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This is Buying Sandlot — the only newsletter that focuses solely on the business of youth sports.
Let’s get to it.
In the email today:
🍽️ A Game Plan For The Postgame Meal
Stephen Barr joked there are two things he and every other travel youth sports parent does each weekend:
Make sure the kids have everything they need to play and figure out where you are going to eat after.
Barr hopes to make the latter easier. He recently launched Team to Table, a portal for crowd-sourced context and information on local, non-fast-food restaurants near youth sports venues nationwide.
Barr said some parents have built shareable spreadsheets by hand over the years, but the end result still tends to be more trips to a burger chain or the gas station for unhealthy meals.
“I think this is a global team sport issue, and I’m just trying to make it a better place,” he told Buying Sandlot. “A lot of times you’ll look in the area, find a restaurant you think is good, you give them a call and tell them you have 18 people and they say, ‘No, we can’t do that, sorry.’ And then you’re scrambling.”
TTT’s search areas are much more geographically compact than Google Maps’ gatling gun of listings, focusing on eateries close to facilities and info relevant to youth sports families.
Is the restaurant good for a family meal?
Can it handle small groups? Large ones?
Easy parking?
Quick service?
Flexible menu options?
Split checks?
Capable of repeat business?
Users can also vet and correct older listings if they discover information is outdated, like a restaurant closing or changing formats.
TTT’s website is live and an app is expected to launch next month. The site is free to use; Barr views it as “more of a public service,” but he is considering potential monetization options like limited advertising to help cover infrastructure and server costs.
“It’s not Yelp, it’s not Google Reviews,” Barr said. “It’s, ‘Did this work for me?’”
I have covered the NCAA Wrestling Championships several times. Almost every city was wildly unprepared for people to leave the arena between 8-10 p.m. local time and want to eat and drink.
Restaurants were closed. Hotel bars were understaffed. The only places still live on Uber Eats were Domino’s and a dive bar a half-hour from downtown that was charging $18 for a microwaved quesadilla.
If these towns — all have major professional sports teams, one even hosted a Super Bowl — could not meet the demand, you can only imagine some of the struggles youth sports families will encounter in much smaller locales at odd hours after a long day of games.
Barr said TTT can also impact local economies. He envisions a scenario where the platform can help inform restaurants about upcoming youth sports events in their area so they can plan accordingly to accommodate an influx of visitors.
🏟️ Only 1 Week Remains For Early Bird Tickets
Ticket prices for the Buying Sandlot Summit will increase on January 31. Early bird tickets are $599 and include 2-days of programming and networking with a who’s who of youth sports + our evening event at the amazing Ballers (pictured here). All meals, dinner, drinks included in early bird pricing.
🏈 Flag50 Launches Major Redesign
The flag football-focused tech platform — and prior Buying Sandlot sponsor — has completely rebuilt its front- and back-end systems.
Flag50 has also introduced a new logo and brand identity.
The new platform provides league owners and operators with unified management tools and enhances user experiences for athletes, families and fans.
Scheduling
Real-time game operations
Scoring
Standings
Data
Easier access to live scores
Game updates and content
Flag50 said it plans further expansion this year, including a move into additional sports. It will also roll out deeper analytics, enhanced engagement tools and new partnerships.
🤠 A Texas Two-Step
Kyle mentioned the other day that one of our goals this year is dig in on the impacts of when the Youth Sports Facilities Arms Race™ brings two or more venues to the same general area.
We may be about to get an excellent case study in the Dallas suburbs.
Garland (population of about 250K) and Rowlett (about 68K) sit about five miles apart.
They both could soon have major, intertwined multi-use districts anchored by youth soccer complexes.
Garland was set to build a $70M complex in partnership with Atletico Dallas; the USL expansion club and its academy were going to run the facility and have the pro team train there
Garland pulled the plug last fall; officials said the deal’s structure ensured an insufficient return on the city’s investment
Atletico Dallas has since pivoted to a complex/entertainment district project in Rowlett; no price tag has been mentioned yet
Garland has revived the soccer complex and now also wants an entertainment district; it is currently seeking an operator with hopes to begin work this year
Quick Take: There is undoubtedly enough local demand for that many fields in a small footprint. But the name of the game is tournament traffic for 40-something weeks a year. We should learn a great deal about how the marketplace reacts if both projects come to fruition.
🧱 More Youth Sports Facilities News
Apple Valley, Minnesota: The Twin Cities suburb is building a $7M complex with four baseball and softball diamonds. The venue will have batting cages, covered dugouts and field lights. There will also be flexibility to host football, lacrosse and soccer.
Fairborn, Ohio: A master plan to overhaul decades-old facilities and fields has been established in the Dayton suburb. Eight baseball diamonds and a football field will be overhauled; some grass fields will be converted to turf.
Kalamazoo, Michigan: Officials said a proposed indoor facility remains on track despite being denied a variance to cut down tree near the project site. The $40m complex will be funded by an assessment on local hotels.
Panama City Beach, Florida: New turf fields have opened at Publix Sports Park. Football and softball events are expected to generate close to $4M in direct economic impact for the vacation destination.
Rapid City, South Dakota: Voters soundly rejected a $125M tax increment financing district to build a mixed use development based around a resort and theme park near Mount Rushmore. Officials said they will now hone in on a proposed $50M indoor youth sports complex.
⚾️ One Less Headache For Little League International
The Trump Administration has classified all Little League World Series events as “major sporting events,” which means teams from countries currently subject to visa bans will be able to participate.
Recall: The State Department denied visas last summer for a Venezuelan team to compete in LL’s Senior World Series (ages 13-16), but another team from the country was able to gain visas for the main LLWS a few weeks later.
There are still questions about whether LLI will be allowed to charter leagues in Cuba this year, though — the organization would need to receive federal approval due to existing sanctions.
Also: LLI received a $7M grant from the Easton Foundation to fund facilities upgrades in Williamsport. LLI has not yet announced how it will specifically deploy the funds.
🏓 Buy Stock In Ping-Pong?
The Athletic published a fascinating look at table tennis yesterday, revealing that research done in recent years has concluded the sport may alter brain function and structure and help people live longer. The piece then takes it a step further and makes the case that playing ping-pong could be critical to athletic development. You can read the full piece here.
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Good game.