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:
🧓 GameChanger Is For The Grandparents
The youth sports juggernaut rolled out its new “GranCave” initiative today featuring Donna Kelce as pitchwoman.
But the ad campaign and contest — previewed for Buying Sandlot and other media outlets earlier this month at an event in Brooklyn — is much more than smart marketing with America’s Favorite Grandma attached.
It is also indicative of how grandparents have become a critical persona group for GC’s business.
“I think we’re the first youth sports platform that grandparents have fallen in love with,” GC President Sameer Ahuja told Buying Sandlot. “The reason we figured this out was our feedback channels — app store reviews or the direct feedback you can send in. For years the most emotional feedback — and sometimes it was constructive, where we could get better — was from grandparents. They would self-identify.
“After a while we said, ‘We are hearing from a lot of these people.’ And we started to try and figure out from the data how many we have, and we have a lot of them. Many of them are in a different place from their grandkids. They emerged as a persona for us. I think we stand apart in that regard because we’re consumer-focused and more and more of that consumer is the grandparent.”
83% of GC-streamed games have out-of-state viewers
Average game has viewers in 3 states
Grandparents make up significant share of live viewing audience, Ahuja said
GC kept grandparents in mind as a result with its recent overhaul — higher-quality video, easy in-app experience and navigation, screen mirroring, notifications.
“There’s all this work that’s happened to get the content, but that’s for others to do," Ahuja said. "We want it to be one click, you go in the app as a grandparent. … The streaming piece is the next best thing to being there.”
As for the contest: Families can nominate grandparents to win a custom GranCave setup package through May 31; GC will also award 365 free premium subscriptions.
📆 EventConnect Exists To End Tournament Chaos— For Organizers And Families*
Tournament weekends have become mini supply chains: teams register, rosters change, schedules shift, hotels fill, and parents scramble.
Too many events still run things on spreadsheets, portals, and last-minute calls.
What we do (and why it’s different):
Centralize the weekend workflow: registration, rostering, payments, lodging, and real-time reporting.
Organizers can run end-to-end on EventConnect or integrate the systems they already use— no rip-and-replace required.
Either way, the data lands in one place so operators aren’t stitching together reports from multiple tools.
The “moment that changes outcomes”:
HousingConnect embeds hotel booking directly into checkout— capturing rooms at peak intent instead of sending families to a separate portal later.
Results can be up to 30% more room-night reservations and 24% savings on team hotel costs.
Proof of scale:
EventConnect powers 5,000 events and connects 30,000 hotels across 800 destinations.
Learn more about how EventConnect can help power your tournament right here.
*Sponsor
🗣️ Ahuja’s Thoughts On PlayMetrics/SportsEngine Deal
The GC president said he is rooting for the recent consolidation.
“We know the team at PlayMetrics, we know the team at SportsEngine. They’re great people, I want to congratulate them on getting this deal done. We’ve talked to all of them. They want to build great products in registration and the areas they focus for orgs and families. I’m excited for the investment is being made by their owners and investors. That’s going to improve the space.
“I say this on behalf of the whole industry — more innovation is needed. In general in the world, more technology is deflationary, which means it reduces cost. We think the more innovations and technology applied, whether it’s in the space PlayMetrics is in or the space we’re in, is going to help families and orgs.”
TeamSnap CEO Peter Frintzilas recently pegged youth sports streaming as a $10B market; Ahuja said he thought that number was a “good outlook.”
Past industry reports have found GC has the biggest market share of any streamer, but only at about 10%. Ahuja did not provide a new number, but indicated it has grown.
“We are seeing tremendous growth this year. We’re going to continue to have a larger and larger share," he said. "And to me it’s because of the human element our team has built, the best version of GameChanger ever earlier this year. And it’s really how people respond. Not just in subscriptions, but usage. All metrics are up — usages metrics, streaming, we stat games and the financial metrics. We’re really excited about our growth and I expect that number to keep going up at a healthy pace.
“We are very excited about what our position is. We are committed to the space and we will work with and compete with all these larger platforms. Competition is a good thing, innovation is a good thing. We’re all together going to elevate the space.”
🛞 Facilities Arms Race Update: Motown Money
We wrote about a proposed $3B (!) mega-complex near Detroit Metropolitan Airport a few weeks ago.
Motown Sports Village gained a bit of momentum last week when Romulus Mayor Robert McCraight and his city supported the project amid a wave of local press coverage.
But a very big question still looms: Who’s paying for it?
McCraight promised “infrastructure coordination, intergovernmental communication and a fast-track approval process.” But he did not pledge any public funding.
That was not a surprise — the city rejected the developers’ request for about $150M in tax bonds last year when the project price was a mere $1.5B.
But now it’s $3B and the only known financial information about the proposal remains that JLL Capital Markets was tabbed as the "exclusive financial intermediary” and tasked with sourcing an initial $40-50M for pre-development.
JLL will reportedly look to lean on “institutional investor relationships” — which could present some complications in the current environment.
AECOM and Legends Global have also reportedly advised on the extremely ambitious plan:
452 total acres, 1.15M-square-feet
Arena with up to 11K seats
12 basketball/volleyball courts
4 ice sheets with indoor soccer use
Indoor running track
Outdoor football, soccer fields
96-tee golf center
Arcade, bowling, IMAX theater, rock climbing
450K-square-foot indoor water and surf park
3 hotels with combined 2K rooms
The developers — who have reportedly tried to launch similar projects for years without success — are pitching the complex as a self-contained destination where visitors never leave.
They say the complex will create thousands of jobs by capitalizing on the airport and proximity to I-94. They hope to break ground next year and begin phased openings in 2029.
🧱 More Youth Sports Facilities News
Baton Rouge, Louisiana: The $1.7B third phase of a downtown development plan in the city includes a waterfront youth sports and entertainment complex.
Bridgeland, Texas: The Houston Texans’ Toro District — an 83-acre mixed-purpose development that will include their practice facility — will have 14 flag football fields, according to SBJ. The project will also have a 10K-seat field house, like the the Dallas Cowboys’ Star complex.
Boerne, Texas: Bexar County officials are studying a potential youth sports complex about a half-hour north of San Antonio. The project would have eight baseball fields and four soccer fields.
Clarksville, Indiana: A proposed $400-500M overhaul of a former Colgate-Palmolive campus includes youth sports facilities. The mixed-use development will sit near Louisville on the other side of the Ohio River.
🧢 An Interesting Stat From ESPN
The worldwide leader dropped an explainer on its “Take Back Sports” initiative last week. Two things stood out from a numbers standpoint:
The campaign impacted 935K kids and 67K coaches in Year 1
Kids who play sports are 14x more likely to be “avid” fans as adults
Quick Take: Professional leagues are obviously quite involved in supporting youth sports already. But that latter number gives them even more reason to further infuse resources into the industry. The same goes for ESPN and other media companies as they try to tamp down the delta with their loss-leader sports TV rights packages.
🏀 ShotTracker Partners With MADE Hoops
ShotTracker CEO Davyeon Ross was a recent guest on the Buying Sandlot podcast to discuss the hoops analytics and tech company’s new partnership with MADE Hoops, wearables and more.
💼 Youth Sports Transactions Wire
G. Wyatt Tinnen II is the new general manager of AdventHealth Sports Park at Bluhawk — operated by The Sports Facilities Companies.
Tinnen was most recently GM at Centers, a college campus venue management firm, and has over 25 years experience in the industry.
And speaking of Bluhawk: The Overland Park, Kansas, complex is expected to open its first hotel later this week.
🚨 Vendors Behaving Badly
A Nevada youth hoops organization is out $40K and cannot use its new facility after the playing court never showed up.
The now-former GM of an Idaho flooring company — previously convicted of embezzlement — allegedly put the deposit money into his personal account and his former employer claims it fired him, but can’t get in touch with him.
The Reno Tropics said they have contacted the man’s parole officer and the FBI.
🔗 Youth Sports Links
📊 Poll Results: Valuations In Youth Sports
Last week we asked what impact the proposed Let Kids Play Act would have on valuations in youth sports.
What stands out most to me (Kyle), is that 31% of respondents feel it will have either a moderate or significant impact regardless of if the bill is passed. In other words: many feel private equity investors will now have to price in the tail risk of legislation.
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Good game.