Popular college recruiting site to start charging high school athletes jaw-dropping amount for 'evaluation'

Popular college recruiting site to start charging high school athletes jaw-dropping amount for 'evaluation'

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Popular college recruiting site to start charging high school athletes jaw-dropping amount for 'evaluation'

Popular college recruiting site to start charging high school athletes jaw-dropping amount for 'evaluation' originally appeared on The Sporting News.
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There's been a significant shake-up in the college sports recruiting space.

As interest in recruiting — primarily in football — has grown over the years, sites like 247Sports, On3 and ESPN have been the leaders in assigning "ratings" to prospects, driving the conversations about how talented players are and maintaining up-to-date information on their collegiate plans. 

On Thursday, however, Rivals announced a major change to its financial structure, with athletes set to be charged in their recruiting process for coverage.

Here's what to know about Rivals' announcement about a new charge for high-school football evaluations.

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Popular college recruiting site to start charging high school athletes

Outlets like 247Sports and On3 have long made their money as businesses through subscription revenue from college sports fans interested in learning about the high school athletes their favorite schools are targeting, covering recruiting. Through rankings, evaluations, scouting, tape and more, those sites have become the leaders in the recruiting space.

Rivals, however, became the first recruiting site to make a massive change in how it approaches the financial aspect of the space. On Thursday, the site, which was bought by On3 in 2025, announced it is starting a "Rivals Recruits" program where high school players pay $500 to be “evaluated” for “ranking consideration."

The service isn't only for football, Rivals said, but the sport has been targeted because it is "currently the clearest example of the opportunity because of the enormous number of high school athletes and the relatively small percentage traditionally evaluated nationally."

Rivals is offering athletes the rate of $500 to “get evaluated by a Rivals Scout," promising a scouting report, evaluation grade and ranking consideration. After creating and verifying a profile, a high school athlete can add film, stats, and more before being evaluated by a scout.

“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 wrote. 

The site also argued that the change will result in more high school athletes being evaluated, rather than just the top players.

“There is far more talent worth evaluating than the traditional recruiting ecosystem has historically been able to cover. In football alone, more than 1 million boys participate in high school football, while Rivals has typically carried approximately 6,600 star-rated prospects across the senior, junior, and sophomore classes at any one time. Rivals Recruits allows us to evaluate deeper into the talent pool and help identify athletes who may ultimately compete at the FBS, FCS, Division II, NAIA, Division III, and other levels,” Rivals wrote. "Traditionally, national recruiting services have concentrated their resources primarily on prospects projected to play at the highest levels of college football. That represents only a small fraction of the total high school athlete population.”

Payment does not guarantee a certain rating or better evaluation, the site said, and the service is not only for FBS football prospects, but also FCS, Division II, NAIA, Division III and more.

"Ratings, rankings and stars are earned, never bought. An athlete can purchase access to the Rivals Recruits evaluation process, but payment does not guarantee a rating, ranking, star designation or any specific evaluation outcome,” Rivals wrote.

On3 founder Shannon Terry also posted to social media explaining the change, citing data that 0.6% of high school football players had a Rivals star rating in 2025.

"That's not a talent gap. It's a capacity gap. Our scouts have always focused on FBS prospects, and FCS, D-II, NAIA and D-III kids rarely get their film watched," Terry wrote. "Rivals Recruits puts the same scouts, held to the same standards, on more of that film. You can pay for an evaluation. You can't pay for the result. Great resource and link for all college coaches and scouts. More opportunities for athletes."

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