Wall Street Wants to Turn Every NHL Team Into an ETF

Volatility Shares has submitted applications to create an exchange-traded fund (ETF) for each of the 32 NHL teams. These funds would be unique, with each representing a single franchise and tied to its on-ice performance. The ETFs would rely on CME FutureSports Performance Indexes, which are calculated in real-time based on official NHL statistics.

Each index begins at 7,500 at the start of a season and adjusts as the season progresses, with positive performances driving the index higher and negative performances pulling it down. The specific statistical measures used to calculate the index are not publicly revealed. While the concept may seem far-fetched, the boundaries between investing and gambling have already blurred, with platforms like Robinhood now enabling users to trade sports event contracts.

Furthermore, leveraged single-stock ETFs already exist, allowing traders to speculate on daily movements of individual companies. The CME frames the underlying futures contracts as tools for managing financial risk associated with a team's performance, potentially appealing to sponsors, broadcasters, arena operators, and vendors.

However, the primary investors in these ETFs would likely be speculators or gamblers, given their continuous, season-long nature. The industry is gradually moving towards binary sports-outcome ETFs, with some prediction-market ETFs already being filed, though these focus on non-sports events. As the SEC's review of these funds is still pending, the approval of NHL team ETFs could mark the beginning of a broader trend in sports-related ETFs.