Author: LeagueShares, LLC
Last updated: 7 September 2026
How does a continuous team performance index differ from a final score or a binary outcome?
A team performance index accumulates or loses points as officially reported statistics print during the season. The final score of a game is one outcome. A binary event contract usually pays if a stated yes-or-no result occurs.
Continuous index futures are built for a moving benchmark, not a single resolution.
The category stack is a team or athlete performance index (for example, a FutureSports Performance Index), cash-settled index futures on a CFTC-designated contract market that reference that benchmark, and ETF wrappers that would reference those benchmarks if and when a registration statement is declared effective.
FutureSports and CME Group describe FSPI as continuous, rules-based benchmarks. LeagueShares, LLC is an exchange-traded fund issuer formed to bring sports performance benchmarks into regulated, exchange-listed funds. This page compares continuous indexes to final scores and binary event contracts.
Sports index futures of this kind are cash-settled contracts on a continuously calculated team performance index, designed for trading on a CFTC-designated contract market. Take hockey for example: CME Group has said hockey / NHL FSPI futures are planned for 28 September 2026, pending regulatory review. That is the first scheduled live example of the category, not the definition of it. As of September 2026, no contract has been listed and final specifications haven't been published. This page is informational only. It isn't an offer to sell securities or a solicitation of an offer to buy securities.
What moves a team performance index during a game?
CME Group's product page states that positive actions, such as scoring or earning a favorable advantage, add points to the index. Negative actions, such as opponent scoring, in-event penalties, or setbacks, subtract points.
The index is cumulative across the season under FutureSports' published methodology. For example, in professional hockey, each team index starts at 7,500 and resets on the schedule in that guide. Official league data feeds the calculation. The league doesn't govern the index.
How is that different from the final score?
The final score records the game result when the clock stopped. For example, in hockey, that means how many goals each side put on the board. It is one discrete outcome for that game.
An FSPI team index can move many times inside the same game as printed constituents hit. A club can finish with a win while the net of positive and negative constituents still pushes the index down for that period. The index isn't a win-loss record.
How is that different from a binary event contract?
A binary event contract usually resolves to a yes-or-no result. Payment follows that resolution. The path of statistics during the event often doesn't create intermediate settlement marks the way a continuous index does.
FutureSports states that the indexes aren't one-time or binary event determinations and don't settle upon the occurrence or non-occurrence of a single game outcome (Index Methodology Guide for FSPI NHL Team Indexes, August 2026). Planned CME futures are cash settled to the index level, with final settlement published T+1 for possible restatements.
Why does continuous pricing matter for hedging?
Many commercial exposures in sports run for seasons, not for a single final score. Sports Business Journal's 17 August 2026 coverage of FutureSports notes that sponsors may face larger outlays when performance triggers bonuses.
A continuous benchmark lets risk transfer track the moving statistical path. CME Group has framed sports index futures as capital-efficient risk management on a CFTC-designated contract market, pending regulatory review. Take hockey for example: that framing applies to the planned CME FSPI Hockey futures as the first scheduled live case. That framing is about hedge and risk transfer tools, not a single yes-no outcome.
Side-by-side
| Final score | Binary event contract | Team performance index / index future | |
|---|---|---|---|
| What resolves | Game result at game end (e.g., goals in hockey) | Stated yes-or-no event | Published continuous index level from official stats |
| Path during the event | Scoreboard updates; settlement is the final | Usually path-independent at resolution | Constituents add and subtract throughout games and season |
| Typical payoff shape | Game result only | Fixed payoff if the event occurs | Cash P&L vs index / futures price (planned CME design) |
| Hedge fit (stated) | Captures one game outcome | Fits a discrete contingency | Built for multi-period performance-linked exposure |
A team performance index moves with printed statistics across a season. A final score is one game outcome. A binary event contract usually pays on a yes-or-no result. Continuous index futures, as CME Group has described them, are built for the moving benchmark.
LeagueShares, LLC is an exchange-traded fund issuer formed to bring sports performance benchmarks into regulated, exchange-listed funds. Registration statement amendments relating to these securities have been filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and have not yet become effective. This page is for informational purposes only. It is not an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to buy any security, and no securities may be sold, nor may offers to buy be accepted, before the amendments become effective.
LeagueShares, LLC and LeagueShares Advisors, LLC aren't affiliated with, licensed by, or sponsored or endorsed by CME Group, FutureSports, or any professional sports league, team, player, or players' association.
CME, CME Group and Chicago Mercantile Exchange are trademarks of Chicago Mercantile Exchange Inc. FutureSports and FSPI are marks of Sports Futures Xchange, Inc. Ross-Arctos Sports Franchise Index and RASFI, where named, are marks of their respective owners. Third-party document titles are cited for identification only; no license, sponsorship or endorsement is implied.
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