iStockphoto / Rivals.com
The Rivals.com logo is featured in the top left corner of a collage that shows a stock image of a high school football field.
For years, Rivals.com was the standard-bearer when it came to college football recruiting coverage. Then, site founder Shannon Terry sold the site to Yahoo before creating essentially the same product with 247Sports.
Terry repeated the process when he sold 247 to CBS Sports and created yet another recruiting site, On3 Sports, which is currently the foremost name in the recruiting game.
But things came full circle a year ago when the ownership ground behind On3, including Terry, purchased Rivals back from Yahoo and split coverage between On3 and Rivals.
On3 now covers primarily college sports, while Rivals covers recruiting.
For years, message board subscribers and fans complained that Rivals showed favoritism in their rankings to recruits who paid to attend their numerous offseason camps. However, nobody could actually confirm that fact.
Now, Rivals appears to be taking the mask all the way off.
Rivals Offers Pay-To-Play Model For Evaluation And Rankings
Whether it’s due to dropping subscription numbers or simply seeing an opportunity to exploit an ever-predatory market, Rivals has now found a new way to generate revenue.
Rather than simply evaluating and ranking the top players across the country for free, the site is now offering a pay-to-play model.
The new program offers high school athletes (or, presumably, their parents) the opportunity to pay hundreds of dollars to be “evaluated” for “ranking consideration.” For the low price of $60 (discounted to $30 for a short time only!), recruits can pay to have a profile created and verified for them on Rivals.com.
But here’s where things get interesting. If recruits really wanted to get noticed, they can pay $499 (currently 20 percent off at $399!) to “get evaluated by a Rivals Scout,” which includes a scouting report, an evaluation grade, and ranking consideration*.
(*Consideration being the key word here).
“The goal is simple: evaluate more athletes, discover more talent, and create more opportunities. And do it with the integrity of Rivals at the center and the reach to ensure athletes who earn recognition receive the exposure they have earned,” Rivals says of the program.
Unsurprisingly, several fans took issue with the new model.
Recruits and parents, I’m begging you, please do not fall for this. Do not pay for a recruiting “service.” You do not need it. Make your own YouTube clips, go to team camps. If good enough, you will get noticed. https://t.co/gQKqeHzu32
— Brian Davis (@byBDavis) September 24, 2026
This is unreal and slimy…parents and kids dont fall for this foolishness
Theres a lot of talented writers and evaluators that work at rivals
This undermines their credibility IMO#txhsfb https://t.co/aNnHlsjLNB— Matt Stepp (@Matt_Stepp817) September 24, 2026
Well this is pretty gross https://t.co/IsaovvIF8w
— Michael Borkey (@MichaelBorkey) September 24, 2026
Some would argue the goal is to generate revenue on the backs of desperate or naive high school athletes and their parents. But hey, you say tomato, I say tomato. Although that saying doesn’t come across quite as well in writing, does it?
Perhaps Rivals simply has the greater good of the undiscovered high school football player in mind. But that comes across as a generous reading of this situation.