Common Questions

LeagueShares, LLC is an exchange-traded fund issuer, formed to build ETFs tied to how professional sports teams perform over a season. It announced its formation on 26 August 2026 and is based in Burlington, Vermont.

LeagueShares filed its first two registration statements with the SEC on 25 August 2026. Neither has been declared effective, so no LeagueShares fund exists to buy today and no securities are being offered.

The LeagueShares filings describe actively managed ETFs. Each fund would seek returns tied to one professional sports team's CME FutureSports Performance Index, or FSPI, mainly through futures contracts on that index and other derivatives. For example, each fund in the first filings is tied to the index of one NHL club.

The filings also say a fund would not try to match its index. How much exposure it held would be up to the adviser, and it could be less than the target.

The registration statements on SEC EDGAR are the full description, and no registration statement has been declared effective. Nothing on this page replaces the filings.

No. A LeagueShares team ETF would not be an investment in the team, its league, or FutureSports. Owning shares would give you no equity in the club, no share of team revenue or media rights, no tickets, and no rights to team marks.

If something happened that hurt an index or a fund, a shareholder would have no claim against the team, the league, or the index company.

These funds are not yet effective and are not being offered.

No. LeagueShares team ETFs cannot be bought today. The registration statements are on file with the SEC and none has been declared effective, so no securities may be sold and offers to buy may not be accepted.

Nothing on the LeagueShares website is an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to buy any security. Any future offering would be made only by means of a prospectus.

There is no assurance that any LeagueShares fund becomes effective, lists on an exchange, or launches. No listing exchange, management fee, or portfolio manager is named in the public filings.

LeagueShares Advisors, LLC is the investment adviser named in the LeagueShares filings. It is registered as a commodity pool operator and a commodity trading advisor.

Portfolio manager names are still blank in the public filings.

The trust named on the filing cover is Hillman Capital Management Investment Trust, Three Main Street, Suite 215, Burlington, Vermont.

A CME FutureSports Performance Index, or FSPI, is a score that tracks how one professional sports team plays over a season. FutureSports runs the indexes and uses the league's official statistics as the input.

There is one index for each team in a league that FutureSports covers. For example, the NHL series has 32 indexes, one per club, such as NHLBOS for the Boston Bruins, NHLNYR for the New York Rangers, and NHLTOR for the Toronto Maple Leafs.

An FSPI index is a reference number. You cannot buy an index itself.

A CME FSPI team index starts each season at a fixed base level and moves in real time as games are played. FutureSports applies a published scoring table to the league's official statistics, so good plays add points and bad plays subtract them, with each statistic worth a different amount. The scoring table is written for each sport.

For example, every NHL team index starts the season at 7,500. Under the August 2026 NHL methodology, an even-strength goal is +12, an even-strength goal allowed is -12, a shot on goal is +1.5, a save is +0.75, a takeaway is +2.5, and a giveaway is -0.8. Shutouts, monthly and season leaders, and a championship also add points. A seasonal adjustment factor applies in the playoffs.

Wins and losses are only two items in a long list. No single game, statistic, or milestone ends an index.

Yes. A CME FSPI team index returns to its base level after each season ends. The reset gives each season the same starting line and keeps levels from drifting up or down forever. For example, every NHL team index returns to 7,500 about 32 days after the last game of the Stanley Cup Final.

Across a reset, prices reflect contracts on two different seasons, so a change in a published index from one season to the next is not a return anyone earned. There is no floor either, and an index can go negative during a season.

CME FSPI futures are cash-settled futures contracts on FutureSports team performance indexes, listed by CME Group. Nothing is delivered when they settle.

The first contracts CME Group has announced cover all 32 NHL team indexes. The target first trading day is Monday, 28 September 2026, one day before the 2026-27 NHL season opens. The listing is still under CFTC review.

CME says the contracts let market participants hedge or take a view on team performance on a regulated exchange, with central clearing and public prices. They do not deliver tickets, merchandise, or any stake in a club.

These are CME Group's contracts, not LeagueShares products, and they are a separate thing from any LeagueShares fund.

CME Group sets the contract specs for each sport and publishes them on its sports index futures page. The NHL contracts, still marked pending regulatory review, are the example below.

Standard NHL contracts: 32 of them, at $10 per index point. The smallest move is 1 point, worth $10. Notional value is about $75,000 at an index level of 7,500. Listed monthly and annually, cash settled.

Micro NHL contracts: 32 of them, at $0.10 per index point. The smallest move is 1 point, worth $0.10. Notional value is about $750 at 7,500. Listed weekly, monthly and annually, cash settled.

Trading ends at 9:00 a.m. Central on the first trading day of the next month. Final settlement publishes the following day, which leaves room for the league to correct statistics.

The LeagueShares filings describe two families, and the leveraged family carries far more risk. Neither is effective and neither is being offered.

The 1x LeagueShares team ETFs would not plan to hold more exposure than the fund's assets, and on some days could hold less.

The leveraged LeagueShares team ETFs would aim for up to 2 times an index's move for a single day, before fees, and would reset daily. Over any period longer than one day the result would very likely differ from 2 times the index, and it could go in the opposite direction.

The filings are blunt about the leveraged funds. They would be short-term trading tools meant to be checked daily, and they would not be suitable for all investors. An investor could lose the entire investment in a single day. Held longer than one day, a leveraged fund can lose money when the index is flat, and it can lose money even when the index rises.

No. The LeagueShares filings describe actively managed funds that would not try to copy an index, so results would not match an index one for one.

Results would reflect fees, the cost of rolling futures including around the seasonal reset, how much exposure the adviser chose to hold, interest earned on collateral, and, for the leveraged funds, daily compounding.

Professional sports games run at night, on weekends and on holidays when the U.S. stock market is closed. An index can move while shares are not trading, so the next open can gap.

Concentration is the first risk. A LeagueShares team ETF's value would depend on one team's statistical output, and injuries, trades, a coaching change, a lockout, a rule change or cancelled games can move an index fast and by a lot.

The underlying futures have never traded. Nobody knows yet how liquid they will be, how wide the spreads will run, or what margin and position limits will look like. A fund might not be able to get the exposure it wants, and shares can trade above or below net asset value. The leveraged funds add daily compounding and can lose all of their value in a single day.

The rules for sports-linked futures are still being written. The filings discuss CFTC Regulation 40.11, proposed event-contract rules, and the chance that listing, trading, or a fund's strategy could be restricted.

Investing involves risk, including possible loss of principal. No LeagueShares registration statement has been declared effective. Read the registration statements on SEC EDGAR, and the prospectus if and when one is available.

Four parties hold four different roles in the sports performance index market.

The league supplies official statistics. It does not build, calculate or govern the indexes. For example, the NHL supplies official live statistics under a deal announced 4 August 2026, and says it has layered monitoring to protect game integrity.

FutureSports is the independent index administrator. It turns official statistics into the CME FSPI team indexes under a published rulebook built to follow the IOSCO principles for financial benchmarks.

CME Group is the exchange that lists the futures on the indexes. Its first announced contracts are standard and micro cash-settled futures on the 32 NHL team indexes, targeted for 28 September 2026, pending CFTC review.

LeagueShares, LLC is an ETF issuer that has filed registration statements with the SEC. It is not affiliated with CME Group, FutureSports, or any league, team, player or players' association.

FutureSports is a Chicago index administrator that launched in 2026 after starting work in 2022. Its legal name is Sports Futures Xchange, Inc., and press materials name Leigh Taylforth and Rhett Dinsdale as co-founders.

FutureSports publishes its rulebook and policies at futuresports.com: the index methodology for each sport it covers, the calculation and publication schedule, error and complaint handling, how the rules can change, and how its committees operate. It says it will publish an IOSCO compliance statement each year. For example, the NHL methodology sets an official close at 9:00 a.m. Central the next day.

The methodology states that the league does not sponsor, endorse or administer the indexes and is not responsible for them or for any financial product that references them.

No. LeagueShares is not affiliated with, sponsored by, or endorsed by any sports league, team, or players' association, and it is not affiliated with CME Group or FutureSports.

The LeagueShares filings say the same about the funds and the adviser. Neither is licensed or sponsored by the index administrator, any exchange, any league, or any club.

Team names appear in the filed fund names with their trademark notice. All third-party names and marks are the property of their owners.

The LeagueShares filings cover NHL team ETFs only: a 1x fund and a leveraged fund for each of the 32 clubs.

The NHL is the first league with CME FSPI indexes and announced futures. FutureSports signed an exclusive NHL official-statistics agreement on 4 August 2026, CME Group announced the 32-team futures on 11 August 2026, and the 2026-27 NHL season opens 29 September 2026.

Any future LeagueShares fund would be described in its own registration statement filed with the SEC. Nothing on this page is an offer of any security.

No. A sportsbook wager, a futures contract and a registered fund are three different things, with different rules, different intermediaries and different tax treatment.

A sportsbook takes a bet on one outcome, such as who wins, a total, or a player prop. The book sets the price and the bet settles when the event ends.

A CME FSPI future, if listed, would be a cash-settled contract on a season-long team performance score. The index keeps accumulating official statistics all season and does not settle when a game ends. It would trade on a CFTC-regulated exchange and clear centrally.

A registered fund is a third thing again, with its own SEC rules and its own prospectus. No LeagueShares fund is effective or being offered today.

How sports-linked contracts should be regulated is still an open question at the CFTC.

No. CME Group's 11 August 2026 announcement and its sports index futures page both describe the 28 September 2026 launch of the NHL contracts as subject to regulatory review.

A CME notice dated 17 August 2026 said FSPI index market data would go live on 20 August 2026, and that a separate market-data channel for the futures is scheduled for 27 September 2026.

There is no public CFTC order approving or blocking the listing. Treat 28 September 2026 as CME Group's target, not a settled date. Contracts on any other sport would go through the same review.

No. The two LeagueShares registration statements were filed on 25 August 2026 on Form N-1A, and neither has been declared effective. Each is set to take effect 75 days after filing unless the SEC acts sooner or asks for changes.

No securities may be sold, and offers to buy may not be accepted, until a registration statement becomes effective. There is no assurance that happens, or that any LeagueShares fund lists.

A filing with the SEC is not SEC approval or endorsement of a fund.

CME Group says FSPI futures would trade nearly around the clock on its Globex platform, minus maintenance windows. Final hours would be whatever the exchange rules say if and when the contracts list.

An FSPI index can move during games held outside U.S. stock market hours. The LeagueShares filings name that timing gap as a risk for any fund holding these contracts.

FutureSports publishes an official CME FSPI index close once league data is verified and marked official. For the NHL indexes that is 9:00 a.m. Central the next day. CME Group's contract table says futures final settlement also publishes the next day, because the league can restate statistics.

If official league data is missing, those items wait until the data arrives. A published official index close is not restated except under the error-management policy.

Each league sets its own rule. For the NHL, a league spokesperson told the Chicago Sun-Times that players, coaches and staff will be prohibited from buying or selling the sports futures. A FutureSports co-founder told The Athletic that brokers would check prohibited lists at onboarding, the way they check sanctions lists.

The LeagueShares filings note that a fund would have no way to stop those individuals from buying or selling fund shares, and whether a league's rule reaches fund shares is not spelled out in public materials.

Trading the futures directly also depends on a broker's onboarding, exchange rules, and applicable law.

FutureSports publishes the CME FSPI index methodology and its governance documents at futuresports.com, and displays index levels there. For example, all 32 NHL indexes stood at the 7,500 base ahead of the 2026-27 season.

CME Group offers FSPI data through DataMine and its market-data channels. Index data went live on Channel 271 on 20 August 2026, and futures data is scheduled for Channel 335 on 27 September 2026. CME Group's product page is cmegroup.com/fspi.

The LeagueShares registration statements are on SEC EDGAR under Hillman Capital Management Investment Trust, CIK 0001122649. The 1x filing is accession 0001999371-26-018659 and the leveraged filing is accession 0001999371-26-018661.

Leagueshares.com links to the same documents and takes roster signups and media questions. Media contact: Chris Sullivan, Craft & Capital, chris@craftandcapital.com.

Mailing address: Three Main Street, Suite 215, Burlington, VT 05401. Telephone (802) 540-0019.