This is Buying Sandlot — the only newsletter that focuses solely on the business of youth sports.
This week, we released our latest podcast looking back at our 2026 Youth Sports Predictions from January now that we’re halfway through the year.
How many did we get right? How many have we been flat out wrong about so far?
Our 10 predictions from January are below using a flawless system of thumbs-up or thumbs-down to grade them. We also have some new ones for the rest of 2026 later in this send.
Listen to the Podcast
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1) International Expansion 👍
“I actually think we're seeing more importing than exporting.”
2) An Elite High School Football Platform Launches 👎
Overtime’s 7-on-7 platform partnered with NBC Sports last weekend to broadcast their championship.
Still there hasn’t been a formal announcement around an elite high school football platform launching. The good news? Football season doesn’t start for another three months so there is still time for this one.
3) Government Intervention 👍
We combined two predictions from January:
Governments Will Tackle Accessibility and Affordability
Congress Will Pass at Least One Piece of Youth Sports-related Legislation
Thumbs up across the board here for Congress tackling accessibility and affordability. The Let Kids Play Act, which we believe won’t pass the way it’s written today, was introduced last month by Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT), Rep. Chris Deluzio (D-PA), and Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ), who is a co-leader.
On the other hand:
PA has a bill on the senate floor for more competitive balance in high school sports.
NJ has proposed multiple child safety, background, and cardiac screening bills.
One bill that recently passed: Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) signed the “Teddy Bridgewater Act,” which allows high school coaches to help student-athletes with necessities (meals, rides, etc.). DeSantis also signed a separate bill that increases coach compensation and cracks down on the high school sports transfer culture.
4) Organized Pickup Competition Becomes a Hot Trend 👍👎
EMBRACE DEBATE!
5) Parents Begin to Pushback on Specialization 👎
From Kyle Scott:
I'll give myself a thumbs down here.
I think we're maybe a little bit in the bubble and ecosystem we live in covering this stuff on the bleeding edge of how bad specialization can be and I think at the same time NIL, direct payments, emerging leagues, you know, all these things. I think you're seeing the people that were already in those pathways at age 13, 14, doubling down on specialization.
There seems to be no slowing down there and maybe it will be the next wave of parents, the younger or middle aged millennial parents who really are like, “Hey, I don't need my kid, playing 10.5 months a year of soccer.” So I don't think we've seen it yet. I do think it's maybe a forward looking one to two years thing.
6) The Supreme Court Will Hear a Title IX-based Challenge to the House Settlement 👎
There have been consistent Title IX-based challenges since the House Settlement passed, but none that have currently stuck.
The government also is tied up with competing bills looking to “save college sports”:
The SCORE Act
The Protect College Sports Act.
7) Sportstainment Grows 👎
8) Flag Football and Volleyball Infrastructure Increase 👍
You can point to a couple recent partnerships and acquisitions in volleyball and flag that have increased infrastructure:
9) Versant Will Partially Sell SportsEngine 👍
Breaking out an old friend for this one: The SportsEngine Sale-O-Meter!
Obviously you know, if you read Buying Sandlot, SportsEngine sold to PlayMetrics in the ballpark of $150 million. The deal included SportsEngine's full suite of software and payments products, including its club, league, tournament, and studio management platforms. Versant kept SE’s background screening tool, NCSI.
10) A Youth Sports Credit Card and Athlete Wallets Will be Introduced 👍
We learned more about the potential of this when Fastbreak AI’s CEO, John Stewart, came on the show in May:
Will this land in 2026? To take a page out of Stewart’s book, “We’ll see.”
Second Half Predictions for 2026:
AI highlights become a commodity— it’s all about distribution
Sports academies grow big time
Two big dogs agree to an interoperability pact by the end of this year
One company we've interviewed in 2026 will be acquired before the end of the year
The industry begins to push back on the Let Kids Play Act and the prevailing narratives
If the USMNT has World Cup success, the “Norway Model” narrative flips
Youth sports sponsorship gets more sophisticated
Pro leagues will start to discourage reclassification
How 1800s canals serve as a cautionary tale for youth sports facilities
The World Cup will lead to a rise in… baseball… participation internationally
The Trump administration will come out in favor of a subsidy around youth sports participation
Flag football will experience its first major growing pains
SPIRE Academy will announce a football team
Savannah Bananas will roll out their plan for youth baseball
Federations, leagues and NGBs flex their muscles
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Good game.