Youth Sports Media Company to Pay $1.10 Million Fine, Change Practices Over Privacy Violations

March 3, 2026

SACRAMENTO, CA — The California Privacy Protection Agency Board has issued a decision requiring PlayOn Sports to pay a $1.10 million fine and change its practices following a settlement reached by CalPrivacy’s Enforcement Division. The Board’s decision is the first to address privacy violations involving students and California schools.

Schools across the country use PlayOn Sports’ GoFan platform to sell digital tickets to high school sporting events, theater performances, and homecoming and prom dances. Attendees present these digital tickets at the door using their mobile phones. Schools also use PlayOn Sports’ platforms for a wide range of high school sports-related activities, including attending games, streaming them online, and looking up statistics about teams and players. In California alone, approximately 1,400 schools contract with PlayOn Sports to provide these services. The company’s GoFan service is the official ticketing platform for the California Interscholastic Federation, the governing body for high school sports.

According to the Board’s decision, PlayOn Sports used tracking technologies to collect personal information and deliver targeted advertisements to ticketholders and others using its services. PlayOn Sports allegedly forced Californians to click “agree” to these tracking technologies before they could use their tickets or view PlayOn Sports’ websites, without providing a sufficient way to opt-out. Students are a uniquely vulnerable population whose data should be used to enhance their own learning, not to fuel advertising and commercial surveillance. Targeted advertising systems can subject students to profiling that can follow them for years, expose them to manipulative or harmful content, and develop sensitive inferences about their lives.

Instead, PlayOn Sports directed students and other users to opt-out through the Network Advertising Initiative and the Digital Advertising Alliance, violating the company’s responsibility to provide its own method for consumers to opt-out. PlayOn Sports also allegedly failed to recognize opt-out preference signals and did not provide Californians with sufficient notice of its privacy practices.

“Students trying to go to prom or a high school football game shouldn’t have to leave their privacy rights at the door,” said Michael Macko, CalPrivacy’s head of enforcement. “You couldn’t attend these events without showing your ticket, and you couldn’t show your ticket without being tracked for advertising. California’s privacy law does not work that way. Businesses must ensure they offer lawful ways for Californians to opt-out, particularly with captive audiences.”

“We are committed to making it as easy as possible for all Californians — from high school students to older adults, and everyone in between — to make the choice of whether they want to be tracked or not,” said Tom Kemp, CalPrivacy’s Executive Director. “Californians can opt-out with covered businesses, and they can sign up for the newly launched DROP system to request that data brokers delete their personal information.”

In addition to paying the fine, PlayOn Sports must conduct risk assessments, provide disclosures that are easy to read and understand, and implement proper opt-out methods. The Board’s order also requires PlayOn Sports to comply with California’s privacy law prohibiting the selling or sharing of personal information of consumers at least 13, and less than 16 years old, without their affirmative “opt-in” consent.

Enforcement Division Attorneys Lisa B. Kim and Alex Berger handled the case, with investigative assistance from research technologist Primal Wijesekera.

CalPrivacy’s Recent Enforcement Actions to Protect Californians

CalPrivacy is actively enforcing California’s cutting-edge privacy laws. Recent actions include:

• Securing a settlement requiring Datamasters, a data broker, to pay a fine and stop selling lists of Californians who have Alzheimer’s disease and other health conditions. 
• Issuing a decision requiring Tractor Supply Company, the nation’s largest rural lifestyle retailer, to pay a $1.35 million fine and change its business practices for California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) violations. 
• Issuing a decision requiring a nationwide clothing retailer, Todd Snyder, Inc., to change its business practices and pay a $345,178 fine for CCPA violations.
• Issuing a decision requiring American Honda Motor Co. to change its business practices and pay a $632,500 fine for CCPA violations.
• Securing a settlement agreement requiring data broker Background Alert — which promoted its ability to dig up “scary” amounts of information about people — to shut down or pay a steep fine.
• Bringing more than ten enforcement actions against additional unregistered data brokers.
• Launching the bipartisan Consortium of Privacy Regulators to collaborate with states across the country to implement and enforce privacy laws nationwide.
• Partnering with the data protection authorities in Korea, France, and the United Kingdom to share information and advance privacy protections for Californians.

About Us

The California Privacy Protection Agency (CalPrivacy) is committed to promoting the education and awareness of consumers’ privacy rights and businesses’ responsibilities under the California Consumer Privacy Act, Delete Act, and Opt Me Out Act.

Consumers can visit Privacy.ca.gov to access helpful and up-to-date information and tips on how to exercise their rights, protect their personal information, and learn about the Delete Request and Opt-out Platform (DROP). In addition, CalPrivacy’s website provides important information about Board Meetings, announcements, and the rulemaking process.