CME Group, a derivatives marketplace, and FutureSports, an independent index administrator transforming professional and college sports statistics into benchmark financial indexes, recently announced a long-term partnership.
Under the terms of the partnership, CME Group will list futures and options on FutureSports Performance Indexes (FSPI). FutureSports will administer the indexes. The contracts will provide institutions and individuals with a variety of new trading opportunities and the sports ecosystem with new hedging and risk transfer capabilities.
“We’re seeing incredible demand for these unique new contracts as hedging instruments from a broad range of potential participants, from stadium owners and operators, to sports sponsors and endorsers, insurers, sports apparel manufacturers and league broadcasting partners, among others,” Leigh Taylforth, FutureSports co-founder, said. “The ideal trading venue for these first-of-their-kind instruments in a $650 billion global industry is CME Group, where there is already a vast community of institutional market participants and liquidity providers eager to trade innovative futures contracts.”
Pending regulatory review, the first monthly and quarterly cash-settled FSPI futures will begin trading this summer. FutureSports also will be announcing a series of exclusive partnerships with global professional sporting leagues. Team and athlete statistics will be turned into broad-based, continuously priced benchmark indexes.