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:
🐻 Black Bear Sports Group Sued Over Stay To Play
A group of parents has filed a class action lawsuit in Delaware federal court alleging the youth hockey company engaged in “deceptive, unconscionable, and unfair” stay-to-play practices in connection with tournaments it runs.
Almeida Law Group — which is leading the federal STP lawsuit against Team Travel Source — is also representing the plaintiffs in the BBSG case. It is joined by Peiffer Wolf Carr Kane Conway & Wise LLP (also involved in the TTS case) and DeLeeuw Law LLC.
The plaintiffs allege Black Bear and its competition brands — Defender Hockey Tournaments, Tier 1 Hockey Federation and National Girls Hockey League — told parents there are no exceptions to its stay-to-play policy, but did not disclose buyout options or that only 80% of a team’s players must comply with the policy.
The lawsuit also alleges the policy forced parents to pay inflated hotel rates and junk fees. It makes many of the same arguments as the Team Travel Source lawsuit, but is different as it targets the operator that set the policy, rather than the housing firm that facilitates it.
“We are bringing a case against Black Bear because there are layers of deception in these situations,” Almeida partner and attorney Karen Dahlberg O’Connell told Buying Sandlot.
“People don't even know that they're dealing with Black Bear. And I believe that's by design, because people don't want to deal with Black Bear. … I think at the end of the day, it just all comes down to deception and consumers’ feelings that they have no choice because they've been lied to and told that their kid is not going to be able to participate if they don't do what they're told and stay to play. What we're trying to do is stop Black Bear from using a child's roster spot as leverage over a parent’s credit card.”
Black Bear is being represented by former Maryland Attorney General Douglas Gansler, a partner at Greenberg Traurig. He provided this statement to Buying Sandlot:
“The allegations in this lawsuit are entirely without merit. There is no coercion or coverup, and plaintiffs are either misinformed or intentionally distorting the facts. Stay-to-play policies are clearly laid out on the league and tournament websites, and the contracts parents sign make clear that the organization receives rebates from participating hotels. Stay-to-play policies are used throughout competitive youth hockey and by USA Hockey, the sport's national governing board, to ensure adequate hotel rooms for participating teams and to create a better overall event experience for players. These policies are also used throughout other competitive youth sports for the same reasons. Plaintiffs are incorrectly citing a ‘buy-out’ policy and ‘80% participation’ rule for teams, neither of which exist. Exemptions are made on a case-by-case basis for very specific circumstances such as when room blocks are no longer available or if a team has a special need that a hotel can't accommodate. We will vigorously defend these policies -- which are nearly identical to USA Hockey and other competitive sports -- and expect to prevail against the three plaintiffs that brought this case.”
We hope to have more from Gansler next week, so stay tuned.
A few quick notes:
1) The spirit of the lawsuits is identical, but we now have the same attorneys attacking stay-to-play from opposite angles — the housing firm with Team Travel Source and the operator with Black Bear Sports Group. It will be interesting to see how they unfold on parallel tracks and whether they eventually intersect.
A smaller STP lawsuit against an operator was recently tossed, but that could be amended and re-filed at some point.
2) The alleged buyout option at issue could be something to watch. Putting aside the reasonable arguments that can be made for STP — matters of higher/lower rates and junk fees can be murky. But the buyout allegation is more black and white.
As one industry voice unconnected to these cases told me: Just because one family finds a cheaper rate on Expedia does not mean the other dozen families could secure the same rate, or would not be paying more without the policy.
3) The complaint mentions the Let Kids Play Act and media coverage of Black Bear and founder Murry Gunty, who is referred to as a “private equity veteran.” But the lawsuit stops short of alleging BBSG is owned by PE — which it denies — and does not mention Gunty’s Blackstreet Capital Holdings, which has an ownership stake in Black Bear according to federal court records. The complaint also references the Michigan Attorney General’s reported antitrust investigation into BBSG.
4) The plaintiffs are from Delaware, New Jersey and New York. The lawsuit aims to build the national class off Delaware’s consumer fraud laws with subclasses in the other states. Almeida has asked other potential plaintiffs to come forward, but said it is primarily looking for residents of Delaware and Massachusetts. Black Bear does not own rinks in Massachusetts, but teams from the state do compete on its platforms.
Venue could become a factor. Black Bear is incorporated in Delaware and has hockey operations in the state. But it is headquartered in Florida, although it does not have hockey operations there.
5) A quick update on the TTS case — the housing firm filed a motion to dismiss at the end of August and the plaintiffs now have until Sept. 30 to respond.
⛑️ How Data Is Becoming Youth Sports' Best Negotiating and Decision Making Tool*
Every injury that happens at your event, program, or facility creates a paper trail, whether you're tracking it or not. The question is whether that trail works for you.
Go4's certified athletic trainers document every injury through a HIPAA-compliant electronic medical record (EMR) system built specifically for sports settings. Whether you're running a single facility, a multi-site program, a league, a tournament series or an entire national governing body, each entry becomes a digital report parents and athletes can access, a permanent record stored for seven years, and a source of de-identified data that shows the real safety picture across your organization.
That data has two uses most operators haven't fully tapped yet.
The first is leverage. Organizations that can document consistent athletic trainer coverage, standardized injury response, and a clean historical record of how incidents were handled and resolved are in a stronger position when it's time to negotiate premiums or coverage terms with insurance brokers and carriers. Instead of walking into a renewal conversation with anecdotes, you walk in with records.
The second is direction. Rule changes, equipment requirements, and safety standards in youth sports are often built on assumption or gut feel about what's causing injuries. An EMR that captures data over multiple seasons gives operators and NGBs something more reliable to work from. Real patterns in when, where, and how injuries happen can inform smarter rule changes and safety policy instead of reactive ones.
For anyone responsible for athlete safety, whether at the facility level or the national governing body level, this is where it starts. Reach out to learn how Go4's EMR and injury documentation can strengthen your safety program, your data, and your position at the table.
*Sponsor
🏟️ Buying Sandlot Summit 2027: Save The Date
We’re running it back.
Save the date: May 4-5, 2027. Same city. Same location. New date… so save it. More details to come.
🤝 Two Big Dogs Team Up
The Sports Facilities Companies has launched a partnership with BSN Sports. It is SFC’s first-ever national sponsorship deal.
Eligible SFC venues will have access to the distribution giant’s offering via an opt-in structure:
Equipment
Apparel
Team shop solutions
Program support
Brand activations
BSN — owned by Varsity Brands — is the nation’s biggest apparel and equipment provider. It launched the club sports-focused Club Direct platform last year and acquired Lax.com and the Sports Endeavors portfolio earlier this year. The latter deal included Soccer.com, which recently launched a national sponsorship program with Priority Partnerships.
SFC has over 140 managed or operated venues in its portfolio. It said it welcomes close to 30M people across its network annually.
🧢 Dick’s Sporting Goods Continues The Push
One of DSG’s top advertising executives delivered a youth sports-centric pitch to buyers at an industry event last week, according to Modern Retail.
Dick’s Media VP David Young reportedly framed “the youth sports lifestyle as a center of gravity for how parents and children live their lives” during comments at Ascendant Network’s Showcase in New York.
GameChanger was among Young’s talking points, according to the outlet, as he sold DSG as a strong fit for non-sports businesses looking to reach families.
The comments echoed a report published by Dick’s Media and eMarketer earlier this year that found 84% of respondents said being a sports parent influences purchases and 78% would prioritize brands that support youth sports.
Quick Take: GameChanger has always been positioned as a DSG-owned platform, but DSG has not necessarily gone out of its way to make its ownership clear to the wider world. That seems to be changing, though, based on leadership comments with the Q2 earnings report after GC was a bright spot. DSG brass is scheduled to speak at a Goldman Sachs event on Monday; we'll be watching to see what comes out of that.
🎥 Inside Perfect Game’s Broadcast
Last month, we were granted unprecedented behind-the-scenes access to Perfect Game’s broadcast of its Dick’s All-American Classic at Citizens Bank Park.
PG is elite when it comes to content distribution— there may be none better in youth sports. From a pro-style live stream broadcast to social distribution, PG incurs significant cost to produce and distribute content in a way that pro leagues would be jealous of. Worth watching for any operator or rights holder. Watch it right here.
📺 Here Comes The Youth Sports Reality Show
The trailer for “Team Moms: Baseball” has dropped ahead of its Sept. 24 debut on Paramount+.
The Kim Kardashian-helmed series will follow coaches, athletes and families at Legendary Prep Academy, a baseball training school in Scottsdale, Arizona.
Quick Take: The title suggests this could be the start of a franchise. So buckle up.
🔗 Youth Sports Links
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Good game.