Despite the general supposition that one may make, the truth about data usage is that it’s a powerful tool for knowledge that can benefit more than just those who benefit from surveillance. Data usage in the context of understanding and transmitting information is an advantage for whoever wants to harness these huge data sets.
However, the effort of storing and managing all this data is Herculean. It’s something that only big tech companies can handle, hence the variety of situations in which the giants of the tech industry are stepping in whenever there is a need for data management of tremendously large volumes.
Sports have seen a tremendous influx of data-related opportunities that have revolutionised how we look at this field. From on-pitch performance to understanding trends, effects, and biases, data has been something akin to a profound inquiry into the nature of sports. Naturally, the rise of betting has been yet another crucial factor, which we will talk about.
In this article, we will synthesise the situation in the Premier League itself. Given that it’s one of the biggest sports leagues in the world, and the biggest when it comes to (association) football, data usage for various reasons has been at the top of priorities when it comes to corporate activities, league-wide deals, and individual performance factors.
We will showcase what the deals and collaborations are, how they’re particularly effective in the development of the overall Premier League product, and why they’re worth assessing.
Why sports data becomes important
Sports data has plenty of usage entries.
Would one be the sports performance factors? The rise of analytics and advanced metrics has given way to a method of calculating probabilities and assessing value despite limited production, which is a famous method of identifying rising stars among young players who may not have large production samples.
Another would be the context of sports betting. Be it in the Premier League’s domestic market, the UK, or in any other market that has legalised online gambling, online gambling on sports is generating tremendous amounts of revenue for bookmakers, sharp bettors, and even the League itself, together with its clubs.
For the betting market to provide a fair and satisfying product, it needs to operate with fair odds, especially if it provides betting opportunities during a match. Per the betbrain database collection of operators on the British market, most of them provide in-play betting chances for their users, and updated odds are a must.
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The fan experience is another element that makes quite a big level of use when it comes to data. Showcasing stats during a match beyond the usual criteria can be a fine addition. For example, presenting stats during the first 60 minutes of a match during the previous editions of a match-up can be a comparative method of bringing value to a broadcast.
The data deal with Genius
The first partnership that we need to discuss is with Genius. The Premier League, under the company Football DataCo (a partnership between the EPL and the EFL), firstly struck a partnership in 2019.
Genius received the opportunity to operate with the privileges of being the ‘exclusive official supplier’ of live match data for the Premier League. The company has recently renewed its partnership with the EPL in the summer of 2025, with the deal going all the way to 2029.
What they do in their position is to provide data with very low latency. What it does is that it distributes data from the stadium (when the events actually happen), modifying the counting stats. They do so by having tracking equipment within the stadium itself, tracking the data entries themselves.
As the company developed its model, it has managed to integrate both team and individual player trackers, which transmit data to gambling operators, for example. As such, there is a direct link between those who leverage the data for their products and the collection and distribution of data from Genius.
AI usage and the Microsoft partnership
Prior to striking a partnership with Microsoft in 2025, Oracle used to be the official partner of the Premier League when it came to the use of cloud. By that point, LLM-style models were not all the rage, which meant that cloud-related services were something a bit more in fashion.
This prior partnership lead to the EPL migrating its analytical process and archive of databases to the Oracle cloud service, which is a partnership that has lasted until July 2025, when Microsoft scooped in and got the contract.
The immediate move was to migrate the digital infrastructure, which included the archive and analytics, from Oracle to the Microsoft Azure system. However, the big twist was the fact that cloud services were not the only type of ‘tool’ that the Premier League had access to.
Enter Copilot, the flagship AI model solution from Microsoft. Like many of its artificial intelligence rivals, the usage of AI is all about using it as an assistant that takes all the archived data and makes use of it in order to draw the historical parallels that we’ve mentioned previously.
With a database of hundreds of thousands of articles, thousands of videos, and numerous methods of quickly identifying data points from this database via the usage of AI, Microsoft uses its services to assist broadcasting, providing a better fan experience.
Opta’s data media rights
For those who are not very well in tune with this particular world of tech, Opta is the subdivision is Stats Perform, which leverages data in a way that sifts through sports performance metrics in order to provide a better, more detailed account of what is going on the pitch, or what one might expect from a match.
Stats Perform’s partnership with the Premier League, renewed in 2023, is also done via the Football DataCo enterprise. It’s quite important to note that the usage of Opta’s branding is to use data within a media context, bringing more visibility to advanced data usage.
For example, one of the biggest developments brought to the table by Opta is the Insight Data element starting in 2025, which brings a better understanding of the game by directly plugging stats that provide a more insightful look.
The best way in which we can explain Opta’s involvement with the media is the fact that they provide data feeds to those who broadcast. For example, digital media platforms, in addition to the flagship broadcasters of the EPL, not to mention factors like official tracking apps, can benefit from direct feeds that showcase the counting stats, regular or advanced.
When there are advanced metrics, such as momentum, tilt, or quality of opportunities, the usage of AI, especially with creative graphics that can translate the importance of these data feeds!
Conclusion
To conclude, there are plenty of usage elements, and the usage of large data sets and feeds requires and benefits from multiple partnerships with high-profile companies. As such, it’s important to note the upside that they bring to the Premier League!
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