This is Buying Sandlot — the only newsletter that focuses solely on the business of youth sports.
In the email today:
⚽️ Exclusive: More on Pioneer’s Acquisition of Rush Soccer
A couple of weeks ago, we reported exclusively that Pioneer Sports, the parent company of Surf soccer, acquired Rush soccer, which bills itself as the largest youth soccer club in the world.
Today we have more details.
The Acquisition
Pioneer’s COO, Brian Enge, confirmed to us that they completed the acquisition of Rush at the end of May, taking no outside investment to do so. He declined to share terms of the deal.
Pioneer now has Surf and Rush, along with AthleteTravel.com, a travel management company, and AthleteOne.com, a soccer-focused registration and management platform.
This gives Pioneer control of 140 clubs, 30 events and facilities, and service businesses, with 100k participating athletes.
“When we look[ed] out in the marketplace to see who is [impacting the community] in a way that we respect highly… and can impact the sport at a higher level, Rush was one of the shining stars. And so we very much pursued them,” Enge told Buying Sandlot.
He said Surf and Rush will remain fiercely independent and will compete with each other.
“These are two different brands,” Enge said. “They compete fiercely in the marketplace. We believe that iron sharpens iron. They're the best two brands in the marketplace by far, and we want them to continue to compete very aggressively.”
“The concept is to elevate every aspect of the youth sports game by creating experiences and opportunities for kids, and we do that across several verticals of the industry. We want to have a collection of best brands and the best people that are impacting the game and the kids at the highest level.”
Pioneer plans to grow vertically in soccer, rather than trying to become a multi-sport conglomerate— which seems to be a recurrent theme in conversations I’m having.
“We want to buy assets today and build and grow assets from the ground up as operators,” Enge said. “As much as we feel a responsibility to the sport by helping raise the level across the board, we also feel like we have to help protect the sport from investors who are only in this to drive pure ROI, whereas we've been in this since 1977, operating and loving the sport. It's just very different.”
From a business standpoint, this sort of scale within youth soccer will give Pioneer significant leverage over suppliers and afford their sponsors the benefit of scale— like Carvana, which appears on 60k Rush jerseys, according to a recent AdAge report.
Surf + Pioneer Background
Founded as a local club in San Diego in the 1970s, Surf grew modestly with events in the 1980s and 1990s. It wasn’t until 2013 that it became a commercial venture, with Enge coming on in 2018.
Over time it became clear there was a larger opportunity to impact the youth soccer community as a whole— that’s when Pioneer was created to sit atop things.
“Pioneer is really trying to make sure that we can play with premium brands in every major vertical of the soccer category so that we continue to elevate the sport,” Enge said. “And frankly, we think that other people should step up and try and lead in the same way.”
Pointed Thoughts About Youth Soccer Ecosystem
Enge thinks youth soccer can and should do better.
“We think that there's a lot of entities that have power in soccer that aren't elevating the sport at the rate we think,” he said. “So we're trying to amass as many aspects of the business as we can to impact the game and change the game because, frankly, we think a lot of people aren't living up to their responsibility in that.”
“We've gotten a lot of people to buy into that and say, yep, I'll raise my hand. I care more about sport than my own ego. I'm going to put my ego to the side and figure out a way for us to work together, and everybody's going to get a piece of a bigger pie,” he said. “The leaders at the next level up, which would be U.S. Soccer and some of the major leagues, having the courage— I have not seen.”
He noted some divergent viewpoints in the sport— specifically, differing opinions on age vs. grade-based levels.
“But what appears to be happening is that a few of the major leagues across the country are going to choose one theory and a few of the other leagues are going to choose another theory. So the worst possible scenario there is to split the country, not geographically, not by category… you can imagine the chaos. Today, we have not seen the leadership of those organizations have the courage to come together to say this is really bad for the sport across every element of the sport.”
A theme I’m noticing: Many conversations I’m having with leaders in the space focus on consolidation within a specific sport vs. youth sports as a whole.
There are just too many small - but important - distinctions between how products and services are adapted in different sports, regions, and at different age levels. Never mind the passion and knowledge operators within each sport have.
Pioneer’s strategy here isn’t just to aggregate clubs, it’s to own and operate soccer-specific tech platforms to service them. This sort of mindset will prevent the sort of mass consolidation that everyone thinks will happen in youth sports.
🚔 The Tech That Stops Predators at Youth Sporting Events*
Two months ago, we told you about ZortsID with Flash Biometrics— the new biometrics tool partnered with the youth sports management platform Zorts. It enables event organizers and hosts to quickly identify fraud and improve security at youth sporting events
Well, that same tech is now available through API, enabling software platforms of all sizes to easily embed biometric verification directly into their stack.
This tech recently helped stop a known sexual predator from entering a youth sports facility.
Tim Tarwater, a VP at HUB Insurance - the largest private brokerage in the US - reviewed the cased and called it:
“Life-saving technology. It needs to be the future of all youth and spectator events.”
A seamless API connection is now available for software partners— including white label or co-branded options.
Learn how to protect your platform and protect your people.
Integrate class-leading Flash Biometrics today. Schedule an API demo.
*Sponsor
The headliner: Hudl has acquired SportContract, a hockey-focused software platform that streamlines communication, data and video for professional and youth hockey organizations.
The acquisition deepens Hudl’s investment in hockey and builds on the company’s commitment to deliver sport-specific solutions. Tens of thousands of teams and players rely on the power of Hudl Instat every season. The integration of SportContract will offer teams an unmatched experience across live video capture, performance analysis, and player recruitment.
(…)
Through the Hudl Pro Suite, teams benefit from automated breakdowns that speed up game prep and lead to data driven decisions. By handling the time-consuming work of data management and video editing, coaches can focus on what they do best: coaching and developing players. The result is smarter recruiting, better player development, and more efficient teams overall.
Also: TeamSnap and Bauer Hockey have formed a strategic partnership placing free Bauer educational resources in the TeamSnap app. The content includes on-ice drills and performance tips, equipment and product information, and overviews to help new hockey families get involved in the sport. The partnership will also launch a social media campaign and contest.
Two trends here:
1) Streamers/video providers are acquiring or partnering with sport-specific tech to expand market share. The Hudl/SportContract deals reminds us a bit of our reporting on Pixellot and The Prospect Exchange — an effort to get hockey clients on the platform by offering invaluable time-saving resources.
2) Educational content is still compelling. Bauer and TeamSnap are doing what Dick’s Sporting Goods does with its baseball equipment review videos. Thorough breakdowns of youth football helmets would seem like an obvious angle in the space.
🏐 Nebraska Is Volleyball Central
There is a lot going on in the Cornhusker State. We will try to keep this as straightforward as possible.
1) The city of Lincoln announced plans to build a $16M youth volleyball facility funded by special allocation of state sales tax revenue and private funding.
2) Nebraska for Volleyball (N4VB) is a partner in the proposal; the non-profit organization is tied to the Omaha Supernovas, the flagship women’s franchise of Major League Volleyball (which just merged with the Pro Volleyball Federation).
3) Legendary former Nebraska coach John Cook is now a co-owner of the Supernovas and is involved with N4VB.
4) LOVB — a rival youth-to-pro volleyball league that boasts Unrivaled Sports co-founder David Blitzer as a team owner and league investor — recently rebranded its Nebraska franchise (also based in Omaha) under local ownership.
5) LOVB started as a youth volleyball organization and has 79 affiliated volleyball clubs in 90 locations across 28 states.
6) Athletes Unlimited’s barnstorming pro volleyball league is also still in business.
LOVB and MLV (and AU) do not play overlapping seasons and players do not have exclusivity clauses. And there is big money involved — MLV and PVF was valued at over $300M combined and LOVB raised $100M in funding.
All the leagues can co-exist … for now.
But it is hard to imagine that will last forever. The Nebraska market figures to be a bellwether. And the last league left standing is no small concern given the popularity of youth volleyball and how lucrative club competition is.
LOVB has the impressive developmental infrastructure. But MLV is likely more marketable at this point with more teams, city-specific nicknames and shots of energy like the Lincoln facility.
Stay tuned!
🔎 Researchers Tackle Canada’s Elite Talent Pipelines
Canada’s government-funded Sport Information Research Center published an analysis of the country’s youth sports talent identification and development systems.
Some of the key takeaways:
Talent ID systems are extremely complex and often quite flawed
It is almost impossible to “spot” elite athletes at young ages and pipeline systems often work against late developers
DEI issues are real; social and structural barriers tend to favor athletes from affluent families in urban areas and create more homogenized talent pools
Parent involvement can negatively impact developmental systems and restrain the efficacy of coaches and other experts
Social-emotional skills are critical for athlete success
The report was written by a trio of academics. Their research largely focused on Canada’s youth soccer developmental system, but their conclusions were applied to all youth sports. And they are just as relevant for the U.S.
📋 Job Alert: Staff Writer, PlayOn Sports
PlayOn is adding to its editorial team and hiring a staff writer.
The Staff Writer will be responsible for researching, pitching and writing compelling stories that appeal to our audience and align with our brand voice. In addition to news and game coverage, you will be asked to transform data and research projects into content that can thrive across multiple platforms including social media and video.
The ideal candidate has a background in sports media with a strong grasp on the high school landscape. A sharp eye for news, experience with search engine optimization (SEO) and an understanding of how audiences consume content is preferred. Experience editing and publishing is a plus.
A full job posting can be found on LinkedIn.
🔗 Youth Sports Links
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Good game.