![\"Bryce](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/GettyImages-2283702243-1.jpg\")
Philadelphia Phillies star Bryce Harper. FutureSports is launching indexes based on MLB team performance. (Image: Denis Kennedy\/MLB\/Getty)<\/p>\nFutureSports, the index provider developing gauges tied to the performances of college and professional athletes and teams, today announced it inked a deal with Major League Baseball (MLB) to launch indexes based on the performances of the league\u2019s 30 franchises.<\/p>\n
Philadelphia Phillies star Bryce Harper. FutureSports is launching indexes based on MLB team performance. (Image: Denis Kennedy\/MLB\/Getty)<\/p>\n
As part of the accord, MLB will supply FutureSports with official league data \u201cthat the company will use to create new broad-based CME FutureSports Performance Indexes (FSPI)\u201d on each MLB team. Financal terms of the agreement weren\u2019t disclosed. CME Group (NASDAQ: CME) and the index provider announced a partnership in July<\/a>. With the MLB deal in place, the exchange operator will offer derivatives based on the baseball indexes.<\/p>\n \u201cThe agreement paves the way for CME Group to list weekly, monthly and quarterly cash-settled futures contracts, pending regulatory review, based on the CME FSPI MLB benchmarks,\u201d according to a statement issued by FutureSports.<\/p>\n Launch dates for the MLB team futures contracts weren\u2019t revealed, but spring training for the 2027 season commences on Friday, Feb. 19, according to the league schedule.<\/p>\n ETFs, Of Course<\/p>\n The original batch of FSPIs are tied to NHL performance gauges and that was met with a spate of filings from exchange-traded fund (ETF) issuers<\/a> looking to launch futures-based funds on each professional hockey team. One issuer even filed plans to introduce leveraged ETFs based on the NHL FSPIs.<\/p>\n A similar scenario is playing out on the back of the MLB index introduction. Both LeagueShares and RexShares filed plans for ETFs tied to the FutureSports MLB indexes. If approved, the funds would hold baskets of the CME-traded derivatives. LeagueShares went a step further by adding a filing for 2x leveraged MLB futures funds.<\/p>\n \u201cOf course there\u2019s already a filing for daily leveraged futures baseball ETFs \u2014 which are basically the equivalent of a corked bat with eight holes drilled in the handle that\u2019s been dipped in pine tar,\u201d wrote Ben Johnson<\/a>, head of client solutions at Morningstar, on X.<\/p>\n As of yet, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) hasn\u2019t approved the aforementioned NHL futures ETFs.<\/p>\n Not Quite Betting, Not Quite Prediction Markets<\/p>\n For the right audience, likely professional traders and sophisticated retail investors, the CME futures on FutureSports indexes could amount to \u201cGoldilocks\u201d offerings because the derivatives aren\u2019t standard sports bets nor are they carbon copies of the event contracts traded on prediction markets.<\/p>\n