This is Buying Sandlot — the only newsletter that focuses solely on the business of youth sports.
The response to the announcement of the Buying Sandlot Summit has been amazing. Look forward to seeing everyone in Philly next spring. First round of speakers and agenda will roll out in the coming weeks. Expect some BIG DAWGS.
Let’s get to it.
In the email today:
💼 GameChanger Makes 2 Big Hires
The Dick’s Sporting Goods-owned youth sports platform has fortified its roster as it pushes to expand beyond its baseball/softball stranglehold.
Brandon Rhodes has been tabbed as General Manager, Emerging Sports. He will be tasked with accelerating the growth of GameChanger’s basketball and soccer businesses. Rhodes was most recently GM of Overtime’s OTX boxing promotion; he also previously worked in brand management and digital strategy for Gatorade.
Remember: GameChanger joined Dick’s as an official WNBA marketing partner and Jr. WNBA partner in the summer. Those deals included “enhanced access to live streaming, scheduling, communications and scorekeeping for youth basketball games.”
Cynthia Kleinbaum Milner is also officially GameChanger's Chief Commercial Officer. She had announced her hire on her LinkedIn page last month after previous stops at Bonobos, Walmart and MoneyLion. She will lead GameChanger’s commercial strategy “with a focus on expanding our reach and deepening engagement with the families, coaches, and athletes who rely on GameChanger every day."
Someone - outside the target demo of this audience - asked me the other day how GameChanger compared to platforms like TeamSnap, LeagueApps and SportsEngine et al.
I found it weirdly hard to answer for 2 reasons: 1) GameChanger goes extremely deep in baseball-softball, whereas the others are aggressively cross-sport. And perhaps more notably, 2) while GameChanger has an appetite to expand team and club management features, it’s more well-known for its live streaming and class-leading scorekeeping features.
So the mandate is clear for them: increase adoption in other sports, and expand registration and particularly payment features for league, team and club admins. This could solve scenarios where leagues use another platform for registration and payments, while coaches and parents live in GameChanger on game day.
On the other hand, if you listen to my podcast with TeamSnap CTO Reed Shaffner about the rollout of TeamSnap ONE, it’s clear those more consumer-level gameday features are a focus for at least TeamSnap. It’s literally right there in the first line of their feature page: “Go live from the TeamSnap ONE mobile app—no extra tools or logins”.
LeagueApps, meanwhile, goes deeper on the operational and enterprise side of things. And newer entrants like Fastbreak are leading with scheduling for facilities and events and trying to consume all from there.
Different strategies, perhaps defined by how the platforms got their start.
🏟️ Buying Sandlot Summit 2026
Early bird tickets for the Buying Sandlot Summit are now available.
When: April 14-15, 2026
Where: Philadelphia, PA, Switch House + Ballers (2 amazing venues in 1 location)
More details and tickets can be found here. I’ll note that “early bird VIP” tickets are going very fast— they include access to a limited number of on-site 4-star hotel rooms.
And of course, sponsor opportunities are available:
If your organization would like group ticket pricing for 5 or more, or sponsorship information, you can contact [email protected].
🎥 An Addendum To Livestreamgate
The Lever has followed up the recent report on Black Bear Sports Group that sent the internet ablaze.
The latest dispatch from the progressive outlet — “Youth Sports Kingpin Backs Off Threat Against Families" — is either a smoking gun or a lesson in poorly-written contracts, depending on your worldview.
The news from the piece:
1) The Lever obtained a contract between Black Bear and an affiliated arena that states “no other form of broadcast or recording will be allowed in the ice rink ... or any other form of broadcast or recording by family, friends, spectators, etc. through the use of cameras, iPad, phones, computers or any other recording and/or streaming devices."
2) The rulebook for a Black Bear-operated league reads:
It is illegal to video any games in the AHF. If a player, parent, family member or friend produce (or any other version of such) a video or livestream or any other broadcast production of an AHF event or game, the player can be immediately suspended or dismissed from the team, league or tournament for the remainder of the season with no refunds provided.
3) “We apologize for the confusion this has caused and will be amending our contracts and rulebooks to allow for full game and practice recording,” Black Bear told the outlet in a statement.
It’s never a great combination when you mix flawed contracts and rulebooks with legitimate concerns to protect a business, good faith efforts to adhere to standards and potentially overzealous local enforcement. And you need A to get to B, C and D, so the onus is on Black Bear to clarify and clean things up, as it is doing.
But the frequent references to “broadcast” do support Black Bear’s claim the only intended prohibition was live streaming. Which always seemed to be the logical explanation rather than some diabolical plot to prevent all visual memorialization.
🏃♀️ IMG Academy To Host New National Track Event
The inaugural Under Armour Track and Field Nationals will be held May 29-31, 2026, in Bradenton, Florida.
It will be open to the country’s top high school and middle school athletes; the dates do not conflict with the Nike Outdoor Nationals and New Balance Nationals.
IMG said it is constructing a new state-of-the-art track surface ahead of the event; the project is a partnership with Rekortan, which is now an official IMG sponsor.
✏️ PCA Launches Lee Corso Legacy Fund
The initiative, named in honor of the recently-retired “College Gameday” star and former college football coach, will provide athletes, coaches and parents “with resources and training that foster character development, sportsmanship and joy in play."
PCA will also create the Lee Corso Legacy Award, which will recognize coaches who use sports as a vehicle to teach life lessons and build character.
🦚 On The SportsEngine Beat
Versant had an investor day yesterday after Comcast’s board officially blessed the cable network spinoff company.
No direct news on the youth sports platform and a potential sale, but Versant CEO Mark Lazarus was asked for his philosophy on sports media rights. He said he asks three main questions, according to Deadline:
Does it have an audience?
Does it drive diversification of ad revenue?
What does it mean to our disribution partners?
The ability to leverage thousands of youth sports families through SportsEngine could pertain to the second question.
Also: Versant announced it acquired Free TV Networks, which owns a handful of FAST channels. Could standalone streaming deals like Hype Nation Volleyball translate to FAST offerings?
🧢 Youth Sports News + Notes
Hudl has extended its partnership with Dairy Max. The regional dairy nonprofit will reach athletes and communities through the platform with its Built w/ Chocolate Milk campaign, which educates about its health benefits; there will be display and rich media natively within Hudl and video content during livestreams and highlights.
Prime — the sports drink co-founded by YouTuber-turned-WWE star Logan Paul — is the new exclusive hydration partner of Babe Ruth Baseball, Babe Ruth Softball and Cal Ripken Baseball (the one not affiliated with Unrivaled Sports). The partnership includes activations involving local fundraising and game-day experiences.
Fastbreak AI launched a partnership with Whisps at the IWLCA Presidents Cup, a lacrosse tournament held last month in Bradenton, Florida.
Lawmakers in Florida have proposed a bill aimed at preventing head injuries in youth sports. The legislation would mandate safety education and training and create a sports brain health panel inside the state health department.
📺 Another Youth Sports Reality Show
Youth Inc. has launched “Crashin’ Practice,” a YouTube series presented by Players Health and sponsored by Academy Sports + Outdoors and Under Armour.
The premise: James “Coach Ballgame” Lowe and the Savannah Bananas’ Robert Anthony “Coach RAC” Cruz make a surprise appearance at a youth baseball practice and “turn an ordinary day on the field into an unforgettable experience full of energy, fun and life lessons” while giving away prizes from the sponsors.
The show is similar to the Dick’s Sporting Goods-helmed “Play it Forward: Game On” limited series that recently launched on Nickelodeon.
The first episode is live and a national contest is now underway for future teams to participate.
🔗 Youth Sports Links
We’re new— help us build up our social media accounts by following along:
Good game.