,” said Squadron.
“We are proud of what we have built and are delighted to see it take the next logical step, which is combining forces with the industry’s leading data company.”
The acquisition creates some significant opportunity for the BSports business in football in particular.
“Our mission is to revolutionise the way sports are viewed, understood, played, and enjoyed. The addition of BSports’ very talented team and compelling portfolio of products significantly bolsters our global strategy,” said Walrath.
STATS is owned by Vista Equity Partners, a U.S.-based private equity firm specialising in investing in technology-based companies and with with approximately $13 billion in cumulative capital commitments. The BSports acquisition is the first by STATS since it came under Vista Equity ownership in June.
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