USA Today High School Sports

What USA Today High School Sports does

USA Today High School Sports is a digital content vertical operated by Gannett (NYSE: GCI) that provides national coverage of U.S. high school athletics across the usatoday.com domain and associated mobile properties. Its core offering is news, rankings, recruiting coverage, video highlights, and athlete recognition programming aimed at high school sports fans, parents, athletes, and coaches. The platform's flagship editorial franchises include the Super 25 national team rankings and the Super 15 regional preseason rankings across five U.S. regions, the ALL-USA Teams All-American recognition program in continuous operation since 1982, and the annual USA TODAY High School Sports Awards event.

The underlying technology is a digital content publishing platform combined with a proprietary editorial rankings system that aggregates regional and national team performance data. Content distribution is digital-only, leveraging the USA Today/Gannett network for audience reach, SEO authority, and syndicated publishing infrastructure. Multimedia output spans articles, video highlights, and event coverage, with social media and organic search as primary top-of-funnel channels. No mobile application is indicated in the supplied data.

The business model is free consumer content monetized via advertising, with no subscription, paywall, or disclosed sponsorship structure. The vertical operates without disclosed standalone revenue, funding, or headcount, functioning as an integrated content section within Gannett's broader U.S. media operations headquartered in Delaware. Geographic reach is national across the U.S. with explicit regional segmentation (West, East, Midwest, Southeast, Southwest).

Name

USA Today High School Sports

Legal name

Gannett (operating USA Today High School Sports section)

Website

https://usatodayhss.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

1982

Operating status

Operating

Short description

USA Today High School Sports is a Gannett-operated digital content platform providing national news, Super 25/Super 15 rankings, recruiting coverage, video highlights, and athlete recognition programming for U.S. high school sports fans, parents, athletes, and coaches.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Sports Digital Media

NAICS

Spectator Sports (71121)

SIC

Miscellaneous Publishing (2741), Periodicals: Publishing Or Publishing & Printing (2721)

akta.pro primary industry

Youth & Scholastic Sports Organizations (K–12, AAU, Club Leagues) (MPAKACAF)

akta.pro secondary industry

Interscholastic Athletics (Varsity/JV Teams) (EDAJAJAA)

Keywords

• High school sports coverage
• Sports news media
• Team rankings publishing
• Athlete recruiting coverage
• Digital sports journalism

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Digital Commerce or Content

Cost components

Personnel, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D, Operations

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels4 records

Core offering

USA Today High School Sports is a free, advertising-supported digital content vertical that publishes news, rankings, recruiting coverage, athlete profiles, and video highlights for U.S. high school sports. It produces proprietary Super 25 national and Super 15 regional team rankings and runs the long-standing ALL-USA Teams recognition program and the annual USA TODAY High School Sports Awards.

Product overview

USA Today High School Sports is a comprehensive content platform providing news, rankings, and coverage of high school sports across the United States. The platform operates as a unified content hub featuring multiple interconnected offerings: the Super 25 and Super 15 regional team rankings across sports (football, basketball, volleyball, flag football, esports); the ALL-USA Teams recognition program established in 1982; the annual High School Sports Awards; recruiting coverage including player commitments and NIL deals; and video content including highlights and Must Watch features. The platform covers sports including football, boys and girls basketball, volleyball, flag football, esports, baseball, and softball.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• High School Sports News Coverage Comprehensive news coverage of high school sports including football, basketball, volleyball, flag football, esports, baseball, and softball with regional and national rankings, published as editorial content for sports fans, parents, athletes, and coaches.
• Super 25 National Rankings National high school sports team rankings across multiple sports including football, basketball, volleyball, and esports.
• Super 15 Regional Rankings Regional preseason rankings for high school football covering West, East, Southwest, Southeast, and Midwest regions.
• ALL-USA Teams Prestigious high school sports recognition program honoring top athletes since 1982, featuring All-American selections across multiple sports.
• USA TODAY High School Sports Awards Annual awards event recognizing outstanding high school athletes and their achievements, previously hosted by figures including Michael Strahan, Rob Gronkowski, and Vernon Davis.
• Video Highlights and Must Watch Content Video library featuring sports highlights, player profiles, ranking explainers, and event coverage including Play of the Month segments.
• Recruiting News and Player Commitments Coverage of high school athlete recruiting news, college commitments, and NIL deal announcements for elite football players.

Segments1 record

Ideal customer profiles1 record

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature3 records

Recent moves5 records

Expansion highlights4 records

Direct peers

• 247Sports: 247Sports is a leading college recruiting and high school sports media network owned by CBS Sports, with comparable recruiting-focused content, rankings, and athlete profiles. It directly overlaps with USA Today HSS's recruiting news and rankings offerings.
• MaxPreps: MaxPreps is the largest US digital platform dedicated to high school sports statistics, rankings, and coverage, and competes most directly with USA Today High School Sports for national HS sports audience and rankings authority. Owned by DirecTV, MaxPreps offers similar products (team rankings, athlete stats, recruiting data) but leans more data-driven versus USA Today's editorial-led approach.
• Prep Redzone: Prep Redzone is a high school sports media platform with regional editions focused on football recruiting coverage, rankings, and athlete profiles. It competes directly with USA Today HSS in the football recruiting and rankings space.
• Rivals: Rivals is a long-established recruiting-focused sports media network (under Yahoo / Apollo) offering rankings, expert analysis, and athlete profiles for high school and college sports. It competes with USA Today HSS on recruiting coverage and player rankings.
• On3: On3 is a digital sports media company with strong high school and college recruiting coverage, NIL valuation data, and rankings. Its recruiting-and-NIL content focus directly competes with USA Today HSS's recruiting news and NIL deal reporting.
• SBLive Sports (Scorebook Live): SBLive Sports is a digital-first high school sports media network covering teams, athletes, and recruiting across multiple US states. It is directly comparable to USA Today HSS in target audience, content format, and regional coverage approach.

Emerging players

• Hudl: Hudl is a leading video and analytics platform for high school and youth sports, serving coaches, athletes, and teams. While not a direct editorial competitor, Hudl is a relevant adjacent platform in the high school sports ecosystem and is increasingly moving into media and highlights distribution.

Broad incumbents

• The Athletic: The Athletic (now part of The New York Times) is a subscription sports media outlet expanding into high school and amateur sports coverage. While its primary focus is professional sports, its move into HS recruiting and amateur coverage creates indirect competition for USA Today HSS's recruiting audience.
• ESPN High School: ESPN covers high school sports as part of its broader sports media portfolio, with national rankings and recruiting content through ESPN 300 and related properties. Its larger scale and broader scope make it a broad incumbent competitor rather than a niche specialist.
• Sports Illustrated: Sports Illustrated is a generalist sports media brand (under Authentic Brands Group / Minute Media) that covers high school sports as part of a broader portfolio. As an established sports media brand, it overlaps with USA Today HSS in editorial and audience, though it does not specialize in HS sports.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/usatodayhss
• Facebookfacebook.com/6566864515

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about USA Today High School Sports