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:
👔 C-Suite Moves At PlayOn
Perkins Miller is the streaming giant’s new CEO as founder David Rudolph makes a planned transition into a new role overseeing analytics and streaming.
Rudolph was PlayOn CEO for 17 years after spinning the company out of Turner— the firm merged with ticketing platform GoFan and acquired MaxPreps under his watch. NFHS Network is also under the banner.
Rudolph spoke about his move on LinkedIn.
“Six months ago, I decided it was time for a different role at PlayOn. Not because I wanted to leave (far from it), but because I believe I can make my greatest impact by going deeper into the parts of our business that I’m most passionate about: streaming and analytics – where this whole journey began.”
We spoke to Rudolph on the podcast this summer (watch it here, download it here). He showed his enthusiasm for the AI-powered streaming tech coming:
INDUSTRY NEWS: PlayOn Sports (NFHS Network, GoFan) announced that founder and CEO David Rudolph would be stepping down and that sports and media veteran Perkins Miller would take over his role.
Rudolph isn't leaving though. He'll focus on the streaming and analytics side of the
— #BuyingSandlot (#@BuyingSandlot)
3:04 PM • Oct 24, 2025
When PlayOn acquired MaxPreps (please, for the love of God, can we start using spaces between words in the youth sports industry?) in the spring, I compared their business to the media arm of a pro sports league, like MLB.com.
They already had the streaming and ticketing down with NFHS Network and GoFan, but MaxPreps gave them the “front porch” of high school sports, as President B.J. Pilling put it at the time, describing the top-of-funnel reach MaxPreps brought with it.
This makes PlayOn a media company.
I asked Rudolph about it on the podcast. He said they didn’t used to chase ad revenue because they didn’t quite have the scale, but that MaxPreps changed all of that.
He used the same (my?) MLB example:
“I'll use MLB just since we're in the summer. So, you know, our streaming product is like MLB TV. Our ticketing product, [is like their ticket partner]. I would say MaxPreps is a lot like ESPN.com. So I think it's similar from that perspective in that we've of cobbled together, I'll call it best in class products, kind of across the different verticals. In our case, they are separate brands and separate products, but we are working to integrate the consumer experience and the consumer journey across those.”
Not surprisingly, Miller’s background is in, you guessed it, media.
He’s spent time at:
NFL Media
NBC Universal
WWE Media
StubHub
Much has been made about the media monetization potential of youth sports audiences. And by golly, PlayOn just might be the one to watch!
Need to have Perkins on the podcast.
🏟️ The Shopify of Youth Sports Tournaments*
There are only a handful of companies that deserve the moniker: The Shopify of [X].
That’s because it’s rare when one platform can cover all of a business’ needs in a single interface.
EventConnect is the Shopify of sports tournaments.
It’s the leading no-cost platform built specifically for organizers who juggle schedules and hotel blocks in the same breath.
registration
rostering
payments
real-time performance reports
lodging and more
Their proprietary HousingConnect tech bolts room blocking and booking straight onto checkout, delivering the best online group rates while parents still have their credit cards out.
This means up to:
30% more room night reservations
24% savings on team hotel costs
EventConnect already powers 9,000 events, taps 30,000 hotels across 800 destinations, and backs it all with class-leading customer support.
Want to join them?
*Sponsor
💰 NIL Expert Predicts Big Shift
There was a good amount of NIL and college revenue share talk at last week’s LeagueApps NextUp Conference, as you would expect.
The overwhelming majority of money at the D1 level is currently flowing to football and men’s basketball player. But Justin Brashear — an NFLPA-certified agent who also consults college athletes and their families — doubts it will stay this way.
Brashear anticipates successful Title IX-based legal challenges by female athletes, he told Buying Sandlot following a panel discussion:
“I don’t see a world where money that comes through state-run institutions can circumvent federal law to the detriment of a protected class of people. Once you start to see disparate payments to female athletes, I think there’s going to be litigation that’s coming. I bet you someone out there is working on it right now.”
The Trump Administration said Title IX does not apply to NIL or revenue share, reversing guidance from the Biden Administration.
But the issue has yet to hit the courts.
Brashear said the ultimate resolution may not be a 50-50 split, but schools will be required to share significantly more with female athletes — further raising the stakes for youth athletes in sports like volleyball that have proven capable of driving revenue at the college level.
🏊♂️ Swim School Franchise Booms As Olympics Approach
Water Wings Swim School touches on two current youth sports trends.
1) The hot franchise space
2) Participation funnels for Olympic sports that require infrastructure
Water Wings began franchising in May under the Unleashed Brands umbrella and has already sold 20 locations set to open in Q1/Q2 next year.
Franchise startup costs are about $1-1.5M— locations are either new builds or repurposed retail spaces (think Party City, Rite Aid, etc.).
Those schools will join 13 corporate-owned locations and give Water Wings a presence in 12 states — California, Colorado, Delaware, Idaho, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, South Carolina, Tennessee and Texas.
The growth comes at an interesting time for youth swimming, which is still digging itself out of a significant participation decline triggered by pool closings during the pandemic.
USA Swimming membership was flat in 2024 after a nearly 5% dip in 2023 and NFHS participation figures have declined each of the last four years. But past post-Olympics participation spikes have hit double-digits, buoying the industry ahead of Los Angeles in 2028.
Water Wings does not field its own competitive teams, but links with clubs in each market and exposes kids to the sport starting at three months of age.
“We’re kind of a feeder into where your local swim team needs to be,” said brand president Avi Shafshak, who co-founded Water Wings with his wife Tracy in 2003.
“Local swim teams will get kids that try out and maybe aren’t ready to join their team and will send them over to us; we have kids that max out our program and it’s time for the next step.”
This introductory level is proving to be a lucrative franchise space. Both i9 Sports and Youth Athletes United (Soccer Stars) are aggressively expanding here, as the opportunity to offer quality experiences at the rec level is sometimes overlooked.
🧢 Pro Wiffle Ball Kicks Off This Weekend
Big League Wiffle Ball will hold its first tournament tomorrow in Scottsdale, Arizona.
BLW has 10 franchises and an eclectic crop of names among the ownership ranks — actor Kevin Costner, entrepreneur Gary Vaynerchuk, content creators Dude Perfect, Minnesota Timberwolves co-owner Marc Lasry and Philadelphia 76ers co-owner David Adelman.
BLW started in 2020 when Logan Rose, then 13, began hosting backyard tournaments. Amateur teams will compete against the pro clubs in the tournaments.
BLW is expected to host future tournaments in Chicago, Dallas and Los Angeles before a planned World Series event next spring.
My brother and I invented “Waffle Ball” roughly 22 years ago in the basement of our New Jersey home.
You kneeled/sat on the rug and tried to punch a ball past each other and into the goal — either an open doorway or a cardboard box, depending on which side of the field you chose.
Anyway, I’ve always thought we had something. Any interested billionaires know where to find me.
🏈 NFL’s Aggressive Flag Football Push Continues
The latest development: The Pro Bowl Games — headlined by the AFC vs. NFC flag showdown — will move to Super Bowl week.
San Francisco’s Moscone Center will be outfitted into a made-for-TV flag arena and the game will be broadcast in primetime — 8 p.m. ET on ESPN.
Quick Take: The entire media world shows up at the Super Bowl— very few reporters attend the Pro Bowl. So this will boost exposure considerably at a time when the NFL is all-in on youth flag. And it may steal some thunder from the Fanatics event next March in Saudi Arabia, which The Shield would not complain about.
🧱 Youth Sports Facilities News
Fort Smith, Arkansas: There is a renewed push to build a 120K-square-foot indoor complex in the city. The facility’s projected cost us in the $30-$35M range and would have eight basketball courts/16 volleyball courts/32 pickleball courts.
Eugene, Oregon: Lane County officials want to build an indoor complex somewhere in the region. It would have at least eight basketball courts/16 volleyball courts and would also feature a 200M hydraulic track. There is no projected cost yet.
Sanford, Florida: Seminole County has approved over $450K in funding for Perfect Game’s events at the Boombah Sports Complex. The county expects the events to generate over $30M in local economic impact.
Allentown, Pennsylvania: Executive Education Academy Charter School will build a $25M stadium atop a parking garage. The venue will hold 4K people and sits next to the Lehigh Valley IronPigs' Coca-Cola Field.
Westfield, Indiana: The city has received approval for a grant of at least $1.5M to build a ice facility at the Grand Park Sports Campus. The venue would have 3-4 sheets of ice and is part of a major expansion proposal.
🔗 Youth Sports Links
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Good game.