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:
🏈 Introducing Premier Flag Football
The NFL and TMRW Sports unveiled the name for the pro men’s and women’s leagues it will launch next summer.
Of note: The release indicates Premier Flag will operate out of a single host/hub city, similar to TMRW’s indoor golf league, TGL. Premier Flag said it is working with Populous to design the first stadium purpose-built for flag football.
All 32 NFL teams are investors in the league, as are current and former players, female athletes and institutional and strategic investors.
Premier Flag held its first combine in London last month and has another set for Mexico City later this month with its main combine to follow next year. The league is also planning a showcase event prior to Super Bowl LXI next February.
TMRW also previously launched a strategic partnership with the International Federation of American Football, which is the IOC-recognized governing body for flag's debut at the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics.
Premier Flag said there are 4.1M youth flag players in the U.S., up 50% since 2020.
So there is now some meat on this bone, but not a lot of meat. Like a B- hot wing.
Anyway, I’m conflicted.
On one hand, I believe we’re entering a world where sports participation and consumption will increase substantially, to levels that even the most bullish estimates aren’t accounting for. Existing major pro leagues won’t be able to meet demand, especially for in-person viewing, without substantially increasing the supply of their product. This is why we are already seeing skyrocketing ticket and hospitality prices— or as Reddit co-founder and investor Alexis Ohanian said, “The Wimbledon ticket is gonna continue to be even more exclusive, even more scarce, because there’s just a finite amount of access to it.” The major pro events will get more expensive and exclusive, creating a larger opportunity for secondary and upstart leagues.
Ergo, the rise of the WNBA, creation of NBA Europe and USL Premier, LOVB’s youth-to-pro pipeline, heavy investment in MLS Next Pro, and the NFL’s foray into pro flag.
ON THE OTHER HAND, there’s a graveyard of these sorts of efforts, and I’ve written before that I’m uncertain flag will ever become a meaningful consumer sport (obviously it’s an excellent participation sport). The announcement today being thin on infrastructure and business details, and rather focusing more on branding and social media strategy, raises more questions than it answers. Never mind the one-stadium nature of this indicating a made-for-TV product, which doesn’t capture the in-person demand I just talked about. There’s something inauthentic about The Shield trying to muscle out all competitors in a version of the sport that it doesn’t necessarily own but desperately wants to.
I’m way more bullish on the NFL expanding internationally, since it can create new supply of its core product with effectively no competition, than I am on it owning and succeeding in professional flag.
But flag’s popularity and tailwinds combined with the NFL’s deep pockets and influence are tough to contend with. This will be fun to watch play out.
🚀 Future of Girls Sports Starts At Grassroots*
What happens when leaders from purpose-driven organizations, sports facilities, and consumer brands come together to discuss the growing opportunities for women and girls in youth sports?
BASE Sports Group will hold a panel discussion — Investing in Women/Girls at a Grassroots Level — at the first-ever Youth Sports Sponsorship Forum on Wednesday at New York’s Chelsea Piers.
The panel will feature some of the most powerful women in youth sports and brand decision-making speaking on grassroots investments.
How brands, orgs can support female athletes from ground up
Expanding access, opportunities
Creating meaningful impact through investment in girls' sports
This week's event will bring together a curated group of marketers, operators, data experts, media members and industry leaders to discuss the most important topics about sponsorship in youth sports.
Among the companies and organizations scheduled to attend: Amazon, Geico, LinkedIn, Meta, Nike and many others.
Interested in joining them? Reach out here
*Sponsor
⚾️ Scoop: GoRout Partners With PitchKount
There is some interoperability in youth sports tech after all.
Coach-to-player communications provider GoRout has launched an exclusive integration partnership with the PitchKount compliance and management platform.
The partnership will be powered by GoRout Connect, which is GoRout’s open API platform allowing automated integration with other tech used by coaches without CSV exports, postgame downloads or manual file transfers.
The integration will automatically transmit pitch data generated through GoRout Diamond into PitchKount, reducing duplicate data entry, simplifying postgame reporting, and helping coaches manage pitcher workloads and state association requirements. The partnership also creates opportunities to leverage GoRout's in-game data to support PitchKount's broader mission of promoting responsible pitcher usage and arm health.
GoRout Chief Strategy Officer Drew Robinson said about 80% of the company’s staff are former coaches — a perspective that informs its goal to reduce unnecessary work for its users.
“The way we look at the world is different than our competitors, and that’s why we’ve built our technology the way we’ve built it,” Robinson told Buying Sandlot. “We’re cellular-based and app-based, and that gives us so much flexibility with regards to these types of integrations.
“Why can’t we just build something that talks to each other? We are ready, willing and able to work with any of these different softwares or analytics groups and integrate with our system. We’re the only one that can automate that kind of integration.”
PitchKount is used by state governing bodies and schools in eight states. The integration is targeting a winter 2026 availability. Robinson said GoRout expects to announce additional integration partnerships in the coming weeks.
📺 Perfect Game Strikes Another Media Rights Deal
The baseball and softball development giant will partner with Minority Prospects, an Atlanta-based organization that covers minority baseball and softball athletes.
Partnership kicked off at last month’s WWBA World Championships
Minority Prospects will broadcast select PG events across all social media platforms
MP, PG will collaborate on content, cross-promotion
Minority Prospects has 147 MLB draft picks among its alumni; its athletes have earned over 2K baseball and softball scholarships.
MP operates free youth clinics that have served over 95K participants and it operates a national events calendar including the HBCU All-Star Games, MBP All-American Game, MBP Collegiate League and the MBP Junior World Series.
This is PG’s third media rights deal with a creator-native partner; it struck deals with Youth Prospects and Doubted Athletes earlier this year.
🏢 SFC Roster Move
The Sports Facilities Companies has officially announced it will be the operating partner for the $50M indoor complex in Rapid City, South Dakota.
The venue is scheduled to open in 2029; it will host “competitive and recreational events, training sessions and community activities.” Local officials believe the complex will be able to capitalize on the region’s existing tourism infrastructure — Rapid City is about 30 minutes from Mount Rushmore — and bring in visitors year-round.
Sanford Health has already signed a 20-year, $10M naming rights deal for the venue; the name is set to be announced next week. Sanford bought an indoor complex in town earlier this year to launch programming in the meantime.
🔉 New Podcast: The Sports Facilities Companies Co-Founder and CEO Jason Clement
Speaking of SFC… got a good one this week.
Some topics covered:
Inside Ontario Sports Empire's $850M Build
Academics, Athletics & Weekday Use
Unreasonable Hospitality in Youth Sports
Travel Sports & Affordability Don't Have To Compete
Creating Value for Municipalities
Local Recreation & Sports Tourism
Expanding into Wellness & Golf
Sport's Role in a Digital World
BUYING SANDLOT: THE BUSINESS OF YOUTH SPORTS
The Sports Facilities Companies CEO: Managing 150+ Venues, the $850M Build, and Future of Sports Tourism
💼 Youth Sports Transactions Wire
Fastbreak AI has promoted Jason Smith to Chief Revenue Officer. Smith, who joined Fastbreak last year as a VP of Business Development for Professional Sports, “will lead Fastbreak's sales and business development teams [and] be responsible for new business growth and for expanding relationships with existing customers.”
Rick Ehrman has joined Ankored as SVP of Corporate & Business Development. The former SportsEngine executive and CEO of VNN Sports and rSchoolToday has spent over 15 years in youth sports tech. He will lead Ankored's partner channel, working with insurance partners, national governing bodies, registration and tech platforms and state parks and rec associations.
🔗 Youth Sports Links
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Good game.