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:
🦓 Modernizing How Referees Get Hired
It has been knocked out of the headlines recently, but officiating shortages have been among the most-discussed challenges facing the youth sports industry in recent years — particularly through the lens of physical and verbal abuse from coaches and fans.
A startup in the space comes at the issue from a different angle — allocation.
Refr Sports provides unified communication, coordination and scheduling tools for assigners, but also brings gig economy dynamics into play for individual officials and gives operators more visibility into the process.
The platform has raised close to $3M so far, co-founder and CEO Huck Sorock told Buying Sandlot. Refr positions itself as a disruptor in a space dominated by established players like Arbiter that, it argues, rely on antiquated methods and tech.
“Yes, we might have a shortage when it comes to a varsity football game in Texas,” Surock said. “They’re all high-level officials and the games all happen on Friday nights. But a 10U flag football tournament in San Antonio, there’s no excuse for why we can’t get people out on the field. We’re trying to open that up.”
About 10K users on platform
Live in 42 states, Canada, Germany
Officials sign up for free, apply to join assigner pools
Officials can set availabilities, upload certifications, get instant payouts
Integrated background check partnership
Facebook-like communities for officiating pools
Usage-based system; revenue largely comes from transaction fees
Surock, 26, played junior hockey and reffed as a teenager. He found the experience inconsistent and inefficient — assignments 45 minutes away when an open game was around the corner, incorrect (or no) payments, little guidance on how to do the job. He would also pick the brains of other refs and learn his experiences were largely universal.
If the estimated 50-70K assigners in the U.S. were taxi cab companies, Refr originally aimed to be Uber. But the platform has evolved to a B2B model.
Assigners build their own official pool, but officials can be in multiple pools. Assigners, not Refr, set pool standards and are responsible for vetting officials.
The platform also brings added transparency on the league side. Surock said Refr has worked with major basketball tournament operators who send wires in the high five figures to assigners they have never met, taking their word they are dispersing the money and handling tax information.
This is another industry narrative that is more nuanced than typically presented.
First, the NASO and NFHS statistics that initially signaled a shortage are outdated.
Yes, there are still some shortages. But the number of working officials nationwide is rising and has exceeded pre-pandemic levels.
Recruitment and retention remain also issues, but not necessarily ones that can be solely attributed to the physical and verbal abuse of officials — the other friction points mentioned above loom large as well.
Surock said Refr is designed so an official who happens to be in a different city or state temporarily can log into the app, search assigners and try to get added to a pool for short-term work.
I couldn’t help but think of The Good Game as I was reading this section (James wrote it).
Not because it’s a direct comp (though The Good Game offers a platform for hiring officials, among other professionals), but because their Clear2Join portable passport aims to be a single credential that can be brought by market participants to platforms like Refr.
On the marketplace side, may the best platform win. Focusing on assigners seems like a smart move here. But I continue to think the proliferation of software will be a race to the bottom. As Fastbreak AI CEO John Stewart explains, the ones with the best distribution will win. Refr may win on it for officials. That’s the application layer, whether it’s B2C or B2B.
But I also think interoperability and portable data will be prominently featured among the best digital businesses of the future. AI is abstracting away the UI layer, meaning the real business sits in the backend and in the data. The Good Game, in this case, can benefit from the growth and proliferation of platforms like Refr if Clear2Join becomes the credential layer those platforms rely on.
👥 Buying Sandlot Premium Community: Operators Aren’t Looking To Cash Out
83 youth sports operators - representing 6-figure to mid-eight-figure businesses - have completed our in-depth operator intake survey for our revamped Buying Sandlot Community, rolling out on Friday.
What we’ve found so far is that the vast majority of respondents with a capital posture are not looking to leave their business, but rather want to grow it.
This runs counter to the narrative taking root in the mainstream media and Washington— which implies that faceless PE villains are buying up youth sports leagues everywhere and siphoning off every penny they can.
We’ve always felt that narrative was a bit too simplistic and convenient, and didn’t match the reality of what we see on the ground. And these numbers back it up. Operators who are taking on capital want to remain engaged. The use of that capital? Well, you can read that in the full report as a premium community member.
As a reminder: The revamped Buying Sandlot Premium Community will offer first-party data like this (this slide is part of a 12-page report), the opportunity to network, and a forum for operators looking to raise capital to connect with investors.
Most importantly, independently-owned operators gain access at no cost and can apply simply by filling out our operator intake survey. Service provider and investor pricing will be unveiled on Friday.
🧢 Q1 A Mixed Bag For Dick’s Sporting Goods
GameChanger’s parent company posted adjusted earnings of $2.90 per share, narrowly missing Wall Street’s $2.92 projection.
DSG has lowered its full-year earnings guidance as a result.
But revenue beat expectations — $5.17B vs. 5.09B — and was up 63% YoY.
And Foot Locker returned to growth — 0.6% — for the first time since 2024, a good signal for DSG’s revitalization plan following last year’s $2.5B acquisition.
DSG said it scaled its Fast Break initiative to 100 global Foot Locker locations in Q1 and still expects to be in about 250 by back to school season.
Growth was at 6% for Dick’s and overall company growth was 4.1% — beating the 3% expectation.
Also: Dick’s has launched Coach by Dick’s — a conversational AI agent “designed to support athletes throughout their journey." It will be in the Dick’s app and offer tailored guidance to users. Rollout is expected in June and features will expand over time.
👟 SPIRE Academy Is An Adidas School
The sneaker giant will be the Cleveland-area elite sports boarding school’s official apparel partner beginning with the 2026-27 academic year.
The deal spans all of Spire’s varsity teams and competitive programs, including its Spire FC school team/club soccer hybrid.
A press release from the school credited newly-appointed chairman Drew Green — the founder and CEO of Indochino — for shepherding the agreement.
IMG Academy signed a long-term extension with Under Armour in 2024.
🏐 Otto Sport Adds Features To University Athlete
The upstart sports management platform has expanded the suite of tools on its volleyball-exclusive recruiting platform.
The headline addition is Club Account, which will connect athletes and club leadership with college coaches.
Monitor recruiting engagement, communication trends
Track athlete activity, assess progress
Communication improvements
Centralized oversight of exposure, placement efforts
Enhanced support tools
Otto said “the vast majority” of college volleyball programs are on the University Athlete platform.
🌵Arizona Athletic Grounds’ New Strategic Partnership
Sports Academy will take over operations of AAG’s Sports Performance Center as the performance organization teams with the mega complex in Mesa.
Through this partnership, Sports Academy will implement its full athlete development ecosystem, including performance training, data-driven diagnostics, recovery services, and structured membership models designed to support athletes at every stage — from youth and team sport participants to adult members, with future expansion into elite and professional training.
Programming will include:
Performance schools
Team training
Private, semi-private coaching
Return to play services
Adult fitness
The partnership is expected to expand further. It will roll out in phases with the official opening yet to be announced. Sports Academy — previously known as Mamba Sports Academy; the late Kobe Bryant was a co-founder — also partnered with DNA Prep Academy earlier this year.
⛳️ The Youth Golf Surge Continues
Some new stats from the National Golf Foundation for 2025:
There were 4M junior golfers last year — a 58% increase from 2019, which is the biggest increase for any age group.
Girls make up 35% of junior golfers; it was 15% in 2000
26% of junior golfers are people of color
Over 3M beginner players last year
Over 6M golfers between ages 18-34
Golf’s overall exposure reach is 136M, over 1/3rd of the U.S. population ages 5 and up
🤦♂️ Parents Behaving Badly
Berlin, Connecticut: Three men were arrested after a “large fight” broke out at a youth basketball tournament. No injuries were reported.
Gloucester City, New Jersey: A longtime coach and local councilman is accused of stealing over $6K from a youth hoops organization. The theft allegedly occurred over roughly a decade.
Hamlin, West Virginia: Cops arrested a man they allege broke into several Little League and school athletic facilities across two counties. An investigation is ongoing.
🔗 Youth Sports Links
🤳 Follow Buying Sandlot on Social
We’re new— help us build up our social media accounts by following along:
Good game.