Prospect originated over many late-night takeaways in 2017, while our co-founders were undertaking analytical projects for Eddie Jones, the former head coach of the England men’s rugby union team.

James was a data journalist at The Economist, and Gordon was working in corporate finance at Oakwell Sports Advisory. They had both identified the need for advanced analytics in sport on both the performance side and the commercial side – and soon realised the two complemented each other.

James and Gordon started to build machine learning models that could identify the best players, measure the quality of matches, and predict the outcome of tournaments, on the basis that performance clients could use these insights to make their teams more successful. But the models were also commercially valuable, since they could quantify the things that fans care about too: star talent, exciting fixtures, and competitive title races.

All of these are key factors when it comes to predicting viewership, attendances, and general interest in sports, which ultimately drive revenue.

Their journey accelerated after the 2019 Rugby World Cup, when they helped England get to the final. Steve Borthwick asked the duo to help turn around Leicester Tigers, who had just finished second-last in the Premiership.

They quickly realised there was a greater opportunity in rugby around data and innovation. In order to move fast enough, James and Gordon needed a partner in the rugby space who understood technology and collection – and so collaborated with Ellipse Data to form Oval.

Leicester went on to become Premiership champions in 2022, winning a record number of games; Oval has grown at a significant pace and is now the official data provider for Premiership Rugby, United Rugby Championship and EPCR, among others.

Find out more about Oval.

Prospect has continued to grow successfully into other sports, including cricket, football, tennis and Olympic sports. In cricket, we have provided player analytics and auction support to Gujarat Titans since their inaugural IPL season – they ended 2022 as champions and finished top in the regular season in 2023. We have also expanded into the women’s game, helping the England national team in the 2023 Ashes. In football, we have worked with private equity firms looking to invest in leagues, as well as supporting potential owners on acquisitions of Premier League football clubs. We have now been engaged by rights holders, investors, and broadcasters on a variety of projects, including competition format analysis, rights valuation and sales, and strategic consulting and advisory.

There are plenty more sports to go after and lots of opportunities just around the corner. We are proud of our journey to date and the team we have built, but we are even more excited about what is to come.