What Is Robn?

Robn is a content community with irreverent coverage of the intersection of sports, business and culture. It produces written, social and podcast content and offers both free and paid subscriptions.

It is also known for its weekly Sports Prediction Tournaments. Robn runs these Tournaments as a promotional vehicle to incentivize the purchase of subscriptions to its coverage, and to retain existing subscribers.

Its earliest Tournaments were for college basketball and college football, but Robn now offers Tournaments across other leagues such as the NFL, MLB, the NBA and PGA Tour.

Click here for a continuously updated schedule of all upcoming Robn Tournaments across all sports.

What Happened To "Onions"

Until Dec. 31, 2023, Robn was called "Onions," and existed in email-only form largely as a community of Bill Raftery appreciators.

The name Onions had to change because Raftery has trademarked the term aggressively. So, Robn (and robnsports.com) was born.

The name "Robn" is designed to be universal enough to reflect the type of broad community that it believes sports discussions and sports predictions should, but often do not, foster.

Also, who doesn't like a Robn? It conveys chirping and seeds, which are two things most people can reasonably agree to support.

Why Does Robn Exist?

The "intersection of sports, business and culture" really needed another blog and associated podcast.

Robn believes:

• Those in modern society are increasingly isolated from one another and increasingly crave in-person connection;
• Coverage of sports is increasingly centered about manufactured drama to increase ratings an attention, and therefore appeals to people's baser senses in a polarizing and unintellectual way; and
• Sports betting is an inherently for-profit business where "the house" and the customer compete against one another, so most customer experiences are definitionally anti-customer and are either entirely isolative or rarely foster in-person relationships or community.

Robn exists in order to:

• Establish a dedicated community where participants meet one another and have actual interpersonal, human connection with other participants, and with those who run Robn itself; and
• Develop coverage at the intersection of sports, business and culture that is unconcerned with ratings and attention, has no agenda, isn't designed to provoke, and doesn't make readers actively dumber; and
• Provide through its Tournaments and through in-person activations a legal, more fun, more responsible, more affordable, and more interpersonally engaging alternative to traditional sports betting for participants.

What Is A Prediction Tournament?

Prediction Tournaments are a promotional vehicle Robn uses to help incentivize people to subscribe to its content.

Tournaments are free to enter, and are open to current paying subscribers or to those who complete an Alternative Free Method of Entry.

For more on Prediction Tournaments, read this summary post linked below.

Robn Prediction Tournaments - What They Are, How To Play

How Robn’s Sports Prediction Tournaments work.

RobnSportsThe Commissioner

Updated Tournament Play

Some additional elements of Prediction Tournament gameplay include:

• No Balance Allocation: Contestants no longer have fluctuating balances that they allocate across one or more predictions. They simply make predictions for each game or market that is provided on the card each week. Correct predictions earn a pre-determined amount of points. Incorrect predictions earn no points.
• No Winnings: Contestants start with 0 points and accumulate them over the course of a Tournament. Contestants' point totals only either stay flat, or go up. Therefore, contestants shall no longer receive their "obituaries" for losing their entire "balance" because there is no balance that they can run out of. One’s amount of points determines one's place in the standings, whereas before, one's gained or lost "balance" determined their place. The goal is to generate more points than your competitors generate.
• Week-To-Week Play and No Elimination: Contestants that complete a valid method of entry (VMOE) can choose to play or not play during whatever Tournaments for which they have completed a VMOE. Missing a week or a Tournament no longer results in one's disqualification and "obituary."
• Valid Methods of Entry: In order to play, contestants must complete a valid method of entry. Unless otherwise posted, the valid methods of entry for any Tournament are 1) enacting, already having, or renewing a paid subscription to robnsports.com, or 2) submitting an Alternative Method of Entry
• Entry Codes: When a contestant completes a valid method of entry, they receive a one-time Entry Code for that Tournament. Entry Codes are unique to the contestant receiving them. A contestant must submit their Entry Code at the time they submit each of their weekly predictions cards in order for their card to be considered valid. The point of an Entry Code is to demonstrate that a contestant has committed a valid method of entry, and therefore, has qualified to play in the Tournament.
• Visibility To Others' Predictions: Contestants no longer have visibility into everyone's predictions until after the weekly submission deadline for the respective Tournament.
• Nicknames Are Awards: Instead of awarding nicknames to Contestants who are "eliminated," we'll award nicknames to those that affirmatively reach a certain winnings threshold over the course of the season. Think of it as a perk of success rather than an etching on a coffin.

For full information on each Tournament, please see the applicable Tournament Rules.

How Do I Get In Touch With Robn?

Either email commissioner@playrobn.com, support@playrobn.com and will@playrobn.com to help ensure emails sent from these addresses not go to your spam.