🥎 A City Government Votes For Stay-To-Play

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Public scrutiny of the youth sports industry has largely been distilled into one topic in recent months — stay-to-play.

The concept is easy to understand. Hotel booking is a universal experience, regardless of personal ties to youth sports. The practice has drawn lawmakers’ ire and spurred a pair of federal lawsuits. It became a “South Park” punchline this week. And, for the most part, it is presented as an example of private equity and other for-profit operators running amok at the expense of families— the literal focus of the proposed Let Kids Play Act.

But like with almost every other popular industry-related debate and narrative, stay-to-play is far more nuanced than typically presented.

Case in point: The recently-proposed $117M youth sports and entertainment complex in Alexandria, Virginia, which will be a public-private partnership between the city and ALX Sports, a new non-profit organization backed by the Alexandria Soccer Association.

Among the deal terms: City officials are mandating ALX Sports enforce stay-to-play policies for complex events to “ensure anticipated  visitor-driven fiscal benefits are realized.”

The city will also require ALX Sports to share naming rights revenues and hit quotas for the "number, type, and attendance of national, regional and local events.”

And if the numbers do not hit the targets? It’s on the non-profit to cover the difference.

Our Take: We have a city right down the road from Capitol Hill going on the record to co-sign many arguments and points that stay-to-play advocates make:

That last point is perhaps the most important one. The city has made it crystal clear that it will be made whole. And if stay-to-play does not get it across the financial finish line, then ALX Sports will.

Play that out: The non-profit would likely then need to increase rental fees. Or registration fees or admission and parking fees or the cost of hot dogs at the snack shack. However it shakes out, the burden would then almost assuredly get passed down to families. This is also why STP policies come with buyout fees — another popular bugaboo for detractors.

Put more bluntly — while there are rational arguments to be made on both sides about the volume of travel in youth sports, the reality is that stay-to-play economics subsidize the very existence of many facilities that provide much-needed local infrastructure outside of the large tournaments they host.

That said, good actors in the industry agree that stay-to-play practices must be transparent and need to deliver actual savings for families.

But this situation in Alexandria is a reminder that reflexively ascribing the practice to deception and greed - or more specifically, private equity - as some have, is often on off-base, or misses part of the story.

As for the project details: The proposed site is a regional park that currently hosts a seasonal water park and related attractions.

The city plans to issue $107M in bonds to fund the project with ALX Sports pledging to raise the other $10M. The non-profit will manage the complex under a 30-year lease with annual rent starting at $2.5M.

The city said it projects the complex will generate $160M in revenues for public services over the lifetime of the lease, including $20M toward affordable housing.

The complex would be within “a day’s drive” for about 50% of the U.S. population, according to the proposal, citing a 10-hour driving radius.

Stay tuned: City leaders held an initial public forum last night that reportedly was “heated” at times with “pointed questions” from residents. There will be several more public events leading up to a potential city council vote in mid-January.

Youth sports doesn’t need another company trying to own everything. It needs great companies that work together.

For more than a decade, EventConnect has powered the group travel, housing and data behind some of the largest events in youth sports.

But our vision is bigger than another all-in-one platform.

We’re leading the way in open integrations, technology built around your brand, better data, stronger partnerships, and the flexibility to work within the systems you already use.

You shouldn’t have to move your business into our ecosystem to work with us. We’ll meet you in yours.

Sometimes that looks like EventConnect. Sometimes it doesn’t look like us at all.

The future of youth sports won’t be built by one company. It will be built by an industry that works better together.

Let’s build it.

Related: John D’Orsay and Eric Vardon of EventConnect discussed the need for more transparency and more on stay-to-play on the podcast earlier this week.

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The long-running satirical animated show — Season 29! — lampooned the industry this week with “We Be Clubbin.’”

Some of the beats the episode hits: Admission and parking fees, frequent travel, stay-to-play, parents drinking at events, live streaming, overloaded athlete backpacks, the difference between team levels and the rat race to make sure kids are not “left behind” in terms of their college futures.

You can get the gist from this (hilarious but very NSFW) montage clip found here.

We often talk about elite youth sports’ potential as a media property.

But it is still the Little League World Series, a big gap, and then everything else.

Could the Futures Basketball League break through? Co-founder and chairman Jason Stein believes it can. He said seeing future college and pro stars compete when they are young is akin to “watching lightning in a bottle.”

“I spend so much time watching 12-year-olds play baseball on ESPN in August, and I absolutely love it,” Stein told Buying Sandlot, referring to the LLWS.

“If there is that much interest in 12-year-olds playing baseball, then there has to be at least the same, if not significantly more interest, in a 16-year-old Cooper Flagg playing a 15-year-old A.J. Dybantsa, right?”

Stein said early conversations with potential media partners have been productive. He thinks FBL’s April-to-August season will also be an asset, as its games will fall during a slower part of the sports calendar.

“I think it’s going to be an incredible entertainment property,” he said.

Athlete To Athlete — which connects college and youth athletes for mentorship programs — has wrapped up an $8M Series A round.

Rally Ventures led the round behind operating partner and Otto Sport AI CEO Luke Zaientz, joining Ankored, Bond Sports and Otto in Rally’s sports tech portfolio.

Newbound VC, UpHonest Capital and Scrum Ventures also participated in the round.

Athlete To Athlete was founded by former UCLA athletes Zach Maisus and Anthony Waller. It offers 12- and 24-week mentorship programs “designed to build confidence, resilience and habits that extend beyond athletics,” with the college athletes receiving NIL compensation.

The funding will go toward "expanding partnerships across youth sports, strengthen protections for young athletes and scale its mentorship platform to reach more families across the nation."

Former MLB star Alex Rodriguez and the hospitality management firm will partner on the second A-Rod Invitational next year.

The event will be June 10-13, 2027 at Fields at Station 63 in Mansfield, Texas; the event focuses on “teaching the game the right way, starting with fundamentals, player development and a love of baseball."

Fields at Station 63 has become one of the top baseball venues in the southwest; KemperSports also has a deal with Perfect Game to run dozens of events there.

Former New York Giants star Tiki Barber and his wife, Traci Johnson, are launching a new Audacy podcast focused on their experiences as competitive cheerleading parents and youth sports in general.

"Double Down on Cheer with Tiki and Traci" debuts today. The weekly show “will dive into the high-stakes world of competitive cheerleading, youth sports parenting, and elite travel athletics.”

A Michigan man allegedly defecated in a high school hallway during a rivalry football game.

The man — a Bedford High parent — is accused of entering Grosse Point South High without permission last Friday while the teams played a district title game.

Security footage shows the man enter the school through a door that was open for a band concert. He then walked past several bathrooms before going on the floor, according to WWJ.

The man reportedly told police he had a medical emergency. An investigation is still ongoing, but cops told WXYZ they will likely press charges.

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