This is Buying Sandlot — the only newsletter that focuses solely on the business of youth sports.
We surpassed 15,000 subscribers today. We had precisely 0 on this day last year.
While audience size and growth is great, at this point it's about who is engaged with our stuff. So far this month, I (Kyle) have heard from a handful of CEOs of very large companies in youth sports mentioning something they read in the newsletter or heard on our podcast. Along with countless others who keep up on the industry by reading, watching and listening.
Quality, not quantity. Though big numbers are good too.
Thanks to everyone for your support!
Let’s get to it.
In the email today:
🏈 Dick’s Sporting Goods, Under Armour Invest In Girls Flag
The sporting good behemoth’s charitable wing and apparel brand have partnered with Beyond Sports on a $1M grant program to support girls flag.
Open to non-profit groups in U.S. and Mexico
Focus on access to safe, structured play
Support for state-level efforts to sanction girls flag as a HS varsity sport
Coaching education through Positive Coaching Alliance
Apparel and equipment
The Click Clack: Next Era Grant is open to orgs that have been registered for at least two years and either have girls flag programming or are planning to launch.
The application process begins March 9.
UA sponsors top international women’s flag stars like Team USA’s Ashlea Klam and Diana Flores, the QB for Team Mexico.
This appears to be the first national flag-specific show of support from Dick’s — which is something that has piqued our curiosity.
GameChanger, which is teasing an announcement tomorrow, plans further expansion into new sports. Basketball is their focus for 2026, but flag is almost certainly on the roadmap there.
🏒 Access, Affordability And Participation Growth*
The youth hockey ecosystem relies on ice availability and empowering families.
Black Bear Sports Group’s approach and resources keep more local rinks open while supporting initiatives that keep communities in the game and help grow the sport. These efforts have driven BBSG’s youth participation growth rate to more than three times the national average.
About 450 community events annually; 8-10 events per location
Learn-to-play programs grew 25% year over year
Over $20K in scholarships awarded
Club team participation grew 8% year over year
Discounts across the BBSG network to make hockey more affordable and accessible
Youth sports currently face many challenges. BBSG is rising to the moment and meeting those challenges by expanding hockey access and removing barriers, allowing kids to take their first steps in the sport and foster a desire to stay in the game. These efforts, paired with a long-term commitment to stable facilities, support growth and opportunity.
*Sponsor
🏟️ Buying Sandlot Summit Panel Topics Coming Together
While not an exhaustive list, here is an early preview of panel topics for April 14-15 in Philly:
Tech Heavy Hitters— executives from leading tech platforms discuss state of the industry
Consolidation, Exits and Acquisitions— what to expect in 2026
Tech 2.0— The next wave of AI-first tech platforms entering the market
Soccer in America— The unprecedented opportunity and challenges surrounding youth soccer development in the US
“Eyes on Youth Sports”— Sponsorship, and how it unlocks increased revenue and opportunity for brands, operators and athletes, and how it can subsidize increased participation rates
Compliance and Safety— Increased expectations and liability, from compliance to athlete health and safety
Athlete Data and NIL— how technology and NIL are shaping the future of high school athletes and college scouting
Professionalized Recreation— Creating world-class experiences for athletes regardless of skill level
Remembering the Athlete— Why it’s important to keep the athlete at the center of the youth sports boom
Emerging Opportunities— Flag, Bananaball, golf, and racquet sports, how the next wave of growth may come from unlikely sports
Streaming— How hardware, AI, and adoption are driving a boom in youth sports streaming
Startups: The next wave of tech startups in the space, and what their growth and exit pathways will be
… and much more. And a boatload of networking!
📺 Pro Bowl Games Draw Disappointing Rating
The NFL is all-in on flag football. And that is not going to change.
But even The Shield gets a ding sometimes.
The main event of the Super Bowl Week flag-fest — the AFC vs. NFC Pro Bowl Games showcase — averaged 1.9M viewers.
That would be an incredible rating for cable TV on a Tuesday night 99.9% of the time. But the game is different for the NFL — it was the worst Pro Bowl rating ever and a 60% YoY drop from the 2025 edition.
There are several reasonable explanations.
The Pro Bowl has been bleeding audience and interest for years. It was moved from its usual Sunday before the Super Bowl placement. ABC carried a simulcast broadcast last year. And most of the NFL’s top stars find a way to avoid participating these days — see Sanders, Shedeur.
But at the same time: This could lead the NFL to recalibrate how it is growing and selling flag to the masses as Los Angeles 2028 fast approaches. The sport remains a rocket ship on an astonishing linear trajectory at the youth level, but this was the larger market saying it is not as enamored — yet.
It is tempting to say the rating is irrelevant and there could be 19 people tuning in as long as the league can connect with kids and new fans through clips and highlights on social media.
But having covered the league earlier in my career, I learned long ago the NFL does not do loss leaders. It aims to dominate on all fronts. And it takes in action if not achieving the latter.
The entire flag ecosystem is very much building the plane while flying it — something illustrated in the interview Kyle P. recently did with BreakAway Data CEO Dave Anderson.
This feels like one of those instances. It seems unlikely the NFL will end the Pro Bowl before we get to LA, so I’d look for big changes next year — going back to the Sunday time slot, cajoling more big names to show up, maybe even integrating the U.S. women’s national team into the event.
The eventual decision between 5v5 — which is what they’ll play in the Olympics — and 7v7 — more kids participating AND it looks more like football — also fascinates me.
This is a fleeting dip in the grand scheme, but the NFL can’t rest on its laurels here.
Flag football won’t succeed as a broadcast sport because it’s football. In fact, that thinking has failed many of upstart leagues. It may succeed when it’s part of the Olympics - when was the last time you tuned in to beach volleyball or curling outside of the Olympics? - or if it receives the full weight and might of ESPN-ABC, as it did for the NFL Flag Championships last summer. But I remain skeptical it will ever become mainstream, around-the-clock programming.
But that has little to do with its potential as a youth, high school, or even college sport. To the extent that this isn’t the NFL’s primary motivation already, it should lean into flag primarily as a way to open up an entire gender to football participation (and subsequent fandom), and as a gateway entry point for parents who are concerned about the safety of tackle participation, especially from a young age. Not everything will become prime time viewing… but TV execs will always try!
⛷️ Olympicsville, USA
Park City, Utah, once again has dozens of athletes from town or with ties to it competing at the Winter Olympics.
Five of the athletes competing in Milan began in their respective sports through Youth Sports Alliances' Get Out and Play program, which introduces kids to winter sports and offers gear, transportation and scholarships.
🧠 New Study On Concussions and CTE
A new National Institutes of Health study found there is a clear link between severe CTE (stages 3-4) and dementia.
But researchers were unable to find a measurable link between less severe CTE (stages 1-2) and "changes in thinking, mood, or daily functioning."
The study also concluded that "mood or behavior changes commonly attributed to CTE may instead come about from other brain effects of repetitive head impacts or from unrelated medical or environmental factors."
NIH also recently released a second study that found repetitive head trauma can cause cellular changes in a youth athlete's brain, but there is no evidence those changes cause symptoms or lead to CTE.
Quick Take: I (James) was part of the last wave of high school football players (2008 graduate) who did not have baseline testing, contact limitations in practice, etc. I’ve always figured our generation will settle the youth football safety debate either way — hopefully in about 50 years or so, because I like my brain.
🏈 Elite HS Football Scheduling News
An item of note we missed last week: IMG Academy and St. Frances of Baltimore have agreed to play next fall on Nov. 13, according to Rivals.
Recall:
The powerhouses were supposed to play last November
The teams were ranked Nos. 1 and 2 in several national polls
IMG declined to push the game back to mid-December to accommodate a TV broadcast, eventually pulling out
St. Frances then thumped Utah’s Corner Canyon in the inaugural Overtime Nationals High School Football Championship
Quick Take: You would expect the game to stick this time — and it has to if national-level high school football is going to be a viable media product. The fact the game is in mid-November also suggests one or both teams will be set up to compete in the next edition of Overtime’s event, whether it is just a one-off game again or it expands into bracket competition.
🤦♂️ Parents Behaving Badly
A Ohio man received a lifetime ban from a youth wrestling organization after assaulting an official.
The incident was caught on tape; the referee actually got the better of the altercation before others broke it up.
The org has also put the team the man was coaching on zero-tolerance probation through next season. The official will not work again this year “for his safety.”
ICYMI: CYO officials on Staten Island recently established a strict new policy that includes the potential for lifetime bans if parents get physical.
🔗 Youth Sports Links
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Good game.