Rivals.com

Rivals.com (stylized as rivals) is a network of websites that focus mainly on college football and basketball recruiting in the United States.

History

Rivals.com was founded in 1998 by Jim Heckman in Seattle, Washington, with a cadre of outside investors. Heckman was once the son-in-law of Don James, the former head football coach at the University of Washington, where Heckman attended school and was later involved in a recruiting scandal. Initially deriving revenue solely from advertising, Rivals.com later employed a subscription fee of $10.00 per month to users for access to the latest recruiting news and to participate in various message boards dedicated to schools covered by the network. Rivals was funded by money from venture capital firms including the venture funds of Fox and Intel.

Rivals acquired AllianceSports, a regional network that primarily covered college sports in the Southeast of the United States, in January 2000. At its peak, Rivals.com employed close to 200 people, operated a network of 700 independent websites, filed for an initial public offering worth $100 million led by Goldman Sachs, and sponsored the Hula Bowl in Hawaii. However, economic troubles and the collapse of the dot-com "bubble" soon led the Rivals Network, the parent company of Rivals.com, to cease operations in 2001, though it never sought bankruptcy protection. Executives from AllianceSports purchased the Rivals.com assets and subsequently relaunched the website. Heckman, who had been fired as chief executive officer, later started a competitor network named The Insiders, which was later renamed Scout.com and sold to Fox Interactive Media in 2005.[citation needed]

Led by former AllianceSports executive Shannon Terry, Rivals.com became profitable. On June 21, 2007, Yahoo! agreed to acquire Rivals.com. Terms of the deal were not disclosed, but several sources reported Yahoo! paid around $100 million.

On April 30, 2025, it was reported that Yahoo was selling Rivals to On3's ownership group.

Rivals 100

Rivals100 is the system used to rank elite high school athletes across the United States in football and basketball. It uses the Rivals formula to provide an ordered list of the nations best high school athletes, as well as a tracking on their potential universities and official signings.[citation needed]

Football

Ranking Criteria

Rivals employs a tiered ranking system to evaluate football prospects:

• 6.1 = Five-star prospect: Elite player, typically among the top 30-35 in the country, with first-round NFL potential.

• 6.0-5.8 = Four-star prospect: High-tier player, usually in the top 300-325 nationally, with first-to-third-round NFL potential.

• 5.7-5.5 = Three-star prospect: Considered among the top 800-850 national prospects, projected as mid-to-low-end pro potential.

• 5.2-5.4 = Two-star prospect: Mid-major prospect with limited pro potential, expected to contribute for 1-2 years in college at best.

Factors such as physical and athletic measurables, regional competition, individual statistics, and overall potential play a role in assigning these rankings.

Both athletes and recruiters place immense value on star rankings. For athletes, high star rankings translate to increased scholarship offers, media exposure, and better collegiate opportunities. For recruiters, rankings serve as an initial filter to identify the nation's top prospects.

#1 Ranked Football Players

Rivals Football Camp Series

Beginning in 2012, Rivals.com has hosted a their 'Rivals Camp Series', which features assessment camps and athletic combines for athletes across the United States. Prospects at these camps are coached by former NFL talent and compete against highly skilled athletes across the United States. Alumni of the Rivals Camp Series include Lamar Jackson, Joe Burrow, Saquon Barkley, Patrick Mahomes, Puka Nacua, Sauce Gardner and 2023 Heisman Trophy winner Jayden Daniels. Of the top ten picks in the 2023 NFL Draft, seven were former Rivals Camp participants.

Rivals Basketball

Ranking Criteria

Rivals uses a similar formula to football when assessing the nations best high school basketball athletes.

• 5-stars: Considered elite prospects, among the nation's top players, with potential for a high-level college career and possibly the NBA.
• 4-stars: Top prospects, often among the top 250-300 players nationally, with significant college impact potential.
• 3-stars: Top 750 level players, with potential to contribute at the college level.
• 2-stars: Mid-major prospects, with limited pro potential.
• 1-star: Players not ranked.

#1 Ranked Basketball Players

External links