California regulators have ordered youth sports media company PlayOn Sports to pay a $1.1 million fine and change its data practices after finding that the firm improperly tracked students and event attendees for advertising purposes.
The decision follows a 2024 investigation by the CPPA’s Enforcement Division into the company’s data practices on its digital platforms. Regulators found that PlayOn used tracking technologies, such as cookies, persistent trackers, and advertising pixels, including Meta Pixel, to collect personal information from users and share it with advertising, social media, and analytics partners for targeted advertising.
According to the agency, PlayOn required visitors to click “Agree” on a tracking consent banner before they could access key features on its websites. On mobile devices, the banner sometimes blocked the area of the screen needed to display a digital ticket, forcing attendees to accept tracking to enter school events.
PlayOn Sports, legally known as 2080 Media Inc., is an Atlanta-based technology company focused on high school sports and youth events. Through platforms such as GoFan (Android, iOS), MaxPreps, and the NFHS Network, the company provides ticketing, live streaming, and event management tools for schools and sports organizations.
Its GoFan platform allows schools to sell digital tickets for sporting events, theater performances, dances, and other school activities, with attendees presenting tickets on their smartphones at the venue.
The company has a large presence in California, where about 1,400 schools use its services. GoFan is also the official ticketing platform for the California Interscholastic Federation (CIF), the governing body for high school athletics in the state.
Privacy violations identified
Regulators said PlayOn violated the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) in several ways between January 2023 and December 2024.
The company failed to provide an effective way for users to opt out of the sale or sharing of their personal data, instead directing users to external industry opt-out tools. It also failed to recognize browser-based opt-out signals and maintained an outdated privacy policy that incorrectly claimed the company did not sell consumer data.
Under the settlement, PlayOn must pay a $1.1 million administrative fine and implement compliance changes, including conducting privacy risk assessments, improving opt-out mechanisms, and ensuring notices are written in language understandable to the students and families using the service.
The action is part of a broader push by California regulators to enforce the state’s privacy laws. In January 2026, the CPPA also penalized data brokers Datamasters and S&P Global under the Delete Act for failing to comply with registration and data protection requirements.
Datamasters was ordered to stop selling Californians’ personal data after regulators found it marketed lists of individuals categorized by sensitive health conditions, while S&P Global was fined for operating as a data broker without registering with the state.
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