InPlay Global, a market for live sports performance, and tZERO Group, Inc., a leader in blockchain-based financial infrastructure, announced a strategic partnership to develop equity instruments tied to sports team performance. The collaboration aims to create Sports Performance Securities, whose value is linked to team performance, effectively establishing sports performance as a new investable asset class.
InPlay is building a market model that allows participants to analyze, value, and trade team performance through market-based engagement, rather than wagering on outcomes. tZERO provides regulated digital securities infrastructure, including tokenization and trading platforms, to support the issuance and trading of these securities. According to the announcement, tZERO's infrastructure can help bring transparency, accessibility, and market participation to the space.
"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," said Edwin Johnson, Founder and CEO of InPlay Global. "Sports performance is becoming an investable asset class, and InPlay is building the market designed to support it."
Alan Konevsky, Chairman and CEO of tZERO, added, "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."
InPlay also announced the upcoming InPlay Trading Challenge, a free-to-enter national competition aligned with the 2026 professional and college football seasons. The challenge, featuring cash prizes and participants from more than 15 universities, is designed to introduce students and sports fans to sports markets, trading concepts, and financial literacy.
The partnership highlights the growing intersection of sports, finance, and technology. By leveraging blockchain and digital securities, InPlay and tZERO aim to create a regulated market for sports performance, potentially opening up new investment opportunities for fans, investors, and institutions. The initiative also underscores tZERO's role in providing infrastructure for digital asset securities, which are subject to regulatory oversight by the SEC and FINRA.
For more information, visit InPlay Global at https://www.inplayglobal.com and tZERO at https://www.tzero.com.
