Author: LeagueShares, LLC
Last updated: 7 September 2026
What is a team performance index?
A team performance index is a rules-based benchmark that turns a team's officially reported game statistics into a single number. An independent administrator publishes the rules in a methodology guide: a fixed starting level, a table of scored statistics with point values, and a schedule for resetting the level each season.
Indexes of this kind are reference values. They aren't themselves investable.
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.
A team performance index is continuous, not binary. 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 (methodology guide, section 1 introduction, August 2026). As of 7 September 2026, that Statement of Compliance hasn't been published.
The administrator publishes the indexes as reference values that financial contracts may separately reference (methodology guide, section 1.A). The indexes are new in 2026 with no calculation history. The administrator may change the methodology, including the base value and the statistical inputs, under its published methodology-change procedures.
How is a team performance index calculated?
Each scored constituent has a predetermined multiplier. FutureSports says multipliers "are derived through an analytical framework that includes scarcity analysis, historical event occurrence frequency and impact, and correlation studies" (methodology guide, section 3.B, August 2026).
Values are cumulative within a season under the published rules. The guide, not marketing copy, is the source for how points add and subtract.
What statistics go into the index?
The Points Attribution Table in the FutureSports methodology guide numbers 55 entries. Entries cover statistical constituents and adjustment factors. The exact mix is sport-specific inside each methodology guide.
Take hockey for example. The FSPI National Hockey League team-index guide (August 2026) is the worked example for how goals, shots, shutouts, and other printed events can add or subtract under published multipliers. That hockey table illustrates the method. It doesn't define the whole asset class as hockey-only.
What is the base value, and does the index reset?
FutureSports' published methodology uses a fixed starting level each season and a published reset schedule. For example, in professional hockey the FSPI team indexes start at 7,500 and reset on the schedule in that guide.
A reset isn't a judgment about the club as a business. It's a season-boundary rule for the benchmark.
Can a team performance index go negative?
Under the published methodology, negative constituents subtract points. Whether a printed level can cross below the starting base depends on the guide's rules for that sport's index family.
Let's use the NHL for example. The hockey methodology allows values to move with both positive and negative printed events across a season. The guide carries the precise floor language for that index family.
Who administers the index, and who supplies the data?
FutureSports administers FutureSports Performance Indexes under its own governance and methodology-change procedures. Leagues supply official statistics used as inputs.
Per the administrator's methodology guide (August 2026, section 1.C), the league doesn't participate in index determination, calculation, methodology governance, or decision-making, and doesn't sponsor, endorse, or promote the indexes.
How is a team performance index different from power rankings or win-loss records?
| Measure | What it tracks | Who sets the rules | Season boundary |
|---|---|---|---|
| Team performance index | Published statistical constituents with point values | Independent index administrator methodology | Published reset schedule |
| Win-loss record | Game outcomes | League standings rules | Season / playoff structure |
| Power ranking | Editorial or model ordering of teams | Publisher or model owner | Usually continuous opinion, not a listed benchmark |
A win-loss record answers who won. A power ranking answers who a writer or model ranks. A team performance index answers what the printed stats did under a published point table.
CME Group has said cash-settled futures on FSPI hockey indexes are planned for 28 September 2026, pending regulatory review. That planned listing is the first scheduled live example of index futures on this stack. It isn't the definition of sports performance indexes as a category.
LeagueShares, LLC is an exchange-traded fund issuer formed to bring sports performance benchmarks into regulated, exchange-listed funds. This page stays on the index methodology. 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.
TUCRM-5903079-09/26