One of the most accomplished analytics groups in sports isn’t actually in sports. At least not in the usual way.
Just three years after co-founder Doug Fearing left the Los Angeles Dodgers’ research and development department, one of the largest any club has assembled, the group of R&D experts Fearing has amassed at Zelus Analytics already rivals it in size. If Zelus doesn’t have the largest headcount yet, at 26, it may soon.
“I should preface that I have heard rumors about soccer teams in China with 100 people,” said Luke Bornn, a co-founder of Zelus. “But I have yet to have such rumors validated.”
Based in Austin, Texas, and backed by RedBird Capital, the company is already different from typical R&D groups in at least one way: its independence.
