More Brands Dive In on Youth Sports Partnerships

🥎 The business of youth sports

AuthorAuthor

James Kratch & Kyle Scott
May 30, 2025

This is Buying Sandlot — the only newsletter that focuses solely on the business of youth sports.

If you didn’t get a chance yesterday— read our deep dive on Dick’s increased focused on GameChanger in their most recent earnings call.

In the email today:

⚾️ Perfect Game Partners With PitchCom

The baseball and softball development giant has formed an exclusive partnership with PitchCom, making the company its official on-field communications provider while bringing the technology used in MLB to its broadcasts and events.

In case you are unaware, PitchCom’s wearable technology allows catchers, coaches, and pitchers to communicate pitch types, and it can also be used for offensive signs.

  • PG will roll out PitchCom at its major events, including the DICK’S All-American Classic, Select Fests, the WWBA Championship and the National Showcase.

  • PG believes the addition will enhance in-game strategy and improve pace of play

  • PitchCom will be used to improve viewing experiences for PerfectGame.TV broadcasts (how? it’s unclear, but perhaps just by increasing pace-of-play)

  • PitchCom will be prominently featured across PG communication channels — email campaigns, social media, PGTV, PerfectGame.org and live event broadcasts

🍌 Little League Strikes a Partnership Deal with Banana Boat

Little League has struck a multi-year sponsor partnership with Banana Boat sunscreen.

Under this partnership, Banana Boat will provide complimentary sunscreen samples, educational resources, exclusive digital content, and on-site branded experiences at select Little League tournaments to encourage the next generation of athletes to stay active – and protected – throughout the season.

It’s great to see sunscreen brands partner with youth sports orgs— a very natural, and necessary fit. But it’s worth noting Banana Boat makes some of the most toxic sunscreens on the market (especially the sprays).

🏢 Massive WV Facility Approved

rendering from CRJ Development Partners

The Mercer County (West Virginia) Commission has approved the creation of a 420-acre economic district anchored by a youth baseball and softball complex estimated to cost $250M(!).

The Ridges Economic Opportunities District will be located near Princeton, which is about an hour west of Blacksburg, Virginia (where Virginia Tech is) and two hours north of Bristol, Tennessee and Winston-Salem.

There are plans for lodging, restaurants, shopping and other amenities around the complex.

You can view plans and more renderings here.

Officials hope to break ground by the end of the year. The county will levy a special excise tax equivalent to the state sales tax to fund the project. The tax will apply to new businesses within the district starting July 1.

My take:

420 acres! 225 for the sports facilities alone!

From the article:

“This comprehensive development aims to attract traveling youth sports teams and their families, injecting new vitality into the local economy.”

My spidey-sense is tingling and I feel like some of these massive developments will be looked at the way abandoned Olympics stadiums are viewed now.

Reasons:

1) The justification for these relies on there being enough demand. Economics 101 here. Many of the feasibility studies quantify potential attendees within a 3-hour drive. The country is large, but even anecdotally we’re beginning to see many Venn diagrams of sorts— facilities with overlapping radiiiiiiiiii. There is a tipping point where too much supply dooms them all.

2) A planned facility two hours away in Charlestown, WV (not baseball-softball) has been paused due to lack of government funding.

3) The retail and dining portions pull ideas from the pro stadium-adjacent areas that have become so popular. But even they can struggle during down times when there are no events— and those are generally in large cities. Now there are increasingly larger bets on more and more rural areas.

4)

300 years from now humanoid robots will view youth baseball field configurations with the same confusion and curiosity we have toward crop circles.

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⚖️ Guilty Pleas In Youth Sports Complex Fraud Case

Randy and Chad Miller pleaded guilty to federal securities fraud and aggravated identity theft charges in the Southern District of New York, weeks after being arrested for a scheme to defraud municipal bond investors for the development of Legacy Park — now Arizona Athletic Grounds — in Mesa, Arizona.

The Department of Justice said investors suffered almost total losses — less than $3M of the roughly $284M owed to them has been recovered.

The Millers both face a maximum sentence of five years on the securities fraud and a maximum of two years on the identity theft. Those sentences must be served consecutively according to DOJ.

Randy Miller, 70, must also pay a $7.3M money judgment. Chad Miller, 41, owes $4.8M.

The Millers “lied to potential investors about the interest sports organizations and other potential customers had in using or relocating to Legacy Park,” according to DOJ, which also said the father-son duo and their associates “forged and altered purported ‘binding’ letters of intent and other documents,” among other malfeasance.

Sentencing will be later this year.

🏃‍♀️ California Changes State Track Meet Rules Amid White House Pressure

The California Interscholastic Federation will hold its high school track and field championships this weekend.

The qualification rules have been abruptly changed after President Donald Trump threatened to pull federal funding for the state due to a transgender athlete's anticipated participation in the event (the Department of Justice has since launched a Title IX probe into a state law connected to the matter).

The changes, which are being called a “pilot entry process” and only apply to the event:

  • Any “biological female student-athlete” who fell one spot shot of sectional qualification for the championships is now able to compete.

  • Those athletes must have also failed to meet the threshold for state at-large qualification

  • If a transgender athlete medals in an event, their ranking will not displace a “biological female” from also medaling— an additional medal will be awarded

Our very narrow, very non-political take: This issue is not going anywhere. And we now have the nation’s most-populous state taking action with a significant rule change, albeit under duress.

Will this become a permanent rule change for all California high school sports?

And if that does happen, will other states follow the lead and pass similar rules?

⛑️ PlaySafe USA Expands Youth Sports Safety Programs

PlaySafe USA -- a non-profit dedicated to promoting healthcare access for underserved youth -- will expand its reach across multiple states.

The group works to ensure all athlete, regardless of community resources, can access a licensed athletic trainer, mental health programs and opioid misuse prevention education.

The program embeds healthcare professionals, provides educational services and pushes for legislative action.

👨‍🦰 Parents Behaving Badly

We have a celebrity edition (allegedly).

A man who claims to be a basketball official accused former Ohio State quarterback Braxton Miller of throwing a ball at him after coaching in a recent sixth-grade boys AAU game.

The allegations have caused a mild kerfuffle in the Buckeye State. There does not appear to be any video, though.

Miller has not commented, but he does appear to be a coach for the program the ref mentions in his post.

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Good game.