This is Buying Sandlot — the only newsletter that focuses solely on the business of youth sports.
One of our top predictions for the second half of 2026 is increased federation, league and NGB involvement and investment in youth sports. And, well, that’s what we have today.
Let’s get to it.
In the email today:
🧢 More On The BVG/RCX Deal
We caught up with Brand Velocity Group founding partner Austin Ramos and RCX Sports CEO Izell Reese earlier this week to discuss the recent acquisition.
The full conversation will be in an upcoming Buying Sandlot podcast, but here are a few of the highlights:
Reese said NFL Flag will have 1M participants by the end of the year, which allows RCX to access better rates and services at scale — a build-out model it hopes to replicate with other pro league-backed partners. NFL Flag was at about 200K when RCX took over in 2018, Reese said.
Reese said RCX wants to focus on expanding and improving the core business with the new capital. But he mentioned international expansion and more partnerships with national governing bodies — RCX operates tennis programming with USTA — as potential growth areas. Ramos also left the door open to further acquisitions down the road.
BVG previously acquired apparel and equipment provider Score Sports, which has partnered considerably with the MLS Go platform. But Ramos said there are no plans to have RCX exclusively work with Score and it expects to maintain its existing partnerships.
Some leagues have bigger RCX platforms and/or have leaned in more than others, their goals are pretty uniform and allow for best practices to be shared across sports. "They could finish each other's sentences in how they think about mission alignment," Reese said.
Pro leagues see their investment in RCX as a developmental play more than building lifelong fans. "Not just development of the kid," Reese said. "It's the kid, it's the coach, it's the official. To make the sport better, make the experience better and also develop pipelines for those."
What keeps Reese up at night amid flag’s explosive growth? Officiating. “I have to make sure I have enough quality officials, so that even local rec has enough officials being developed. And here it is now with high school opportunities, collegiate opportunities, professional opportunities to be an official.”
BVG is a private equity firm, which means it would be impacted if the Let Kids Play Act becomes law. Ramos called the bill “well-intentioned.”
“As much as I’m a capitalist — it’s a big industry with a lot of money and a lot influence,” he said. “I do believe there should be guardrails, and that’s why we elect the people we elect, to help us put those guardrails in place.”
But Ramos said he feels distinctions should be drawn between what does and does not impact accessibility. He used a $400 baseball bat as an example — Ramos said he personally would not buy one for his son, but there is nothing wrong with another parent making a different choice.
“I think it’s great to make sure that none of the investments exclude kids from having the opportunity to play sports,” he said. “I do think there is a distinction though, because I’m also the person saying it’s OK to have a $400 bat in the market. That’s a personal choice if someone wants to buy a $400 bat, and someone is probably making money on that $400 bat. That’s fine too as long as it doesn’t detract from accessibility.”
As Izell and Austin were talking, I continued to think that they described RCX in a way that sounded a lot like Fanatics— a trusted partner of pro leagues to standardize a tricky part of the business, consolidate costs, and so on.
Before I got to ask, Izell:
“When we started with NFL Flag, it was almost like what else you got? Like this is great. You guys got you guys provide a great service. Can you add other sports? I jokingly say Fanatics meets Little League baseball is kind of our is kind of our business. So bring all these pro leagues in and governing bodies and just to have these unbelievable organizations that believe in that.”
Where things differ, though, might be that when it comes to apparel, you need the pro league license to wear your team’s logo (unless you order direct from China!).
That’s obviously not the case with sports participation— the league license is great and can be additive to the experience, but it’s not mandatory. And strong operators and organizers can even develop their own brand demand (think Perfect Game). Say nothing of the impending Savannah Bananas entrance into youth sports.
Still, as pro leagues and governing bodies begin to take more interest in youth programming and development - one of our top trends of the second half of 2026 - especially when it comes to flag football, where RCX is strongest, the league exclusivity will be important. And RCX and BVG sit in a pretty incredible place.
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Filming youth sports has come a long way from Dad taping wobbly video with his camcorder from behind the backstop.
The expectation of clubs, coaches, athletes and family is high-quality live streaming.
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Blackmagic Design makes it possible. Whether you are a sports facility, club, school or coach, Blackmagic Design allows high quality, affordable and easy to learn multi-camera streaming and filming.
Youth sports clubs and facilities around the world already use Blackmagic Design products daily, including:
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Blackmagic Design ATEM production switchers enabling multi-cam live streaming
DaVinci Resolve, the world’s most popular post production solution
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👥 Buying Sandlot Premium: Operator Capital Needs Differ
We surveyed 169 youth sports operators. 55% of them have a capital posture. And they are overwhelmingly seeking growth capital or a strategic partner— not looking to cash out.
But the uses of capital and growth constraints differ significantly depending on type of operator:
Premium members can access the full data here.
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⚾️ Drastic MLB Proposal Would Bring Big Changes
Baseball’s already-high odds for a work stoppage in December ticked up yesterday with the owners’ latest doozy of a proposal — a massive overhaul of the draft system.
No domestic players under 20 would be draft-eligible
Draft cut from 20 rounds to 12
Amateur signing bonus pool cut from $350M to $200M
Creation of international draft with minimum age of 18
No international draft until 2027/2028
$10K signing bonus cap for all undrafted players
MLB is spinning it as a boon for college baseball, which it calls “an increasingly important pathway that is producing major league-ready talent at an accelerated rate."
The MLBPA said the changes "would cripple the next generation of players and damage the future of our game," arguing players would lose a combined $1B in compensation over the next five years under the plan.
I’m not sure I buy the argument some have made that these changes could push elite multi-sport youth athletes away from baseball or drastically impact how the sport’s current pathways work.
There were about 120 high school seniors picked in last year’s draft, which is about three D1 rosters worth. All of those guys will command sizable NIL deals and scholarships from top programs if forced to go to college. And the transfer portal crowd will be thinner if older players can go pro a year or two earlier.
Maybe a handful of top, top guys reclassify AND then take a postgraduate year to bridge the gap to the draft. Or go play independent ball or overseas. But it feels like a wash to me on the whole.
Moreover: Playing big league baseball remains far more lucrative from a career earnings standpoint than the NFL and there are 3x the NBA’s roster spots when you count 40-man rosters.
It’s no surprise that MLB would push for this. It already took a chainsaw to the minor leagues a few years ago and it surely wishes it could use the NCAA as a free developmental system. And these changes would likely allow owners to cut back on scouting departments even further — it’s always about saving a buck.
But I’m not sure if commissioner Rob Manfred and his bosses have thought through what happens if D1 schools start cutting baseball for financial reasons like I think they may. There are just over 300 programs now, but for how long?
⚽️ MLS Team Invests In Local Schools
The Philadelphia Union has committed $200K in resources to seven school districts to fund soccer programming in physical education classes during the 2026-27 academic year, according to Sportico.
The club also said it plans to invest at least $2M over the next decade and expand the program to several dozen districts, targeting kids in grades 3-5 with free exposure to the sport through educational resources and equipment.
😇 Facilities Arms Race: Angels In The Outfield
Youth sports could reportedly help spur the return of the Anaheim Angels.
City officials are thinking about offering the MLB team a grand bargain, according to The Los Angeles Times: If the team will assume the Anaheim name again, the path will be cleared to build a new stadium and multi-use development on the current stadium’s parking lots.
Front of mind for the city: A sprawling complex that leverages the next-door stadium, Disneyland and other existing infrastructure to become a youth sports tourism magnet.
But while the city would stand to rake in hotel taxes, others argue a youth sports complex would be one of the less-profitable uses of the space for developers.
🏀 NBA Team Make Youth Hoops Moves
It’s been a while since we wrote about the state of Utah, but there are two recent developments of note.
The Jazz named HealthEquity as its jersey patch sponsor; the move expands a partnership with the HSA provider that includes sponsorships of the Jazz’s various youth basketball programs and a youth sports scholarship initiative.
The team has also launched Utah Jazz Lady Notes Basketball, a "new girls youth basketball ecosystem designed to unify and elevate the competitive pathway for female athletes grades 5-12."
Expanded access for clubs, HS teams
New tournaments, leagues, skill development opportunities
Plans to build “more connected pathway” for girls hoops ecosystem in state
The Jazz said they had 70K kids in their youth programs last year, the most of any NBA team. The team has been aggressive in creating youth sports opportunities under owner Ryan Smith; the NHL’s Mammoth — also owned by Smith — have done the same.
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