Cookies and storage · Pitchside Lab

This site sets no cookies unless you sign in to an account; then it sets one, to keep you signed in. It also keeps a few things in your browser’s own storage so the features you use can work. Nothing here tracks you, and nothing is shared with anyone.

The one cookie: signing in

Signed in (pl_session): set when you open a sign-in link, so the Account page and your pass know it is you. Kept for a year on that device, renewed each visit, or until you sign out. Scripts on the page cannot read it, it is only sent over a secure connection, and other sites cannot use it. Without an account this cookie is never set.

When you pay, you are on the secure checkout of Whop, our payment provider. Whop sets its own cookies there, under Whop’s privacy policy. They are not set on this site.

What is stored in your browser

Kept on this device until you remove it, or clear it below:

Your starred matches (pl.stars): the matches you starred. Kept until you remove the star; old matches drop off after two weeks.
Your alert choices (pl.speak, pl.pushsent, pl.pushoff): the switches on the Alerts page, the choices last sent to our server, and whether you turned alerts off on this device. While match alerts are on, your choices and your starred matches are also kept on our server to send them (see Privacy).
AI desk device label (pl.device): a random label that counts your free questions for the day. Used for nothing else.
The plan you chose (pl.buy): when you choose a plan or a pass on the Passes page, which one, kept for two hours so the account page opens it after you sign in. Never sent anywhere.
Whether you have full access (pl.access, this tab only, and only while full access is on sale): yes or no, kept five minutes so a tap on a page of full access can show the offer at once. Never sent anywhere; gone when the tab closes.
Matches you opened lately (pl.recent): the last twenty match pages opened on this device, for the list on My desk. Never sent anywhere.
The AI reads you asked for (ps-ai-seen): which match analyses you have asked to see, for the newest 300 matches, so they open at once next time.
Read aloud (ps-listen): only if you open a page with the read-aloud trial switched on; it remembers that choice.
That you closed the app bar (pitchside:install-bar-closed-2): when you close the bar that offers the app on a phone, so it stays away for three days.
That you have seen the privacy notice (pl.notice): so the notice below is shown once.

Deleted when you close the tab:

AI desk conversation (pl.ask.turns): your last few questions and answers, so the chat survives moving between pages.
The live scores you last saw (pl.live): a copy of the live list, used for up to half an hour, so a page you open next shows the latest scores at once.
Where you were (pitchside:record-result, pitchside:season-panel with the league page’s address): which result or season tab to return you to.

The site’s app worker also keeps the site’s own files — styles, script, fonts, the brand’s images and the page shown when there is no signal — in your browser’s cache, so pages open quickly. It never keeps scores, pages or anything about you.

All of it is first-party: set by this site, read only by this site.

The notice on your first visit

On your first visit a short notice, “Your privacy”, appears at the foot of the page. It says what is stored and links here, and it has one button, OK. It asks for no choice, because it is a notice, not a consent request: nothing listed above waits for it, and pressing OK only stores that you have seen it (pl.notice), so it is not shown again on this device.

Why a notice and not a consent choice

The law asks for consent before storing anything that is not needed for what you asked the site to do. Everything above, the sign-in cookie included, is needed for a feature you chose to use, so we tell you about it instead of asking.

If that changes

If we ever add analytics or advertising, nothing will be stored until you choose. Rejecting will be exactly as easy as accepting: one click, the same size button, on the first screen. You will be able to change your mind at any time from a “Cookie settings” link on every page, and this page will list every item by name first.

Clear it

You can remove everything this site has stored in your browser now, the app worker’s files included. Your stars and alert choices on this device will be lost; match alerts you turned on keep coming until you turn them off on the Alerts page. The sign-in cookie cannot be read by the page, so it is removed by signing out on the Account page.