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:
⚾️ A Look At Middle School Matchup
You learn something new every day on this beat.
A recent lesson: Very few middle schools nationally have a baseball team for myriad reasons — budget cuts, single-use field hurdles, local differences in how grades 7-12 are structured, etc. And the schools that do have a team tend to play very short seasons.
This is where Daniel Himel started thinking a little over a decade ago. The Dallas-area entrepreneur wondered how his son and middle school classmates would fare against the next town over. So he got jerseys made up in the schools’ colors and started marketing a tournament that has grown into Middle School Matchup, a franchise platform for specialized youth baseball weekend tournaments carrying the hashtag #HappyBaseball.
About 50K participants
Over 300 cities
2 tournaments a year in most markets
Players of all ability levels
Teams assembled based on middle schools
$30K franchise fee, plus standard royalty
Average fee for family is about $150
“It has grown into something I never would have believed,” Himel told Buying Sandlot. “You don’t leave your baseball team; it’s just a quick break to have a lot of fun. It’s very sandlot baseball. Kids are playing with kids they grew up with, the moms are in the stands hanging out with the ladies from their neighborhood. It’s this crazy, new experience that was discovered by accident, but is definitely working.”
Himel said the tournaments have become so popular that club and travel programs will arrange schedules so coaches and players can participate in MSM events.
MSM has some non-baseball sports in select markets, but they have not gained the traction baseball has. There are also some tournaments for incoming high school freshmen teams.
Typical franchisees have pre-existing local youth sports connections and relationships, Himel said — it is not the type of franchise where an owner is deciding whether to buy a MSM event or a Subway.
Player recruitment and tournament operation is the major component of the business, but MSM also has an apparel component since it produces uniforms for participants — Himel said they distribute about 70K pieces of gear each year. Expenses are low (i.e. hiring umpires for tournaments).
Himel said the biggest MSM franchise, based in Houston, is operated by the owner alone and has about 6K kids play each year.
Some new franchises will run multiple events initially to gain a foothold before condensing to the biannual format. Himel said parents often ask if MSM could launch a formal league, but that is not planned.
"The players that are more on the recreational side, they would love that,” Himel said. “But if you’re trying to elevate your game, you need to go on a select team. It wouldn’t make sense for the higher level kids. And there is just something really cool about reserving two weekends a year to put all the politics, all the pressure aside and just go do it.”
Further proof that:
1) There is a substantial market for the organized pickup sports we discussed during our 2026 predictions podcast.
2) While youth sports has become professionalized, there is still a desire to enjoy no-frills, traditional play when done right.
3) Turning a strong profit — do the math on the Houston franchise! — is not a bad thing in youth sports. More often than not it allows a platform to provide a high-quality experience that a low-cost rec league cannot achieve.
I could see there being a major opportunity at the other end of the spectrum — summer tournaments for HS seniors that allow the kids who chose lacrosse over baseball, the kids who went to a Catholic school, etc. to all come together one last time.
I’ve been considering a variation of this idea. My kids aren’t middle school age yet, and we are not ready to make the travel baseball commitment as it significantly cuts into beach and vacation time.
But as my kids enter travel age, they want the experience of playing in tournaments. Something beyond rec, but not something with 36 games and a season starting in November and ending in August, with fall ball filling the gap! So I’ve considered casting a net over the Philly suburbs and seeing if we could find other dads and families in the same boat, or who would otherwise like their kid to play on, call it, Sandlot Select 10U that plays in 2-3 tournaments, like a local one and then a Ripken or PG event. Surely we could get it sponsored and use some connections to elevate the experience… perhaps be the model for a sponsor-driven opportunity.
Anyway, no surprise this idea is taking off in baseball what with the drop-off in participation approaching teen years and the demands of travel, especially during the summer. Yet another sign that experiential-driven opportunities to fill the gap between rec and travel exist, perhaps in a big way.
📆 EventConnect Is A Partner Helping To Shape The Future Of Youth Sports*
I (Kyle) asked Eric Vardon, President of Buying Sandlot sponsor EventConnect, which has renewed with us to support the brand over a longer period of time, for some talking points so we could write effective ad copy for him.
We expected some bullets on how EventConnect bills itself as the “operating system for youth and amateur sports.” How their software helps event organizers grow room nights, end spreadsheet chaos, and keep every datapoint in one place. Or how they help increase room night reservations by up to 30%, while saving 24% of hotel costs for teams.
That sort of thing.
Rather, we received 4 bullets on why they saw Buying Sandlot as a valuable investment for themselves and the industry as a whole:
Investing in the Industry, Not Just Advertising: Supporting Buying Sandlot reflects our belief that strong industries are built through shared insight, transparency, and informed leadership. We believe the best companies don’t just build products — they invest in the conversations that move the industry forward.
Aligned with the Voices Shaping What’s Next: If you care about where this industry is going, you should care about who’s covering it.
It’s All About Community and Experience: EventConnect exists to improve the experience for athletes, families, organizers, and partners. Supporting Buying Sandlot is an extension of that mission — helping the industry learn from itself and make smarter, more connected decisions.
Showing Up Where the Industry Gathers: Whether it’s the newsletter or the podcast — including conversations with the leaders in the industry — EventConnect wants to be present where real dialogue is happening, not just where others place their ads or post their talking points on social media.
Where the industry gathers. Has a good ring to it. Might have to use that.
Support sponsors like EventConnect who allow us to gather in your inbox.
*Sponsor
🏟️ More Buying Sandlot Summit Speakers Unveiled
Given our topic today, perfect day to roll out a baseball-heavy contingent of speakers:
Rob Ponger (CEO, Perfect Game): PG needs no introduction. Rob is leading his company’s growth from a tournament and scouting service to an international behemoth that wants to become the next Jordan brand.
Mike Rolih (CEO, GoRout): GoRout is a leader in coach-to-player communication. They use a watch-like device so baseball, softball, and football players can receive pitch calls, positioning adjustments, and plays from the dugout or sideline.
Adam Gouttierre (SVP of Media, Hudl): Adam oversees media and sponsorship opportunities for one of the largest platforms in youth and amateur sports, reaching over 100M fans.
Ryan Caplan (Co-Founder, On The Radar): On The Radar revolutionizes the college recruitment process with the world’s first AI-driven platform designed specifically for student-athletes, their families, advisors, and coaches.
Get your tickets now:
Attendee: $649, includes access to all panels + food, and evening networking event
VIP Attendee: $899, includes everything for attendees + VIP Lounge, VIP-only breakfast, and access to nearby hotel room blocks
📺 LLSWS Gets Full ESPN Treatment
All Little League Softball World Series games will be televised on ESPN’s linear platforms for the first time.
The title game will remain on ABC, where it had an average audience of 1.44M last year — a 139% YoY spike. ESPN is set to carry over 150 LL softball games on its platforms this year.
The 22-game event will run Aug. 2-9 in Greenville, North Carolina, and be sponsored by Dick’s Sporting Goods.
💼 Youth Sports Transactions Wire
GameChanger has added David Shapiro as SVP of Sales and Business Development.
Shapiro was most recently Pixellot’s North American president, overseeing all U.S. and Canadian operations. He was also previously Steel Sports’ CEO and spent two decades in various roles with Positive Coaching Alliance.
Shapiro will join GameChanger’s executive leadership board, which the Dick’s subsidiary has beefed up with a series of recent hires.
GameChanger and Pixellot recently launched a national partnership to outfit youth sports facilities nationwide with fixed, AI-powered cameras.
Quick Take: Great headshot. 10 out of 10.
👨💻 Some Stats From TeamSnap
The youth sports management platform released some figures:
Over 30M users served lifetime
Over 2M daily active users in 2025
1.6B user sessions
2.7M weekly chats
20.2M scheduled events
The unified TeamSnap ONE platform also launched in November.
📝 Youth Sports News + Notes
Rematch announced it has hit 1B views globally. The AI-powered sports highlights platform allows users to rewind footage shot through its app, ensuring key plays will not be missed while preventing unnecessary recording and storage.
Over $1B new and renovated youth sports complexes will come online this year, according to LakePoint Sports.
Sportball plans to “accelerate” its U.S. expansion. The Canadian platform provides multi-sport development with trained instructors from 16 months to age 12; it has over 900 locations worldwide, but only seven in the U.S. with an eighth scheduled to open this year.
The Athletic has an interesting story on how copper theft — the metal hit a five-year high last month — is threatening youth sports leagues. Thieves are targeting local complexes and destroying electrical infrastructure, leading to field availability issues and other trickle-down impacts. One league in California is considering having volunteers stand guard overnight.
Here is a cool story from NJ.com (James’ alma mater) about about Damien Arnone, who is coaching two high school hockey teams this season -- both the boys and girls for the Hoboken/Weehawken/Secaucus tri-op program.
Another coaching note: KARE-TV in Minneapolis featured a 90-year-old boys basketball coach in Wisconsin who is assisting one of his former player almost 70 years after his first head coaching job.
🔗 Youth Sports Links
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Good game.