 | |
Type of site | Sports recruiting information |
|---|---|
| Available in | English |
| Owner | On3 Media |
| URL | www |
| Commercial | Yes |
| Registration | Depending on individual usage |
| Launched | November 4, 1998 (1998-11-04)1 |
| Current status | Online |
Rivals.com was bought by On3.com, and is now solely rivals. It is a section of the On3 website that focuses on college football, basketball and softball recruiting in the United States. Rivals releases individual high school athlete rankings each year.
History
Rivals.com was founded in 1998 by Jim Heckman in Seattle, Washington, with a cadre of outside investors.2 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.3 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 2000.4 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.5 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.5 Executives from AllianceSports purchased the Rivals.com assets and subsequently relaunched the website.6 Heckman, who had been fired as chief executive officer, later started a competitor network named The Insiders, which was later renamed Scout.com6 and sold to Fox Interactive Media in 2005.
Led by former AllianceSports executive Shannon Terry, Rivals.com became profitable. On June 21, 2007, Yahoo agreed to acquire Rivals.com.78 Terms of the deal were not disclosed, but several sources reported Yahoo paid around $100 million.9 On April 30, 2025, it was reported that Yahoo was selling Rivals to On3's ownership group.10
Rivals Football
#1 Ranked Football Players
| Year | Player name | Position | High School |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2002 | Vincent Young | Quarterback | Madison HS (TX) |
| 2003 | Ernie Sims | Linebacker | North Florida Christian HS (FL) |
| 2004 | Adrian Peterson | Running Back | Palestine HS (TX) |
| 2005 | Derrick Williams | Wide Receiver | Eleanor Roosevelt HS (MD) |
| 2006 | Percy Harvin | Wide Receiver | Landstown HS (VA) |
| 2007 | Jimmy Clausen | Quarterback | Oaks Christian HS (CA) |
| 2008 | Terrelle Pryor | Quarterback | Jeannette HS (PA) |
| 2009 | Bryce Brown | Running Back | Wichita East HS (KS) |
| 2010 | Ronald Powell | Defensive End | Rancho Verde HS (CA) |
| 2011 | Jadeveon Clowney | Defensive End | South Pointe HS (SC) |
| 2012 | Dorial Green-Beckham | Wide Receiver | Hillcrest HS (MO) |
| 2013 | Robert Nkemdiche | Defensive End | Grayson HS (GA) |
| 2014 | Da'Shawn Hand | Defensive End | Woodbridge HS (VA) |
| 2015 | Byron Cowart | Defensive End | Armwood HS (FL) |
| 2016 | Rashan Gary | Defensive Tackle | Paramus Catholic HS (NJ) |
| 2017 | Najee Harris | Running Back | Antioch HS (CA) |
| 2018 | Trevor Lawrence | Quarterback | Cartersville HS (GA) |
| 2019 | Nolan Smith | Defensive End | IMG Academy (FL) |
| 2020 | Bryan Bresee | Defensive Tackle | Damascus HS (MD) |
| 2021 | Korey Foreman | Defensive End | Centennial HS (CA) |
| 2022 | Travis Hunter | Cornerback | Collins Hill HS (GA) |
| 2023 | Arch Manning | Quarterback | Isidore Newman HS (LA) |
| 2024 | Dylan Raiola | Quarterback | Buford HS (GA) |
| 2025 | Keelon Russell | Dual-threat QB | Duncanville HS (TX) |
| 2026 | Luke Wafle | Defensive End | Hun School (NJ) |
Rivals Football Camp Series
Beginning in 2012, they hosted a 'Rivals Camp Series', which featured assessment camps and athletic combines for skilled high school athletes across the United States. Some notable players to have attended the camp include Lamar Jackson, Joe Burrow, Saquon Barkley, Patrick Mahomes, Puka Nacua, Sauce Gardner and Jayden Daniels.11
Rivals Basketball
#1 Ranked Basketball Players
| Year | Player | High School |
|---|---|---|
| 2003 | LeBron James | St. Vincent-St. Mary High School, OH |
| 2004 | Dwight Howard | Southwest Atlanta Christian Academy, GA |
| 2005 | Tasmin Mitchell | Denham Springs High School, LA |
| 2006 | Greg Oden | Lawrence North High School, IN |
| 2007 | Michael Beasley | Oak Hill Academy |
| 2008 | Brandon Jennings | Oak Hill Academy, VA |
| 2009 | Lance Stephenson | Lincoln High School, NY |
| 2010 | Josh Selby | Lake Clifton High School, MD |
| 2011 | Austin Rivers | Winter Park High School, FL |
| 2012 | Shabazz Muhammad | Bishop Gorman High School, NV |
| 2013 | Andrew Wiggins | Huntington Prep, WV |
| 2014 | Jahlil Okafor | Whitney Young High School, IL |
| 2015 | Ben Simmons | Montverde Academy, FL |
| 2016 | Josh Jackson | Prolific Prep, CA |
| 2017 | Michael Porter Jr. | Nathan Hale High School, WA |
| 2018 | R.J. Barrett | Montverde Academy, FL |
| 2019 | James Wiseman | Memphis East High School, TN |
| 2020 | Cade Cunningham | Montverde Academy, FL |
| 2021 | Chet Holmgren | Minnehaha Academy, MN |
| 2022 | Dereck Lively II | Westtown School, PA |
| 2023 | Isaiah Collier | Wheeler High School, GA |
| 2024 | Tre Johnson | Link Year, MO |
| 2025 | AJ Dybantsa | Utah Prep Academy, UT |
| 2026 | Tyran Stokes | Rainier Beach High School, WA |
References
References
- "Rivals.com WHOIS, DNS, & Domain Info – DomainTools". WHOIS. Retrieved July 19, 2016.
- David Eckoff, "Seattle PI: Jim Heckman wheels, deals", Retrieved April 5, 2012
- ROBBINS, DANNY (February 6, 1993). "James' Son-in-Law Asked Cougar Recruit to Renege" – via LA Times.
- "Rivals.com". alliancesports.rivals.com. Archived from the original on November 11, 2013. Retrieved April 5, 2012.
- "Venture Capital: Rivals.com is dead; long live Rivals.com".
- "Ex Rivals Founder Shannon Terry Looking to Challenge Rivals, Scout, and ESPN with College Recruiting Network 2.0, 24/7 Sports". www.benkoo.com.
- "Yahoo! Inc. - Company Timeline". Wayback Machine. July 13, 2008. Archived from the original on July 13, 2008. Retrieved July 19, 2016.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link) - "Yahoo". Yahoo. Archived from the original on December 22, 2007. Retrieved June 21, 2007.
- "Adweek". www.mediaweek.com. April 4, 2022.
- "Yahoo Sports Selling Rivals to On3 Ownership Group". Front Office Sports.
- "Dates, sites for the 2024 Rivals Camp Series announced". n.rivals.com. December 20, 2024. Retrieved March 30, 2025.