This is Buying Sandlot — the only newsletter that focuses solely on the business of youth sports.
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In the email today:
🐙 Otto Sport AI Aims To Dig Deep
Luke Zaientz surveyed the youth sports platform landscape.
The Reigning Champs co-founder (NCSA College Recruiting, RCX Sports) and former IMG Academy CSO felt the major players were all hampered by myriad structural challenges that hinder innovation.
But if there was a platform unencumbered by mergers, the distractions that come with trying to be acquired, shifting priorities after taking on private equity investment and a limited embrace of artificial intelligence …
Enter Otto Sport AI. The platform launched yesterday following a $16.5M seed round co-led by Mamba Growth Equity and Rally Ventures.
Serves lacrosse, soccer and volleyball at launch
Over 1K clubs use the platform at launch, plus thousands of tourneys
No current plans to expand beyond those sports
Focus on reaching all constituents and needs — tournaments, ticketing, registration, clubs, athletes, families, governing bodies, college recruiters, etc.
An AI chat assistant that reduces administrative workload
Could potentially expand into financial compliance, other areas in future
“We’re different because we’re focused on the ecosystem,” Zaientz, Otto’s CEO, told Buying Sandlot.
“We’re different because we’re trying to go much deeper, because we’re using AI to drive really practical, impactful tools and results for our different constituent groups. If you can go deeper from an ecosystem perspective, you can then glean data that then powers AI to do really awesome stuff.”
An example: The platform’s AI can be used by a volleyball tournament organizer to analyze the floor plan inside a convention center on how to best lay out courts.
Otto acquired three companies — Demosphere (management), Sportwrench (events) and University Athlete (recruiting) — to integrate into the platform and create its base.
Other tools include automated scoring, protections blocking disruptive fans from entering events, player profiles, tracking college coach attendance, schedule optimization and Otto Pilot, the admin-focused chatbot.
Otto Pilot — which will also be available as a standalone product — fields and handles FAQs from parents and other stakeholders. It also directs more sophisticated inquiries to officials and is expected to eventually streamline administrative tasks that currently require toggling between tools.
Zaientz said a user should be able to pull up the chatbot on a rainy day and instruct it to postpone practice, book a field for the next day, inform all families of the change and update the schedule.
“A cultural anchor for us is empathy at scale,” he said. “Do you spend a lot of time thinking about the needs of your users, what would be useful to them, putting yourself in their shoes. When you can focus on innovation and empathy at the same time, we think really great things come out of that for our users.”
Obviously a crowded space here, and Otto is claiming to offer a lot right out of the gate. I could name an individual company for almost every one of the features offered.
Otto is coming after the major registration platforms, while layering in the AI special sauce of a Fastbreak ($40M Series A), and the parent focus of startups like Onsides (Full disclosure: I have a small advisory stake) and Orgo, among many other features. All of that with a $16M seed and an experienced leader is quite the statement. [Rally had previously acquired registration platform Demosphere, whose site now points to Otto. So this isn’t exactly a typical “seed” round.]
I think what Fastbreak, Otto and the more narrowly-focused startups represent are Youth Sports Tech 2.0. These are genuine disrupters - with war chests of cash to boot - trying to unseat entrenched market leaders with fresh, AI-focused takes on managing the life of youth sports operators and parents.
But unlike in many industries, the incumbents aren’t so big, so unwieldy that they can’t innovate and evolve, and there’s still a fair amount of founder DNA in some of them. As examples: TeamSnap recently rolled out TeamSnap ONE and claimed an overhaul of their entire architecture— an effort led by CTO Reed Shaffner (a Buying Sandlot Summit speaker), who co-founded Mojo Sport, which TeamSnap acquired in early 2024. And LeagueApps is still founder-led with deep ties into larger operators.
That said, Fastbreak, Otto et al. do have more freedom to flip the tables and see what happens. This will be fascinating to watch play out.
One more, from the press release: “AI requires rich datasets to work, and the “differentiation point” for Otto Sport is that it won’t spread itself too thin across too many sports, said CEO/co-founder Luke Zaientz”. We talk a lot about single-sport vs. multi-sport focus. Interesting that Otto is choosing some sports. Clearly it sees some overlap and opportunity in them. Fresh takes abound here + an Octopus!
Did you know octopuses (octopi?) have mini-brains in each tentacle? I suspect the mascot choice here is very intentional.
🏀 Youth Sports Tech Platforms Are Missing a Big Piece of the Puzzle*
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Tourney Direct becomes an event operator’s “co-captain” by handling:
Staffing
Payments
Job Openings
Tax Admin
And so much more!
All purpose-designed for youth sports operators.
Learn more about how Tourney Direct can help run your business right here.
*Sponsor
🏟️ Only 2 Weeks Remain For Early Bird Tickets
Ticket prices for the Buying Sandlot Summit will increase on January 31. Early bird tickets are $599 and include 2-days of programming and networking with a who’s who of youth sports + our evening event at the amazing Ballers (pictured here). All meals, dinner, drinks included in early bird pricing.
🏈 More Wind Behind Flag Football’s Sails
The NCAA has added flag to its Emerging Sports for Women program, officially putting it on the path to becoming an official D1 sport with a national championship event.
There are about 65 NCAA members with club or varsity teams currently; there need to be at least 40 varsity programs nationally to progress to a formal championship sport. It’s not clear how many of the current teams across all divisions are formal varsity programs.
⚾️ Hoops Hall of Famer Launches Baseball Platform
Former NBA star Jason Kidd — now the Dallas Mavericks’ head coach — is starting JK Select Baseball.
The initiative will be part of Kidd’s foundation and operate alongside an established initiative for youth girls basketball players.
Ages 7-18
Three-tiered model
Emphasizes education, skill development, mentorship
Will launch in Dallas region
Future expansion targets include California, Pennsylvania, Washington
Kidd is a passionate baseball fan; his 15-year-old son has emerged as a potential college and professional prospect.
🔉 New Podcast: 2026 Youth Sports Business Predictions
Listen to our 11 predictions for the youth sports industry in 2026.
Subscribe to the podcast with your podcast player of choice right here.
🧱 Youth Sports Facilities News
Albuquerque, New Mexico: The Mesa Del Sol Sports Complex completed its third phase and added four turf fields, bringing its total to 12. Fundraising for the final stage is underway and officials hope to finish the project by the end of the year.
Omaha, Nebraska: An indoor-outdoor multi-sport complex with turf fields has been proposed as part of a business park project powered by a $90M state grant. Commercial business space would also be part of the project; advocates say it would complement a $45M indoor facility being built by the city.
St. Louis, Missouri: A struggling mall could be converted into a major complex with two ice rinks. A $135K feasibility study has been green-lit; an events center and hotel have also been mentioned as potential features. Quick Take: There are numerous examples of abandoned commercial properties being repurposed for youth sports, including a bowling alley in St. Louis. But this would be an operational one — the mall is dying but still open — making the move before the doors close.
Vineland, New Jersey: A health network is considering a $6M deal to sell a 108-acre lot to the city and the Cumberland County Improvement Authority for a youth sports complex. The Sports Facilities Companies was recently hired to conduct a feasibility study.
💼 Youth Sports Transactions Wire
Fastbreak AI has tabbed Tom Aucamp as its new CFO.
As CFO, Aucamp will oversee Fastbreak's financial operations, long-range planning and corporate development initiatives, with a focus on accelerating growth and supporting the company in its next stage of evolution following its Series A. Over his career, Aucamp has advised on and executed more than 100 transactions, including acquisitions, divestitures and capital raises, while leading management teams across corporate finance, M&A advisory and operational transformation.
Aucamp was previously at IPS Packaging, Jamba Juice, RideNow and Swisher Hygiene.
🤦♂️ Parents Behaving Badly
A woman is accused of hitting, kicking and spitting on a referee during a youth basketball tournament in Montana last month.
Some of the details are wild:
The alleged assailant is a HS girls soccer coach
The official is a 6-foot-8 volunteer HS boys hoops coach
He was suddenly removed from the latter position after the incident
He believes the woman is responsible for his ouster and is suing her
We would be remiss if we did not point out the event in question has an incredibly cool name — the Anaconda Santa Slammer.
🦚 On The SportsEngine Beat
Some non-sales speculation news … the youth sports management and streaming platform has partnered with Supercoach, a European soccer education and training tool entering the U.S. market.
It’s the first time SE has a coaching tool directly linked into its platform.
SE users will receive discounted access to Supercoach’s video library, drills, training plans, etc.
Supercoach, based in Sweden, said it has over 10K users worldwide and offers content for ages 5-15 at all levels of competition.
🔗 Youth Sports Links
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Good game.