Scott Jellen

Independent Researcher · Protocol Designer

I design protocols and reference infrastructure for representing rights, incentives, and systems as structured, interoperable data. My flagship work, the Universal Sports Graph (USG), defines a neutral framework for modeling sports rights through published RFCs, a versioned registry, and a working resolver. Alongside USG, I publish memos and whitepapers exploring how representation and incentive design shape scalable public and private systems.

Featured Paper: The Universal Sports Graph

The Universal Sports Graph defines a neutral interoperability standard for live sports: a rights registry, a universal Access API, and a league-governed clearinghouse that reconcile revenue and audit logs. By treating broadcast rights as structured data and access as an API, the Graph converts fragmentation into incremental revenue without cannibalizing subscriptions—transforming sports distribution from a patchwork of apps into shared infrastructure. The model introduces $4.99 day-passes, a 40 / 40 / 20 revenue split, and phased governance toward a global, regulator-aligned standard.

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Cover for The Universal Sports Graph

Start Here

This page provides two entry points into the work. The first introduces the Universal Sports Graph (USG) and its underlying protocol architecture. The second shows how the same systems thinking is applied to public policy and institutional design.

Path 1

Flagship Protocol Path

Start with the core USG paper, then move into the formal specification and reference infrastructure.

1
The Universal Sports Graph

Begin with the blueprint whitepaper introducing USG as a neutral protocol stack for representing sports rights as structured, interoperable data.

2
RFC 0001 — The Universal Sports Graph

Then read the formal protocol specification defining the architecture, scope, and system logic of USG.

3
USG Reference Registry

Explore the canonical data layer: structured records, stable identifiers, schema-backed objects, and versioned registry state.

4
USG Resolver

Finally, see the read-only reference surface that resolves canonical USG records without introducing platform logic or service guarantees.

Path 2

Policy / Institutional Design Path

Start with the core policy paper, then move through implementation and legislative formalization.

1
The Shutdown Stabilizer

Begin with the whitepaper reframing government shutdowns as a structural credit problem in which essential workers extend involuntary credit to the state.

2
Implementation Outline

Then read the operational framework showing how payroll continuity could activate, execute, and reconcile during a shutdown.

3
Draft Legislative Language

Finally, review the statute-readable draft translating the mechanism into a portable legislative surface.

The rest of the work expands on these foundations across protocols, policy, and institutional design.

Featured Paper: The Shutdown Stabilizer

A policy brief proposing a narrowly scoped continuity mechanism that preserves payroll for essential federal workers during government shutdowns, preventing them from functioning as involuntary short-term creditors of the federal government.

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Cover for The Shutdown Stabilizer by Scott Jellen

Protocols

Standards-track protocol specifications for the Universal Sports Graph (USG), including RFC documents, machine-validated schemas, and a versioned reference registry.

referenceFeb 2, 2026

USG Reference Resolver (v0.1)

Minimal Read-Only Identifier Resolution Service

A reference implementation enabling deterministic resolution of canonical Universal Sports Graph (USG) identifiers against a pinned registry snapshot. The resolver is read-only, non-production, and exists solely to make the protocol inspectable in practice.

referenceJan 5, 2026

USG Reference Registry

Canonical Identifiers & Metadata for USG Implementations (v0.1.1)

The USG Reference Registry v0.1.1 is a patch release that hardens the reference registry with CI-enforced schema validation, referential integrity checks, and deterministic dependency resolution. No registry semantics or identifiers were changed. This release marks the first CI-enforced, pilot-ready registry snapshot aligned with RFC 0003 (USG Registry Architecture), providing a reproducible data layer for entitlement validation, rights resolution, and settlement workflows.

RFC 0003standardsDec 15, 2025

USG Registry Architecture

Standards-Track Specification for Canonical Sports Rights Registries

RFC 0003 defines the Registry Architecture for the Universal Sports Graph (USG). It normatively specifies registry object models, canonical identifiers, lifecycle and versioning semantics, deterministic JSON formatting, SHA-256 integrity requirements, index structures, federation and authority rules, key registry integration, and validation requirements. This RFC formalizes how USG registries are structured, validated, and federated in pilot and production implementations.

referenceDec 8, 2025

USG Reference Registry

Canonical Identifiers & Metadata for USG Implementations (v0.1.0)

The USG Reference Registry provides the first canonical dataset of leagues, teams, venues, broadcasters, rights bundles, and events for the Universal Sports Graph. It defines stable identifiers, schema-backed JSON records, deterministic formatting, machine-generated indexes, and registry-level metadata aligned with RFC 0001 and RFC 0002. This artifact anchors entitlement validation, rights resolution, and clearinghouse settlement in real-world implementations.

RFC 0002standardsDec 1, 2025

USG Entitlement Token Profile

A Standards-Track Specification for Tokenized Sports Access

This RFC defines the USG Entitlement Token Profile, a standards-track specification for issuing, validating, and enforcing tokenized authorization within the Universal Sports Graph. It provides mandatory claims, optional extensions, security and privacy requirements, replay protection, error semantics, and verification logic for interoperable sports access.

RFC 0001informationalNov 9, 2025

The Universal Sports Graph

A Protocol for Rights, Reach, and Real-Time Access

This RFC defines the Universal Sports Graph (USG), a neutral interoperability framework for sports rights registration, tokenized access, and clearinghouse settlement. It treats broadcast rights as structured data to enable transparent distribution, programmable contracts, and federated sports access.

Briefs

Structured orientation documents supporting active standards and registry programs, with explicit scope and non-goals.

Legislative Draft5 min read

The Shutdown Stabilizer Act

Draft legislative language for payroll continuity during federal shutdowns

A legislative draft establishing a Treasury Payroll Continuity Authority to maintain payroll for essential federal employees during shutdowns. Defines authority, activation, payment, reconciliation, safeguards, and capacity in statute-readable form.

Implementation Brief6 min read

The Shutdown Stabilizer Implementation Outline

Operational framework for payroll continuity during federal shutdowns

A policy implementation outline establishing a Treasury Payroll Continuity Authority to maintain payroll for essential federal employees during shutdowns. Payments are treated as temporary advances and reconciled automatically once appropriations are restored.

Orientation Memov1.0.16 min read

Why Sports Rights Need Neutral Infrastructure

Foundational orientation memo

A short orientation memo explaining why recurring sports rights failures are structural rather than contractual, and why neutral representation infrastructure is a necessary precondition for coordination. This memo provides context for the USG protocol stack and related work.

Pilot Briefv1.012 min read

The Universal Sports Graph — Pilot Brief

A single-season, league-platform pilot for the Universal Sports Graph.

An 8-page implementation brief translating the USG whitepaper and RFC 0001 into a real-world pilot: rights schema v0.1, Access API stub, clearinghouse sandbox, governance structure, KPIs, and next steps for running a 2026 single-season, $4.99 day-pass pilot between a league and a streaming platform.

• Supplement to DOI 10.5281/zenodo.17537287
Foundational Memo12 min read

The Human, the Robot, and the Fire

A foundational memo on Humanity First Platforms

A foundational platform memo unifying multiple whitepapers into a single thesis: that the platforms replacing our institutions must be redesigned for humanity, not just scale. Introduces Humanity First Platforms and outlines core design patterns for building, governing, and sustaining next-generation systems.

Design Briefv1.08 min read

Public Spec #1: Surface "Surprise Me" at the System Level on Xbox

A system-level design brief for content discovery on Xbox

A public design brief examining how elevating Xbox's existing "Surprise Me" feature to the system level could reduce choice fatigue, improve engagement, and surface latent value across the Xbox ecosystem. The brief treats interface affordances as system primitives rather than isolated UI features.

Whitepapers

Independent whitepapers modeling industries and public systems through interoperability and protocol design.

Cover for The Sports Spin-Off

The Sports Spin-Off

A Long-Term Hedging Strategy for Higher Ed Institutions Facing Demographic Decline

Published: 04/17/2025

Updated: 01/04/2026

DOIRead

Latest Updates

The Shutdown Stabilizer Act: Draft Legislative Language

Published draft legislative language for the Shutdown Stabilizer, translating the implementation outline into statute-readable form. The document defines a Treasury Payroll Continuity Authority with automatic activation during shutdowns, continued payroll execution for essential employees, and post-appropriation reconciliation. Designed as a minimal, portable draft that could be adopted or adapted without additional interpretation.

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The Shutdown Stabilizer Implementation Outline

Published a structured implementation outline translating the Shutdown Stabilizer into an operational framework. The document defines how payroll continuity for essential federal employees could be maintained during government shutdowns through a limited Treasury authority, with automatic activation, standard payroll execution, and post-shutdown reconciliation. Designed as a policy implementation artifact, it removes ambiguity between concept and execution.

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The Shutdown Stabilizer

Released The Shutdown Stabilizer, a policy-oriented whitepaper reframing government shutdowns as a structural credit problem, where essential federal workers extend involuntary credit to the state. Proposes a standing payroll continuity mechanism to preserve compensation during funding lapses and reconcile once appropriations resume.

Why Sports Rights Need Neutral Infrastructure (v1.0.1)

Published 'Why Sports Rights Need Neutral Infrastructure' — a foundational orientation memo clarifying that recurring sports rights failures are structural modeling gaps rather than contractual disputes. The memo defines neutral representation infrastructure as a necessary precondition for coordination and situates the Universal Sports Graph (USG) as a representational layer, not a market intervention. v1.0.1 formalizes this document as the canonical Layer-0 orientation surface for the USG stack.

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About

Independent Researcher & Protocol Designer

I'm an independent researcher focused on how rights, incentives, and access are structured and where those structures break down at scale. My work develops protocol-oriented models, schemas, and standards-style documents that make institutional systems legible, testable, and improvable through clearer architecture.

My background is in software and interface design, and I continue to approach problems through those lenses: treating systems as interfaces, tracing constraints, and analyzing how small structural decisions compound into large institutional outcomes. I prototype selectively, but my primary work operates at the level of protocol design, systems modeling, and rights architecture rather than application-layer products.

My flagship project is the Universal Sports Graph (USG), a standards-grade framework for representing sports rights, entitlement structures, and interoperable distribution. USG spans published RFC-style specifications, JSON schemas, and a versioned reference registry of rights objects designed to support validation, resolution, and neutral interoperability. Beyond USG, I maintain a cohesive research corpus—whitepapers, briefs, and RFCs—that examines how modern institutions behave when incentives are explicit, interfaces are well-defined, and system design prioritizes long-term coherence over short-term optimization.

Let's Talk

I'm open to thoughtful conversations with people who have spent time with my work and see genuine overlap with something they're building, funding, or exploring. My focus sits at the intersection of software, systems, and institutional design, particularly where clarity, incentives, and infrastructure matter.

Get in Touch

The best way to reach me is by email or LinkedIn. I'm most interested in discussions around protocol design, front-end systems as interfaces to complex infrastructure, and applying structured models to real-world institutional problems.

You can reach me through:

The Approach

Scott Jellen is an independent researcher focused on protocol design, rights modeling, and interoperability across digital and public systems. His flagship work, the Universal Sports Graph (USG), defines a neutral infrastructure layer for representing sports rights through published RFCs and a versioned reference registry. Additional briefs and whitepapers explore how incentive clarity and structural design shape scalable institutions.

© 2026 Scott Jellen. Licensing varies by publication.

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