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:
🎓 The IMG-To-College Sports Pipeline
About 7% of high school athletes go on to play college sports at some level.
IMG Academy is at about 70%, according to recently-released data on its Class of 2026.
525 graduating seniors or post-graduate students
512 will attend college
366 will play sports in college (69.7%)
83% of graduating female student-athletes will play in college
34 commitments to Top 25 universities
11 Ivy League commitments
5 appointments to U.S. military academies
4 student-athletes signed directly to professional sports
"When you think of families and that choose to come to IMG Academy and make a life-changing decision, a lot of them will be moving from around the country or even around the world," COO Mike Milliron told Buying Sandlot.
"When they think of IMG Academy, they want great outcomes. They want to have tremendous opportunities for college matriculation, they want to see their character improve. They want to be prepared to win their future. ... It's just a crazy statistic, but it's one of those outcomes that really matter and one of the reasons why families choose to come to IMG Academy."
The results come as IMG is growing rapidly. It will have just over 1.7K students enrolled this year — a school record — during what Milliron said is the largest capital expansion in its 48-year history (IMG was acquired by BPEA EQT in 2023).
IMG has close to a dozen facilities projects that have recently wrapped or are underway as part of its E2G — Evolve to Grow — initiative.
Among the renovations and new builds:
State-of-the art aquatics center set to open in March
Indoor, air-conditioned tennis facility
New wrestling facility
Renovated multi-team headquarters
Expanded basketball facility
New volleyball facility
IMG just had its first seniors in girls volleyball and softball graduate. It will add boys volleyball and wrestling programs this fall and will launch swimming and diving with the aquatics center. Milliron said girls volleyball is the "fastest-growing thing that has ever hit this campus.”
IMG still has about 75 undeveloped acres on its Clearwater, Florida, campus. So more sports will be added — and potentially within weeks, Milliron said. A task force continually evaluates potential additions with facilities and the ability to positively impact that sport’s ecosystem being the biggest factors.
"We kind of have this muscle built now," Milliron said. "We're able to evaluate [new sports] strongly on the front end and then have this team around it that is able to create a successful launch, which has been tremendous."
🏛️ Massachusetts Lawmakers Have Youth Sports Thoughts
A working group of Bay State legislators published a report with 11 (!) recommendations to address challenges in an industry it says is “at a crossroads.”
Among the more notable ones (the full report can be found here):
A new state agency that would oversee youth sports with potential regulatory powers over the length and timing of seasons
State licensing for coaches and officials; minimum certification/training standards and disciplinary processes
A state code of conduct for youth sports organizations
Minimum 90-day jail sentence for assault of coaches, officials
Establishment of public youth sports grant program
Facilities, orgs would be required to allow recording of all youth sports events
Lawmakers will now have to move on bills enact some or all of the recommendations. Draft legislation has already been written for nine of the recommendations; State Sen. Barry Finegold (D-Andover) told WGBH he plans to introduce bills in January.
We reported on Finegold’s bill to create a youth sports governing body in June. But he was only proposing a new division inside the Massachusetts State Athletic Commission.
The report is now calling for a completely new agency separate from the MSAC and the MIAA, which oversees high school sports in the state. And this agency would potentially “have regulatory authority to set maximum participation hours per youth sport in a defined period of time, as well as duration and start times. The regulations could take factors like age into account when establishing limits for a reason or practice time."
That would be a pretty big deal!
Remember that California’s much-discussed Youth Sports for All Act merely created a commission to consider recommending a state youth sports agency. Massachusetts is now effectively two steps ahead with this report.
Also of note: Two of the recommendations — the ban on recording bans and the grant program — appear to have been driven by the media scrutiny of Black Bear Sports Group, even though the company was not named in the report.
The report referenced Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT)’s public crusade against the company with the former; the latter would be open to fund facilities and the report mentioned issues with ice venue access in the state and Minnesota’s network of community-owned rinks.
Last thing: I would be wary of any state-level licensing program for coaches and officials. I’m sure it’s well-intentioned, but it’s a slippery slope whenever the government gets to decide criteria of who does and does not get to participate in a role or vocation. Just mandate strong protocols for safety. screening, training, etc. and let that be the standard.
📊 Onsides Going Beyond Logistics
The youth sports scheduling app has launched an athlete activity tracker with a beta overuse risk analysis function.
The tracker will compile practice, game and tournament attendance and participation logged by parents. The tool will then contrast activity levels with the American Academy of Pediatrics’ 2024 guidance on youth overuse injuries.
“We are the only one that can pull this off as of today,” founder and CEO Dave Yoo told Buying Sandlot, pointing to Onsides’ ability to merge scheduling data across various platforms.
Yoo said this is the first step in Onsides’ plan to build out health components. The platform recently added Dr. Francisco Silva, a New Jersey-based pediatrician who works with that state’s governing body for high school sports, as a medical advisor.
Onsides recently launched its Tournament Tracker feature. The app is free with no ads or subscriptions and has partnerships with Athletes Unlimited (private coaching) and EventPipe (lodging).
Disclosure: Kyle Scott is an Onsides advisor.
🎥 XbotGo Expands Into Europe
The AI camera maker said it is accelerating its commercial presence on the continent with a focus on scaling regional distribution networks and retail.
XbotGo said it is honing on these countries:
Belgium
France
Germany
Luxembourg
Netherlands
United Kingdom
XbotGo has also partnered with Joybuy, which is backed by Chinese e-commerce giant JD.com and is bidding to compete with Amazon in Europe.
The moves are timed with the upcoming IFA Berlin convention, which is the world’s largest consumer electronics and home appliances trade show.
XbotGo said it has over 230K global users and is used by over 1K academies, clubs and organizations across over 100 countries.
The company also claims a 300% compound annual revenue growth rate and a 150% monthly sales growth rate on Joybuy.
🏊♂️ Latest SFC Roster Move
The Sports Facilities Companies has been selected to manage the Shafter Aquatics Center in Bakersfield, California.
The city-owned venue closed during the pandemic, but recently re-opened following major renovations. The project was the beneficiary of a $2.6M state grant.
6-lane, L-shaped pool
Shallow warm-up pool for swim lessons
New indoor building with bathrooms, concessions, locker rooms, rec area
Brian T. Roe has been tabbed as the facility’s GM.
🤦♂️ Parents Behaving Badly
A Huntsville, Alabama, city employee was indicted in 2024 on charges she stole about $75K from a youth sports league that received some taxpayer funding.
The case is still ongoing, but a local TV station says it obtained bank records that suggest the actual theft may have been closer to $250K.
The suspect reportedly remains a city employee pending the resolution of the case.
🔗 Youth Sports Links
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Good game.