This is Buying Sandlot — the only newsletter that focuses solely on the business of youth sports.
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In the email today:
💸 Dick’s Earnings Highlight Sports Opportunities and GameChanger Growth
Dick’s earnings presentation
Dick’s Sporting Good announced their earnings this week.
They beat on both revenue ($3.65B) and earnings per share ($4.38). But muted guidance and concerns about the Foot Locker integration have the stock down 8% on the week as of writing this.
What are some key takeaways from their earnings call and presentation for the youth sports industry?
Dick’s cited key trends as growth drivers:
Increased emphasis on health and wellness
Rising interest in women’s sports, posting record-breaking numbers
Enhanced social media platforms transforming fan interactions
Elevated viewing experiences from technology and generative AI
Larger media rights deals and rise of streaming services
Tariff impacts on prices are present, but minimal and “surgical”— and consumers don’t seem to be balking at the minor increases
We prepared a report on a “worst case” tariff impact on youth sports families when they were first announced
Investors and the market are concerned about the cost impacts of the Foot Locker acquisition, which will complete in September— the shoe retailer continues to struggle
Dick’s House of Sports standalone retail experience locations and their smaller, in-store Field House versions received a ton of focus in the presentation for being high, quick ROI opportunities
And then there’s GameChanger.
My new favorite game is count how many times GameChanger is mentioned on Dick’s earnings calls (unofficial count):
Q2, 2024: 7
Q3, 2024: 11
Q4, 2024: 14
Q1, 2025: 24
Q2, 2025: 19
The word “media”?
Q2, 2024: 0
Q2, 2025: 8
This year, Dick’s has shown a clear trend in focusing on GameChanger as more than a standalone subscription app and as a media platform and part of their retail media network (which promotes products and services through various audience-reaching platforms).
We noted this huge change in sentiment in Q1, as Dick’s was effusive about the GameChanger opportunity.
Dick’s CEO Lauren Hobart 2025: “GameChanger is a live sports media platform that we're very excited to be able to put into our DICK'S Media Network.”
Dick’s CEO Lauren Hobart 2024: “The premier live streaming, scheduling, communications and scorekeeping mobile app.”
Things were a bit more measured in Q2 - more discussion about putting this into practice and "margin expansion” - but GameChanger remains a core focus for Dick’s in monetizing the athlete journey. It even got its own slide in their investor presentation (albeit one slide behind the actual Dick’s app).
I have a couple:
1) The “retail media network” slide talked about large impression counts, but as various readers have pointed out to me, it appears some of those eyeballs have been driven by paid promotion on Youtube of GameChanger Bat Lab videos (millions of impressions, very low comment count).
Brands in general struggle mightily with creating authentic, engaging content. If I were Dick’s, I would focus more on the GameChanger engagement as core “content” rather than trying to produce videos to inflate impression count. Dick’s is positioned better than anyone to monetize the eyeballs around youth sports.
2) I do wonder how the shift in focus from a consumer subscription app - where you need to rapidly iterate on features to retain and grow users - to a media platform impacts the user experience over time. To be clear, GameChanger is a great product and continues to grow, but I’m always wary when corporate focus shifts to harvesting money and margin expansion. Almost every time GameChanger was brought up on the call, it was lumped in with Dick’s Media Network.
Still, I’m long Dick’s (stock).
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**Average revenue from locations open at least one year with complete financial data.
🏈 Hudl, T-Mobile Team Again On Friday Night 5G Lights
The cellular provider is running the high school football-focused campaign for communities of 150K people or smaller for a second straight year in partnership with Hudl for Brands.
450 cities will win $5K sweepstakes prizes
25 finalists get $25K and a T-Mobile-hosted party at a game
Winner gets $1M including stadium and weight room upgrades
T-Mobile launched the campaign last year to promote the expansion of its 5G network in rural areas and small towns. Hudl’s AI-powered camera will automatically insert T-Mobile ads into live streams and weekly highlight packages.
Hudl said it streams 5K games on most Friday nights nationwide, plus lower-level games during the week.
Hudl recently said in a post on its website that 99% of high schools in the country use its technology.
That does not mean 99% of the nation’s high schools are streaming.
But Hudl has to feel good about that presence given the extremely fragmented streaming space’s immense growth potential. There is bound to be a trickle-down effect to lower levels. And campaigns like this one ensure Hudl gets exposure everywhere.
What would take this partnership to the next level: If T-Mobile’s network began powering the Hudl cameras and streams. Because infrastructure is always a major consideration and/or issue, as Kyle discussed with Pixellot North American President Rob DeSalvo in a recent podcast.
🧱 Youth Sports Facilities News
City of Greer
City officials in Greer, South Carolina, broke ground on a $60M youth sports and events complex.
200K square feet
18 volleyball courts
9 basketball courts
Elevated track
Wrestling room
Fitness room
E-sports suite with sports simulators
Greer is located in South Carolina’s booming upstate near Greenville and Spartanburg.
Elsewhere …
Knoxville, Tennessee: A city councilwoman will try to delay a land sale for a non-profit organization can build a $20M youth sports complex. The proposal, which involves a tract of land in a park, has polarized the college town ahead of next week’s vote.
St. Cloud, Minnesota: A youth soccer organization bought a historic field complex from St. Cloud State University for $350K. Seike Field — built during the Great Depression by the Works Progress Administration — was rented out for youth sports events for decades.
New Garden Township, Pennsylvania: A developer has scrapped plans to include a $6M youth sports complex in a proposed mixed-use development. Residents expressed concerns about traffic issues caused by sports tourism — the city sits on the border with Delaware and is close to the Maryland border.
🤦♂️ Adults Behaving Badly
A coach and an umpire face criminal charges after a donnybrook during a youth baseball game in California.
The footage of the incident that has emerged shows the ump throwing the first punch, throwing the coach to the ground and then attempting to kick him before they wrestled. But the coach was ejected prior to the fracas and reportedly put his hands in the ump’s face first.
ALSO: A former NFL long snapper was arrested in West Virginia for assaulting his son’s middle school football coach.
Making matters more complicated: The coach is also a sheriff’s deputy who had to deploy pepper spray during the incident.
Christopher Massey — who spent a decade in the league, mostly with the then-St. Louis Rams — faces elevated counts.
📋 Job Alert: Market Lead (Club Soccer) — Hudl
The youth sports video and streaming platform is seeking a market lead “to develop and execute a strategic roadmap for our competitive soccer market."
You’ll work with the Sr. Director of Club to expand mature markets, develop less mature markets and identify new revenue streams. While this role does not manage any direct reports, it does influence the work of several teams across the company.
Candidates close to Hudl headquarters in Lincoln, Nebraska, are preferred, but the company will relocate the right candidate. Remote candidates are not being considered currently. The salary range is listed at $80K to $170K.
🔗 Youth Sports Links
We’re new— help us build up our social media accounts by following along:
Good game.