CME Group has entered a long-term partnership with FutureSports to launch what the companies describe as the world's first futures contracts based on sports indexes. Under the agreement, the Chicago-based exchange operator will list futures and options on FutureSports Performance Indexes.

The cash-settled contracts will be derived from officially reported, league-approved statistical outcomes combined with FutureSports' proprietary index methodology. CME Group, which operates one of the world's largest derivatives marketplaces and already lists benchmark futures across interest rates, equity indexes, commodities, and foreign exchange, said the first monthly and quarterly futures are scheduled to begin trading this summer, pending regulatory review. As a US-based designated contract market, CME's futures products fall under the oversight of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission.

The new instruments are designed to provide hedging and risk transfer tools for participants across the sports ecosystem, while also creating fresh trading opportunities for both institutional and individual investors. The launch arrives amid a broader trend of financialization in sports, as prediction markets, daily fantasy platforms, and the post-2018 expansion of legal sports betting across US states have drawn growing interest in treating athletic outcomes as tradeable instruments.

"CME Group is where the world comes to manage risk, and that's exactly what we're bringing to the business of sports leagues," said CME Group Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Terry Duffy. "This isn't just a new product – it's about bringing real price discovery and risk management discipline to an industry that's ready for it."

FutureSports Co-Founder Leigh Taylforth said the company is seeing strong demand for the contracts as hedging instruments from a broad range of participants, including stadium operators, sports sponsors, insurers, apparel manufacturers, and broadcasters. Taylforth described CME Group as the ideal venue for instruments tied to a global sports industry valued at approximately $650 billion.

The indexes themselves are administered by FutureSports, with methodologies designed to align with the principles for financial benchmarks established by the International Organization of Securities Commissions (IOSCO). Those principles, reinforced in the wake of the LIBOR manipulation scandal, are widely regarded as the global standard for benchmark integrity and transparency. The leagues involved serve as official data sources but do not participate in index determination or governance.

Bob Fitzimmons, executive vice president at Wedbush Securities, said the indexes open the business of global sports to capital markets, effectively turning it into a tradable financial asset class.

Source: LeapRate