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:
🏌️ Youth Golf Participation Is Surging
Youth golf participation has grown 39% since 2019, according to Project Play’s State of Play 2025 report. It is one of three sports that has enjoyed an uptick in that span along with tennis (a whopping 51.2%) and flag (13.6%).
A key note: Project Play used SFIA’s core participation data for the flag growth figure, but the golf and tennis figures are overall participation rates from the National Golf Foundation and USTA. So while the trend lines are clear, this is not an apples-to-apples comparison. Going deeper:
Golf participation grew 64% among ages 13-17 between 2019 and 2024 according to Project Play, outpacing tennis (30.9%) and flag (3.5%) — though flag grew at a 13% rate among ages 6-12
35% of junior golfers are female, according to the National Golf Foundation; it was 15% in 2000
29% of junior golfers are BIPOC, compared to about 6% two decades ago
A big part of the story is how golf has maintained the momentum it generated as the Official Sport of Social Distancing during the pandemic. But a bigger part may start with Topgolf’s first U.S. location 20 years ago.
“When I got into the business in the 1980s, there was an enormous amount of friction to convert interest to trial,” said David Pillsbury, the CEO of Invited Clubs, the nation’s largest owner/operator of private member clubs.
Pillsbury said golf used to be like the ski industry, where newcomers had to invest significant time and money into travel, rentals, tickets, etc. before ever hitting a slope.
“Now there are over 2,000 off-course locations that are either outdoor or simulator-based that require one thing for someone to convert interest to trial — a credit card,” he told Buying Sandlot. “That’s it. No special clothes, no special shoes, the equipment is there. Our friction has basically disappeared on point of entry.”
Case in point: NGF estimates about 47M Americans played some form of golf in 2024 and roughly 19M played off a course.
Invited — which has north of 325K members at over 150 locations — operates two youth golf programs:
Crush It: A developmental platform primarily for the children of Invited members starting at age 4; it also operates the Crush It! Cup fundraiser competition with the Jordan Spieth Charitable Foundation
Gateway Program: Invited provides free club memberships and mentorship opportunities to high school-aged golfers in conjunction with First Tee, a non-profit focused on expanding access to the sport that serves over 3M kids annually
Crush It follows the American Developmental Model and has several levels of age- and developmentally-appropriate programming; Invited’s director of golf programming Jennifer Bermingham compared it to how youth karate programs progress. Gateway Program members can maintain their free memberships through college; Pillsbury said some have chosen schools based on proximity to an Invited property.
Golf is also seeing a resurgence at the high school level in some areas.
“For kids, golf has never been more accessible than it is today,” Pillsbury said. “And that is a very big deal.”
My first thought is that these growth rates from Project Play are hard to believe. But there are 2 factors that may not be immediately obvious:
1) The 2019 to 2024 timeframe of course encompasses the pandemic, when participation in almost all sports declined, especially between 2019 and 2022. 2022 to 2023 participation rates look much better across the board.
But you know what sports didn’t experience a decline from 2019 to 2022 among ages 6-12? Golf, flag and tennis. Golf and tennis are “social distance” sports, and flag just plowed through it all anyway.
So while it may be difficult to fathom that golf is growing at a faster rate than flag, the latter flew directly into pandemic headwinds, while the former was aided by them.
2) Some form of golf is doing a lot of work here. I wonder how generously we’re counting golf sim use as participation. Hours played feels like it might tell a different story.
Two other quick things:
1) Pillsbury made an interesting point — Invited’s programs (and others in the sport) are focused on the base of the participation pyramid. He said there is clear work that has to be done on better developing and serving elite junior golfers. It’s the inverse for most other youth sports.
2) Bermingham, who played professionally and has a background and coaching and teaching, said her experience was that youth developmental programs at the club level tended to come and go whenever a golf pro made a career change. But programs like Crush It prevent that transient nature.
🏒 Preserving — and revitalizing - youth hockey rinks*
The hockey community in Kalamazoo, Michigan, was rocked last fall when catastrophe struck Wings West’s ice plant, forcing the arena to close its doors.
The area’s available ice space was dramatically reduced in an instant, leaving local youth and college programs unsure what would happen next.
Black Bear Sports Group then stepped in and, less than a month later, Wings West was on the road to revitalization.
Youth hockey is powered by local rinks. But they are increasingly feeling the squeeze of rising operational costs, deferred maintenance and the ongoing challenge of achieving sustainability — challenges that make it extremely difficult to weather storms like the one that hit Wings West.
Black Bear — which owns and operates 45 rinks across 12 states — has established a model to not only preserve these critical facilities, but allow them to thrive. That model prioritizes investment in people, and as a result, player participation across Black Bear facilities is growing at more than four times the national average. Long-term ownership and operational stability is paired with reinvestment. Community rinks remain viable rather than falling behind and then apart.
Black Bear has invested over $20M in facility repairs, replacements and improvements over the last 24 months, including core building systems, refrigeration equipment, upgraded locker rooms and training areas, customer-facing amenities and programmatic enhancements.
These efforts have improved cleanliness, reliability and everyday experiences for families, helping communities preserve what they value about their rink while raising the baseline on comfort, consistency and overall facility experience.
*Sponsor
🏟️ Buying Sandlot Summit Speaker Unveil
Each newsletter, we’ll unveil a speaker, as we aim to put together the most compelling list of speakers and panelists in the history of the youth sports industry.
Today, we’re happy to announce that Reed Shaffner, CTO of TeamSnap, will be on-stage in Philly April 14-15. Reed came to TeamSnap when the company he co-founded, Mojo Sports, was acquired by the youth sports tech platform two years ago. Reed led the rollout of the all-new TeamSnap ONE in November, and is one of the most influential and thoughtful voices in sports tech. Listen to our podcast interview with Reed, and join him in Philly by getting your early bird tickets right here.
He will be joined at the event by previously announced speakers: John Stewart (CEO, Fastbreak AI), Aman Loomba (SVP Product, GameChanger), Jordan Baltimore (CEO, NY Empire Baseball), Jason Sacks (CEO, Positive Coaching Alliance), Brett Marbut (Senior Director of Strategic Growth at PlayOn Sports), and Brent Wall, CEO of Student Athlete Score.
Early bird tickets will only be available for a short while longer.
Hey, it’s just some old-time hockey.
A youth hockey exhibition during a minor league game in Pennsylvania set the internet ablaze over the weekend thanks to a wild line brawl that was later called a “staged fight” by the Atlantic Amateur Hockey Association.
Some context on how the Hershey Bears’ “Mites on Ice” program went off the rails — and ended up being written about by a New York Times employee:
The 8U players belong to the Central Penn Panthers, a Lancaster-based club
There were no officials on the ice
Coaches/parents were apparently on the bench
This is not the Bears’ first youth hockey donnybrook this season; the team said it will "ensure clear safeguards, supervision, and expectations are in place" moving forward
The club pledged “an internal review to fully understand the circumstances surrounding the incident" in a statement on Facebook. The AAHA is also investigating and said "appropriate disciplinary action will be taken against those players and team officials involved with the staged fight.”
Three quick thoughts:
1) What are the Bears thinking with no adults out there?
2) If adults put this idea in the kids’ heads … come on.
3) One of the videos of the kerfuffle shows the Bears’ mascot skating by at one point, just observing the mayhem. I don’t know why, but this killed me.
🌎 Another International Development
ECNL has partnered with IberCup and will host 11U and 12U boys soccer tournaments in the U.S. featuring teams from overseas.
The long-term deal will kick off later this year with over 200 teams competing in Raleigh, North Carolina, over Labor Day weekend. Teams from Asia, Europe and South America will participate in the 7v7 event.
The news comes after Perfect Game announced teams from Asia will compete in U.S. tournaments as part of the baseball and softball platform’s expanded Pacific Rim presence.
🤝 RCX Sports Partners With State-Level Organizations
The official youth sports operator of the major U.S. professional leagues will team up with a trio of groups to increase access in the respective regions.
RCX is teaming with Michigan Parks, Missouri State Alliance of YMCAs and Pennsylvania Recreation & Park Society.
Expanded opportunities with RCX's pro league-affiliated programs
Training for coaches and staff
Education resources to foster engagement, safe and inclusive environments
RCX operates NFL Flag, NHL Street, the Jr. NBA and Jr. WNBA and MLS GO, among other offerings.
🏛️ Youth Sports At The Supreme Court
The high court will hear oral arguments tomorrow challenging state laws prohibiting transgender athletes from competing on teams that align with their gender identity.
One of the cases — West Virginia vs. BPJ — was brought by the family of a middle school athlete impacted by the state’s ban. The other case is Little vs. Hecox, where a Boise State student is challenging Idaho’s law.
The challenges revolve around the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment and Title IX.
Federal courts have blocked both laws, but the Supreme Court has agreed to hear the states’ appeals. There are similar laws in 25 other states and President Trump issued an executive order last year.
Legal analysts say the court’s decision will likely have a significant impact that goes beyond transgender athletes’ participation in sports.
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Good game.