InPlay Global, the market for live sports performance, announced a strategic partnership with tZERO Group, Inc., a leader in blockchain-based financial infrastructure, to build an equity market for sports performance. The collaboration aims to develop Sports Performance Securities — equity instruments whose value is linked to team performance — effectively creating a new investable asset class for sports fans, investors, traders, and institutions.
The partnership combines InPlay's market model with tZERO's regulated digital securities infrastructure. According to Edwin Johnson, Founder and Chief Executive Officer of InPlay Global, “Sportsbooks allow users to wager on outcomes. Prediction markets allow users to trade probabilities. Yet no equity market exists for sports performance itself. We're changing that. Sports performance is becoming an investable asset class, and InPlay is building the market designed to support it.”
Alan Konevsky, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of tZERO, commented, “Tokenization, coupled with the right market structure, transforms real-world rights, interests, and economic activity into investable assets. The most impactful innovations often emerge when entirely new categories become accessible through market infrastructure. Sports performance represents a compelling and largely untapped frontier. As InPlay develops digital securities products tied to sports performance and de-risks the asset origination challenge with their model, tZERO is proud to provide the regulated infrastructure that can help bring greater transparency, accessibility, and market participation to the space.”
The announcement comes as InPlay prepares to launch the InPlay Trading Challenge, a free-to-enter national competition aligned with the 2026 professional and college football seasons. Featuring cash prizes and participants from more than 15 universities, the competition is designed to introduce students and sports fans to sports markets, trading concepts, and financial literacy through active participation.
The potential impact of this partnership is significant. By creating equity instruments tied to team performance, the companies are opening a new category of market participation that goes beyond traditional sports betting or prediction markets. This could allow fans to invest in their favorite teams' performance over a season, much like owning stock in a company. For the sports industry, it could provide new revenue streams and deeper fan engagement. For the financial sector, it introduces a novel asset class that blends sports analytics with market dynamics.
tZERO's role is crucial as it provides the regulated infrastructure for digital securities. Through its broker-dealer subsidiaries, tZERO Digital Asset Securities and tZERO Securities, the company offers a platform for issuing and trading digital asset securities. However, as noted in the press release, investing in digital asset securities involves substantial risks, including possible loss of principal, lack of liquidity, and unique risks such as fraud and theft. The securities described are subject to qualification by the SEC under Regulation A+ and have not yet been qualified.
InPlay Global is developing Sports Performance Securities by combining sports, finance, and technology, creating a new form of participation that allows users to analyze, value, and trade team performance through market-based engagement rather than wagering on or predicting discrete outcomes. This partnership with tZERO could accelerate the adoption of this new asset class, potentially transforming how fans interact with sports and how sports franchises are valued.
