Everything in sport can be measured. From expected goals to line-breaking passes, patterns of play to ground duels, Opta has it covered.
Armed with this arsenal of information, coaches, captains, and pundits are strategising and talking about the game. It influences fantasy football hopefuls. Punters at the pub and youth coaches are now talking about errors leading to goals.
“We’re even influencing results,” says Graham Bell, as he cartwheels into our conversation with more energy than a border collie chasing a frisbee. Not even the screen between us can prevent his enthusiasm from seeping through.
Opta Analyst’s Senior Multimedia Producer has been at the core of data’s precipitous rise in sport. Perhaps the clearest indication of this trend has been Opta’s pilgrimage from a single office in Shepperton to a block in central London.
Opta are changing narratives in sport
“The other year, we published our whole piece about time-wasting, looking at an average of 90 minutes in a Premier League game and seeing how much time was being lost to the ball being out of play. We found that clubs played only 57 minutes of actual ball-in-play time across 90 minutes.”
Following this revelation, FIFA took action to thwart time-wasting. During the Qatar 2022 World Cup, referees added significantly more time at the end of matches. The first five games of the competition had 85 minutes added on between them, while England’s clash with Iran lasted 117 minutes and 16 seconds.
“Was that directly due to us? I’m not going to say 100%, but it’s definitely had an influence, because that information that otherwise wouldn’t be available is now there in the public domain.
“There were more late goals during that period. Were we increasing heartache for some clubs? Would there have been certain teams with more points? Would Arsenal have won the Premier League? We don’t know, but those sorts of conundrums then get thrown up.”
Bell’s beaming smile and frequent chuckles project an air of bewilderment at how such a small team in a pocket of London can be influencing the most powerful sporting bodies in the world.
The truth is, they are.
Sports fans are thirsty for more data
Given that Opta have such a sway on how the game is played, it is unsurprising that there is a thirst for statistics among fans. Today, society wants everything at their fingertips with the press of a button. Fans can digest information however they see fit, and Opta are supplying it.
“We’re seeing a shift in how people watch sport. It’s no longer about entertainment. Fans want to know more than ever about their favourite players, teams, competitions, sports that they’re watching, because the more they know, the more likely they are to engage in the sport further.
“You’re seeing a younger generation who are watching, and some of them are being priced out of going to games. As a result, they are sat away from the game and digesting it more in that tactical data sense, with the second screen experience, whether they’re watching those games, through whatever means, but also you’re seeing that increase in fandom.”
Sure enough, that fandom is evident across social media, with fan accounts swamping my social media feeds on a daily basis with hot takes, analysis, and data. My friends who hated sport now have fantasy football teams, and they’re beating me.
He added: “They’re proudly beating their club’s chest every day, and they need more information to be able to impart. ‘Well, I know slightly more than you. I know slightly better than you’.”
Broadcasters and pundits are embracing change
Opta has been the central hub for sports data since its inception in 1996. Their initial role was to analyse Premier League matches for Sky Sports. It then became the official statistics provider for the league and was sold to the Perform Group for £40 million in 2013.
In 2021, Opta Analyst was born. “When we started, there were plans that we might drop an article a week, but very quickly we realised there was an appetite for this content.”
“We always knew there was an ability to tell deeper stories.” The company’s product now encompasses a variety of in-depth statistics, but the art is in simplifying them to tell stories for a wider audience. Their four nominations at the SJA British Sports Journalism Awards prove they are doing this to critical acclaim.
Opta’s grip on the game means that they are controlling the industry. They work closely with the big hitters, BBC Sport and Sky Sports, and have the respect of pundits who utilise their data successfully.
Bell continued: “You look at a production like Monday Night Football. It comes through a lot of hard work in our business, also a lot of hard work from pundits who want to separate themselves from the pack and do these wonderful insights.
“The modern-day pundit, across the board, is receptive to data. They’re always willing to listen. They’re always willing to debate. They’re always willing to see if they can tell a story from a different point of view. That’s all to the wonderful benefit of viewers.”
The future of data in sport
Bell pinpoints how rugby union is embracing data. On screen, fans are fed data-driven graphic insights during live broadcasts, with win predictors, player ratings, and ball tracking a regular feature of the viewing experience.
While he does not expect football to copy rugby, he believes there will be a considerable shift in viewing options. “I see a few little evolutions happening pretty quickly,” Bell continued, shifting to a serious tone. “I think in the next 10 years, we’re going to see the ability for people to choose how they watch sport even more. And by that, I mean what statistics, what data they want up on their screen alongside them.”
“There are those people, when they tune into their game on Sky Sports, they might want that really in-depth data feed. I think you can get to a point in five to 10 years’ time, and I don’t think it’s even that far away, where you’ll go onto your phone, and you’ll type in ‘show me the highlights from Sunderland’s game this weekend’. And literally, within a minute, you’ll have the 90 minutes condensed down into five minutes.
“I think we’re scratching the surface of where data journalism can go.”
In just under 20 years, we have gone from goals scored to power rankings. During our 40-minute interview, Bell went from nonchalant to steadfast. It is impossible to predict what niche data fanatics will be pondering over in the pub in years to come. However, one unequivocal thing is that Opta will be supplying them.
Feature photo credit: Graham Bell
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