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:
🏛️ State Governing Body For Youth Sports?
Most of the youth sports industry’s legislative focus is on Capitol Hill and the Let Kids Play Act, but there is also a bevy of activity in various statehouses nationwide.
A bill in New England would represent a significant sea change.
We have seen states like California and Illinois pass laws to establish youth sports advisory boards and commissions, and there is a pending bill in New Jersey that would establish uniform background check and safety standards.
But Massachusetts State Sen. Barry Finegold, a Democrat, wants to establish a governing body to regulate youth sports.
Bill S.300 would restructure the Massachusetts State Athletic Commission — which oversees boxing, MMA, etc. — and create a youth sports division. The MIAA would maintain authority over high school sports in the state.
Finegold said if high schools, colleges and professional leagues have rules on matters like season length and practice limits, youth sports should too. The bill is expected to be considered later this summer.
Addresses access barriers
Consumer protections for families
Restrictions on participation hours, season lengths
Licensing for businesses, coaches
Background check standards
Athletic trainer requirements, concussion protocols
Public education campaign on youth sports issues
Commission must have 2 (of 5) members with youth sports background
At least 1 member with youth sports background must be in majority vote on any industry changes
“Our most vulnerable population, we have nothing. It makes no sense,” he told WBZ-TV in Boston, arguing that if you need a license to run a nail salon, you should need one to operate a youth sports organization.
Finegold notably said he does not think private equity is an issue “in totality,” acknowledging it can create opportunities and fund infrastructure.
“We are putting people in front of our kids to do stuff that can be physical and we’re trusting a lot," he said. "I don’t see why we shouldn’t put up guardrails with youth sports, with our kids."
Chugga chugga chugga chugga…
The legislative train is a long ways from the station and firmly on the tracks. Lots of ideas and proposals.
But would like to point out this line: Finegold notably said he does not think private equity is an issue “in totality”.
The Let Kids Play Act is unserious and completely misses the mark because it targets a single capital structure rather than the specific practices it claims are ruining youth sports. You can’t have 30M kids participating in sports without access to capital— and PE is a large pool of capital that can do both good and bad (often at the same time!).
On the back of this, you’re hearing a refrain that PE shouldn’t be solely to blame for youth sports problems from unexpected voices like Democrat Finegold and Tom Farrey (Project Play). And I suspect you might hear something similar from Republican-led House committees too.
This particular bill is the opposite in many ways— it aims to put some guardrails on the industry without targeting PE. Standards could be a good thing, but onerous compliance requirements create a barrier to entry for small operators and could end up benefiting larger operators who can navigate rules… especially if stuff like this happens on a state-by-state basis like sports betting. Ironically, this would be funded in MA by betting revenues. Time is a flat circle. Or perhaps one giant railroad roundabout, next stop: Regulatory Capture!
📊 Poll: Increased Regulation
Do you welcome government oversight in youth sports?
📆 EventConnect Exists To End Tournament Chaos— For Organizers And Families*
Tournament weekends have become mini supply chains: teams register, rosters change, schedules shift, hotels fill, and parents scramble.
Too many events still run things on spreadsheets, portals, and last-minute calls.
What we do (and why it’s different):
Centralize the weekend workflow: registration, rostering, payments, lodging, and real-time reporting.
Organizers can run end-to-end on EventConnect or integrate the systems they already use— no rip-and-replace required.
Either way, the data lands in one place so operators aren’t stitching together reports from multiple tools.
The “moment that changes outcomes”:
HousingConnect embeds hotel booking directly into checkout— capturing rooms at peak intent instead of sending families to a separate portal later.
Results can be up to 30% more room-night reservations and 24% savings on team hotel costs.
Proof of scale:
EventConnect powers 5,000 events and connects 30,000 hotels across 800 destinations.
Learn more about how EventConnect can help power your tournament right here.
*Sponsor
👥 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.
Upgrade now to get access to exclusive data:
🏈 The Official Girls Flag Sanctioning Numbers
The plane is definitely being built while flying it when it comes to flag football.
The sport is experiencing explosive growth, but it often outpaces existing infrastructure.
A good microcosm: Every new announcement, media report, press release, etc. seems to have a different figure for the number of states that have sanctioned girls flag as a high school varsity sport.
The confusion hopefully ends here. NFHS provided Buying Sandlot with its official rundown and we have launched a tracker.
Here is where each state currently stands:
Sanctioned (24): Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Illinois, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Washington and Washington D.C.
Vote pending (3): Oregon and Rhode Island later this year; Indiana in 2027.
Independent/pilot programs (13): Delaware, Iowa, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Texas, Virginia and Wisconsin.
Interest shown (5): Idaho, South Dakota, Utah, Vermont and West Virginia.
Not yet considering (6): Arkansas, Maine, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New Mexico, Wyoming.
One housekeeping note: Not all sanctioned states have had their first varsity season yet, but all have voted to sanction.
🤝 IFAF, TMRW Sports Launch Strategic Partnership
The Rory McIlroy- and Tiger Woods-backed company — which operates TGL and will operate planned men’s and women’s pro flag leagues with the NFL — has linked up with the International Federation of American Football.
The IFAF is the IOC-recognized federation for when flag debuts at the Los Angeles Olympics in 2028.
The pact "reflects a shared commitment to coordinated talent identification, athlete development, fan engagement, unified competition pathways and the sustained, long-term growth of one of the world’s fastest-growing sports."
IFAF said it has over 80 national federations across five continents and over 20M people are playing globally — about 20% of which are U.S. kids.
These stats jumped out to me:
China has over 1M flag players
China’s YoY flag participation growth exceeds 100%
Flag streaming was tops when China hosted The World Games last year — the Olympics for sports that aren’t in the Olympics
The NFL has never been able to move into China like the NBA has for myriad reasons. But these figures suggest flag might be its foothold, which will only accelerate the investments the league is making in the sport.
🐯 Facilities Arms Race: Laissez La Construction Rouler?
We’ve got more potential complex growth in Baton Rouge.
Elite Training Academy has exposed a major expansion fueled in part by a new economic development district.
ETA’s growth plans call to add over a dozen baseball fields, plus 10 flat fields, a stadium, concessions, parking and more.
But the family that owns the property ETA has targeted for expansion is playing hard to get — or hardball — about selling, including expressing concerns about eminent domain.
Baton Rouge is also expected to include youth sports in its proposed $1.7B downtown development plan. There are also several other projects in the works near the city.
🍿 Facilities Arms Race Update: Peace In Iowa
The Kettlestone Central Sports Complex has settled its tax dispute with Dallas County, according to The Des Moines Register.
ICYMI: The county originally refused to exempt the facility — owned by the non-profit Iowa Youth Athletic Foundation — from property taxes. IYAF sued while threatening to close or sell the facility if it was unsuccessful, briefly putting the venue on the market.
A judge ruled in favor of IYAF. A second lawsuit was then filed alleging the county was not following the court order. But now the book is closed and the complex does not have to pay property taxes.
The complex is supposed to anchor a $350M mixed-purpose development that is expected to generate $125M in annual economic impact.
🤦♂️ Parents Behaving Badly
New Smyrna Beach, Florida: Video of a melee at an 8U game has gone viral. It’s not clear what started the incident or if arrests were made.
Superior, Colorado: A parent claims he was “sucker-punched” by a high school assistant coach at a U17 boys basketball club tournament. But cops said they determined it was an open-hand shove, according to the Coloroadoan. The coach said kids made inappropriate comments toward his wife and he then believed the parent was threatening her. No charges were filed.
📈 Take Our Club Pricing Survey
The narrative in youth sports is that club teams are driving up the cost of participation for all athletes and families, but this isn't fully supported by the data.
So we'd like to separate fact from fiction.
🔗 Youth Sports Links
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Good game.