Terms of Service

1. About the Service

The Sideline ("Service") is an independent college sports data platform. The Service publishes aggregate NIL roster-market estimates for Division I programs, tracks the college transfer portal and recruiting class, and provides school hub pages and editorial commentary. By accessing the Service you accept and agree to be bound by these Terms of Service and all applicable laws and regulations. If you do not agree, please do not use the Service. We may update these terms at any time; continued use after a change constitutes acceptance.

2. Use of Service

You agree to use the Service for lawful purposes only. You must not:

• Use automated tools (bots, scripts) to manipulate games, leaderboards, polls, or comment systems
• Attempt to gain unauthorized access to our systems or user accounts
• Harass, abuse, threaten, or harm other users
• Upload malicious code, viruses, or disruptive content
• Reproduce, republish, or redistribute our original editorial content without explicit written permission (the data tables themselves are free to download and cite under Section 3 below)
• Violate any applicable federal, state, or local laws or regulations

3. Free Data Access and Citation

Our NIL rankings, transfer portal index, recruiting class data, and school metadata are published openly. You may download them in bulk via the CSV/JSON export buttons on each tracker, embed our published widgets, scrape the public API endpoints at reasonable rates, or republish individual figures with a backlink to thesideline.co. We do not require licensing, registration, or attribution beyond a standard backlink. Bulk commercial redistribution of the full dataset requires a one-line email request to hello@thesideline.co — these are routinely granted to journalists, researchers, and academics free of charge. The methodology page documents how each estimate is calculated. Original editorial commentary (article body text) remains under copyright; see Section 6.

4. Team Clicker Game Rules

The Team Clicker Game is provided for entertainment purposes only. We reserve the right to reset scores, remove suspicious activity, and permanently ban users who violate fair play rules. Automated clicking, botting, or score manipulation is strictly prohibited. All leaderboards reset daily at midnight CST.

5. Purchases and Refunds

All purchases made through our shop are processed by Printify. Due to the custom print-on-demand nature of our products, we can only offer refunds or replacements for defective items or confirmed shipping errors. Refund requests must be submitted within 30 days of delivery. We do not accept returns for buyer's remorse or sizing issues on custom products.

6. Intellectual Property

All original content, designs, logos, trademarks, and software on The Sideline are owned by or licensed to us. School names, logos, and mascots are the property of their respective institutions and are used for editorial and informational purposes only. You may not reproduce, distribute, or create derivative works from our original content without explicit written permission.

7. User Accounts

If you create an account on The Sideline, you are responsible for maintaining the security of your credentials and all activity under your account. We reserve the right to suspend or terminate accounts that violate these Terms or that have been inactive for extended periods.

8. Disclaimer of Warranties

Our Service is provided "as is" without warranties of any kind, express or implied. We do not guarantee uninterrupted access, error-free operation, or the accuracy, completeness, or timeliness of any content. Sports news and scores are provided for informational purposes only.

9. Limitation of Liability

The Sideline shall not be liable for any indirect, incidental, special, consequential, or punitive damages resulting from your use of or inability to use the Service, including reliance on any content provided on the platform.

10. Changes to Terms

We reserve the right to modify these Terms at any time without prior notice. Continued use of the Service after changes are posted constitutes your acceptance of the updated Terms. We encourage you to review this page periodically.