When Sports Betting Is Legal, the Value of Game Data Soars
This is not new. Sports betting has been legal in most parts of the World for some time. Football data in Europe is so expensive, very good businesses like Opta can make a very nice living from it. Go get a quote for them for Premier League games alone: thousands a year for only some of the data.<p>For years, people getting into sports analytics have done so via baseball (and the Sabremetrics community), and the NBA because the data has not been seen of commercial utility. It&#x27;s been collected by fans.<p>That will change dramatically, but it should be resisted. Leagues and players should embrace open data because it will in the long-term lead to analysis that helps them, but more importantly, fosters a deeper interest in their game and therefore makes their own careers more valuable.