Here We Are
As 2025 closes, a look back on our year in sports
Of all my delusions of RateGame grandeur, there is one that rises above the rest.
It is so preposterous that I audibly laugh every time I revisit it. Right now that happens to be in the St. Petersburg Public Library on Christmas Eve. There is a homeless fella sharing this space with me who has consumed what looks to be three full bottles of soda and is now belching like a man possessed. Between my giggles and his burps we are causing quite the ruckus. Good thing it's just us today.
Which brings me back to the source of my laughter.
In the early days of RateGame - circa February 2024 - when it was a figment of my Figma imagination (a Figmation if you will), I fashioned myself a theory. As you can see below, I called it "USER GROWTH IN RELATION TO TV VIEWERSHIP THEORY." No clue why caps lock was on - I guess for effect? Whatever. Point is, I guessed. I thought, cogently, that if RateGame managed to capture a measly 2% of the TV viewership audience for March Madness, in just 10 days of basketball games, the idea that was not yet an app would have over 858,000 users and 15 million ratings.
This theory of mine accounted for four different outcomes ranging from "reality" to "escape velocity." Special shoutout to "Wow!" at zero point zero five percent. G'head and read it in Owen Wilson voice, it plays.
Now look closely at this second screenshot, and by closely I mean fully strain your eyeballs. You'll see that I've updated this little vision board with our actual reality.
That's right; in 21 months we have around 5,000 users and a smidge over 130,000 ratings. We're not even through the First Round.
But, we are here.
Which raises a fair question: where exactly is here?
For starters, here implies existence, which is pretty neat. As far as I'm aware, there aren't (m)any bootstrapped sports apps out there that aren't either thinly veiled gambling products or riddled with paywalls and ads.
From what I can tell, we're still the only show in town built around the lived experience of sports fandom.
So what have we been up to on our tiny slice of sports heaven? Where have we been?
I thought you'd never ask.
Without further ado, from the same guys that brought you "Your Year in Sports" I present, the first ever; Our Year in Sports
Save for a few sickos — myself included — sports fandom is seasonal. Our ratings follow suit. Go figure.
What's cool to see are the spikes in the EKG for when the games matter most.
This year gave us two championship Game 7s, and we're closing out an NFL regular season so good it prompted @nickduringtheday to ask a dangerous question: is this the best season ever?
That question turned into a video.
That video went viral.
And hundreds of new sports fans found their way to RateGame.
We're calling it #thebatemaneffect.
Fresh off a sensational World Series that gave us the longest postseason game in MLB history and a Game 7 that went to extras, baseball is absolutely having a moment.
That said, it would be downright naughty-list of me to not point out an important caveat: MLB, MLS, and the WNBA are the only major leagues whose seasons begin and end within the calendar year. The league currently leading the clubhouse in most ratings also happens to play the most games.
Raw totals tell only part of the story.
To get the full picture, I divided total ratings by the number of games played in each league this year. The result is a simple but revealing metric: ratings per game.
With the rating field leveled, the takeaway is obvious and affirmed: the NFL exists on a different planet when it comes to fan engagement.
At over 42 ratings per game, the NFL generates nearly 3x that of the next closest league. And that runnerup - the FIFA Club World Cup - isn't even a league at all. It's a short, high stakes tournament. That contrast should tell you everything you need to know. If you're wanting more, I drew a green arrow and wrote "insane", hope that helps.
When games are scarce and stakes are high, we will, we will - watch you.
Whenever, wherever; we're goin full Shakira with it. Sorry I can't help myself.
The top two countries make sense but some of the others are wildcards and must be celebrated.
Poland at number 3 and Sweden at 6 are of equal intrigue. Perhaps an athlete or two of respective heritage is making it worth their while over here in the Americas, but no one jumps out at me the way Luka Magic does for Slovenia in seventh.
And then there's the fact that 126 countries have logged at least 1 rating. Someone in Mongolia has used RateGame. I thought this could be wrong so I started searching "Mon" and look at this beauty:
10/10 username. One rating. No notes. No take. No tag for how they experienced the game...because it did not yet exist...we shipped it in June.
Since then, tagging has quietly become one of the most adopted features we've ever shipped — the strongest signal of intent we've seen since the Vault was permanently unlocked.
That's right, us sports fans want sport games and we'll take em any way we can get em. No team too small or game too big.
Behold! Our methods of consumption:
Some games you watch from pregame intros to postgame interviews. Others you catch through highlights, drop in late, or keep an ear on while on the go. Sometimes, if you're lucky enough, you're there in person.
Unless it's the Jets. If you willingly choose to spend your time on this earth watching the New York Jets play football in the year 2025, please pause and touch grass. This is a wellness check. Get ahold of yourself.
But the Jets rant is actually kind of the point.
As sports fans, we already know the who and the why. We know who we are. We know why we care. None of this data is here to explain that. It never could.
What this year shows instead is everything else; the what, the when, and the where.
The how we manage to fit sports into our lives as it unfolds.
Because even after all of this — even after everything the Jets have done — we know exactly what comes next. I'll be back. Mock drafting Mendoza. Convincing myself this time is different. Ready for another season and I will hardly be alone.
This is how fandom works; short memory, long loyalty.
We do it because the lows are never really that low and the hope for the highs is enough to last years. Decades even.
Good thing we now have a place to share our lives in sports.
For better or worse.
For the love of the game.
Sincerely a Sports Fan,
Nick
nick@rategame.io
