Privacy Policy

1. Information We Collect

At The Sideline, we collect minimal information necessary to provide our services. This includes:

• User-generated content (team selections, game clicks, preferences, forum posts)
• Anonymous usage data and aggregate analytics
• Order information (name, address, email) when you make a purchase through our shop
• IP addresses for security, rate limiting, and fraud prevention
• Account information (email, username) if you register for an account

2. How We Use Your Information

We use collected information to:

• Provide, maintain, and improve our services
• Display leaderboards, game statistics, and community features
• Process orders and arrange product delivery via Printify
• Prevent abuse, spam, and unauthorized access
• Communicate with you about your orders, account, or support requests
• Comply with legal obligations

3. Data Sources and Open Access

The Sideline publishes college sports datasets — aggregate NIL roster-market estimates, transfer portal entries, recruiting data, and school metadata — built from public sources and our own modeling. ESPN's public data feeds power live scores and schedules. We attribute market sources on the methodology and detail pages and do not republish paywalled content. If you are a rights holder and believe content violates your copyright, contact us at hello@thesideline.co and we will respond within 48 hours.

4. Data Storage and Security

Your data is stored securely using industry-standard encryption in transit and at rest, on reputable SOC 2-compliant cloud infrastructure. Account emails receive The Sideline Weekly Brief by default; every issue includes a one-click unsubscribe, and an unsubscribe is preserved even if you sign in again. We retain account data as long as your account is active. Order data is retained for 7 years to comply with financial record-keeping requirements.

5. Cookies and Local Storage

We use browser local storage and cookies to save preferences, maintain sessions, understand site usage, prevent abuse, and support Mediavine-managed advertising. You can clear or block cookies through your browser settings, although some site features may then work differently.

6. Third-Party Services

We use the following third-party services that may process your data:

• Printify — product fulfillment and order processing
• Mediavine — programmatic advertising management (see Section 7)
• Stripe — payment processing (when applicable)
• Resend — transactional and newsletter email delivery

7. Mediavine Programmatic Advertising

The Sideline works with Mediavine to manage third-party advertising. Mediavine and its partners may use first- and third-party cookies, tags, pixels, and similar technologies to measure interactions, prevent fraud, optimize advertising, and provide interest-based or non-personalized ads. Data used for this purpose may include IP address, device and operating-system information, browser type, language, referral and usage data, advertising identifiers, geolocation data, and hashed email where available.

• You can block or clear cookies using your browser controls
• Opt out of participating interest-based advertising at thenai.org/opt-out/
• Rejecting personalized advertising does not prevent non-personalized ads from appearing

8. Your Rights

Depending on your location, you may have the right to:

• Access the personal data we hold about you
• Request correction or deletion of your data
• Object to or restrict certain types of processing
• Opt out of marketing communications at any time
• Lodge a complaint with your local data protection authority (EU/UK users)

9. Children's Privacy

The Sideline is not directed to children under the age of 13. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children. If you believe a child has provided us with personal information, please contact us and we will delete it promptly.