A baseball team performance ETF is an exchange-traded fund designed to hold futures contracts on a published index that measures one Major League Baseball team's on-field statistical performance over a season. As of 22 September 2026, funds of this kind exist only in registration statements filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. None has become effective, and none is available to buy.
The stack has 3 layers. An independent administrator publishes a rules-based team performance index built from official league statistics. A CFTC-registered exchange lists cash-settled futures that reference that index. An ETF, if and when its registration statement becomes effective, would hold those futures and trade on a stock exchange like any other ETF.
LeagueShares, LLC is an exchange-traded fund issuer formed to bring sports performance benchmarks into regulated, exchange-listed funds. On 21 September 2026, two post-effective amendments to the Form N-1A registration statement of Hillman Capital Management Investment Trust were filed with the SEC covering proposed LeagueShares MLB team performance ETFs, one series per club, in unleveraged and leveraged form. The amendments are preliminary prospectuses, subject to completion, and aren't yet effective.
The filed prospectus names a CME FSPI MLB team index for each proposed fund. The indexes belong to the FutureSports Performance Indexes (FSPI) family administered by Sports Futures Xchange, Inc., doing business as FutureSports. Per the filing, each index aggregates officially reported league statistics such as hits, runs scored, walks, stolen bases, strikeouts and double plays, applies predetermined multipliers, and prints a single index level.
Each team's index starts a season at a base level of 7,500. Positive constituents, such as hits, runs scored and strikeouts recorded by the team's pitchers, add points. Negative constituents, such as hits and runs allowed and the team's own batting strikeouts, subtract points. The level updates in real time while games are being played, through the regular season and the postseason, and resets to 7,500 before the next season. The methodology sets no lower bound, so an index may take negative values during a season.
The methodology is designed to be independent of binary win-loss outcomes. A team can win a game and still see its index fall if the printed statistics net out negative (see When a Win Still Drops the Index). FutureSports states the methodology is designed to align with the IOSCO Principles for Financial Benchmarks, with the extent of compliance disclosed in its annual IOSCO Statement of Compliance.
An index is unmanaged, does not reflect transaction costs, management fees, or other expenses (which would reduce returns), and cannot be purchased directly. An index's composition may differ materially from how a portfolio is constructed - including holdings, guidelines, restrictions, sectors, correlations, concentrations, volatility, and tracking error, all of which may change over time - and no representation is made that any portfolio will track or reflect any index shown.
According to the filing, each proposed fund would be actively managed and would seek exposure to its reference index primarily through futures contracts on that index, or other indexes measuring the same team's performance, traded on an exchange registered with the CFTC as a designated contract market. The fund expects to hold those contracts mainly through a wholly owned Cayman Islands subsidiary, a structure the filing ties to the tax rules for investment companies. The filing also contemplates swap agreements.
The fund would roll expiring contracts into later ones rather than hold them to settlement, and the filing says rolls won't follow a predetermined schedule. The season reset matters for the roll. A contract that settles after the reset references a new index cycle starting at 7,500, so its price reflects expectations for the coming season rather than a continuation of the old level. The prospectus covers this under "Roll Strategy and the Seasonal Reset."
The filing states the fund wouldn't issue a Schedule K-1 and is designed to be taxed as a conventional mutual fund, issuing a Form 1099. Fees, the ticker as listed, and launch timing live in the prospectus, and several of those items are still bracketed in the September 21 filing. This page doesn't repeat incomplete figures.
| What people search for | What it is | How a team performance ETF differs |
|---|---|---|
| Owning a piece of the club | Equity in a franchise or its parent company | No ownership, revenue, ticket, licensing or voting rights in the team, the league or the index administrator |
| Sports-business equity ETF | Shares of media, apparel, betting-operator and team-owner companies | Exposure comes from one team's printed statistics, not corporate earnings |
| Event contract | A binary payout on one game or one outcome | A continuous index level that accumulates over 162 games and the postseason, with no single-game settle |
| Fantasy baseball | A points game among participants, no security involved | A registered fund holding regulated futures, with a prospectus, audit and board oversight |
The filing puts it plainly: an investment in a fund is not an investment in the team, MLB, or FutureSports, and shareholders have no recourse against the team or the league for actions that affect the index.
The proposed funds would be new, with no operating history. Each would hold futures on a single team's index, so the fund's value would rise and fall with that one index level, which depends on team statistics and could decline substantially in a short period. The futures market for these indexes is new and may have limited liquidity. Roll costs, tracking differences and the seasonal reset all affect returns. The leveraged series would seek daily leveraged exposure of up to approximately 2x and carry the added risks that come with leverage, described in its own prospectus. Read the risk factors in the prospectus itself; this page summarizes, it doesn't replace.
A fund that holds futures involves a substantial risk of loss and isn't suitable for all investors. A fan's interest in a team isn't a basis for investing in a fund tied to it.
No. As of 22 September 2026, the MLB registration statement amendments are on file and not effective. "On file" means EDGAR accepted them. It doesn't mean they're effective, listed, or available in a brokerage account. The SEC doesn't approve or disapprove any security.
The filings sit under Hillman Capital Management Investment Trust (CIK 1122649), the registrant the prospectuses call LeagueShares Sports ETF Trust. Accession 0001999371-26-020909 covers the proposed MLB team performance series and accession 0001999371-26-020911 covers the proposed leveraged MLB series, both filed 21 September 2026. The NHL series filed 25 August 2026 are covered in the SEC filings explainer. For the index mechanics in general, see What Is a Team Performance Index?.
Sources: Form N-1A post-effective amendments filed 21 September 2026 (EDGAR, CIK 1122649, accessions 0001999371-26-020909 and 0001999371-26-020911); the FutureSports Performance Indexes methodology as described in those filings; LeagueShares press release, 21 September 2026 (GlobeNewswire). Recheck the as-of date before relying on any status statement.
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, Major League Baseball, 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. Third-party document titles are cited for identification only; no license, sponsorship or endorsement is implied.
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