This is Buying Sandlot — the only newsletter that focuses solely on the business of youth sports.
Attention Investors: Take our first ever Youth Sports Investor Survey— responses will be made available to all premium members and survey respondents.
Let’s get to it.
In the email today:
🎥 Study Goes Deep On Streaming, With Some Caveats
The youth sports industry’s greatest untapped market is only slightly more tapped than it was a year ago.
Only 30% of youth sports organizations are currently streaming, according to a new report published by streaming infrastructure firm Native Frame and AI soccer camera maker Reeplayer. It was 22% in 2025 when the companies began producing the report.
About two-thirds of the 70% of orgs that do not currently stream are either actively planning or considering adoption, according to the report.
It’s worth noting that of the 559 respondents, 335 were parents and 56 were college athletes, the latter of which is entirely irrelevant to a youth sports report. Only 83 were primary operators, including athletic directors, owners, board members, and organization managers.
Still, the findings generally track with what our research and other reports have found.
Our survey of 214 self-identified youth sports operators found that about half are streaming:
To underscore how big the adoption opportunity in streaming is, our operator survey found that more are building internal tools with AI than are streaming:
The Native Frame-Reeplayer report had some other noteworthy numbers:
About 75% of streamers are community- or school-based
90% of streamers are in markets where other orgs stream
77% of streamers say it has met or exceeded expectations
22% of streamers are fully automated; 45% have some form of automation
Only 2% of orgs are looking to streaming to generate new revenue streams
The study also found 82% of streaming respondents use more than one streaming platform— the average respondent uses over three. So the below figures came from multiple-answer prompts— keep in mind, mostly from parents.
Facebook and YouTube continue to dominant market share among its respondents. 86% of streamers use at least one of the platforms — 75% said they use YT, 60% said they use FB and 31% use Twitch.
GameChanger continues to be the dominant specialized streamer by a big margin, with 36% of streamers using it.
Others named:
FloSports 24%
Hudl 23%
LiveBarn 17%
Pixellot/NFHS 17%
BallerTV 14%
A non-insignificant number of respondents — 16% — said their orgs use custom/proprietary platforms— which is identical to the number our survey found.
ALSO: The study dug into youth sports costs and found — as we have argued many times — that the upper echelon of spending is both a) dragging up the median cost and b) fueling narratives and perceptions.
53% percent of families spend under $1K per child per year, according to the study, and 76% are at $2.5K or under.
Yet a premium tail persists, with roughly one in ten families spending above $5,000 and nearly 5% exceeding $10,000. This tail likely distorts public perception when media coverage tends to spotlight the $10,000 outlier, not the typical family spending under $1,000.
Moreover: 40% of youth sports is played within an hour of home and 79% is played within three hours of home.
📋 Protecting Your Organization*
Youth sports operators that get safety wrong will face steep costs at insurance renewal time and when calculating their bottom line.
Coverage that was affordable a few years ago is harder and costlier to get with some premiums having doubled. Abuse-claim pressure continues to build and revenues keep leaking through chargebacks, injuries and refunds.
But operators who lead on safety grow faster, pay lower premiums and keep their volunteers. They also spend less to bring families in because satisfied parents return and refer.
Parents have more choices than ever and they leave programs they do not trust. Ankored can make your organization one they do -- and encourage others to join.
Watch Ankored's panel on how organizations protect themselves and navigate risk.
*Sponsor
👥 Buying Sandlot Premium: Youth Sports Facilities Currently Under Development Map
Buying Sandlot Premium Youth Sports Facilities Map
Over the last year and a half, we have covered the Youth Sports Facilities Arms Race™ in great detail.
That includes 128 facilities in various stages of development— from proposal to opened.
We’ve put all of this coverage into a database, sortable by location, stage of development, sport, funding, and more, which premium members have access to.
But any great arms race - or perhaps land grab - needs a map.
So we put all 128 under development youth sports facilities that we’ve covered over the past year and a half into a fully interactive map. It updates on a daily basis with coverage from our newsletter. Zooming in reveals more locations and clicking on each pin will reveal details and status of each facility.
Premium members get access to both the database and the interactive map, among other research reports and exclusive data.
Investors: Take our first ever Youth Sports Investor Survey— responses will be made available to all premium members and survey respondents.
♨️ Another Big Naming Rights Deal
SPIRE Academy announced its has expanded its partnership with VensureHR to include naming rights - something we wrote about at length this week - to two of the most prominent venues on its Geneva, Ohio, campus — VensureHR Field House and VensureHR Stadium.
Spire launched a five-year, $6M deal with the HR tech and workforce solutions firm earlier in February.
That deal was built around Vensure getting a jersey patch for the boys basketball program. It also became the presenting sponsor of Spire’s Performance Research Institute and joined Spire in sponsoring a NASCAR car back in May.
The press release does not explain what the deal expansion entails beyond the naming rights, but it still reframes the original deal considerably.
Vensure’s CSO told Sportico then the goal was to convert members of Spire’s community into customers, not to gain exposure. But then he also indicated a successful partnership would see 3x ROI — so $18M worth of business.
Regardless of how wealthy Spire families are, the school’s other partners and the future NBA lottery picks that will play there for hoops coach Kevin Boyle … that’s a lot of business to drive.
But the ROI outlook likely shifts a bit with naming rights on venues that will get some national attention.
Speaking of which …
🇺🇸 The Patriot Games Are Here
It looks like this is actually going to happen.
Athletes are scheduled to start arriving in Ohio today. The competition kicks off Sunday at Spire and runs through Tuesday.
Over 100 high school-aged athletes representing the 50 states, territories and tribal nations will compete with boys and girls champions splitting a $250K scholarship award. President Trump is reportedly expected to attend.
The events, according to ESPN:
Dodgeball
Kickball
Tug of War
Victory Hoops
Presidential Qualifier
Varsity Circuit
Operation Endurance
If you are wondering what some of those are, you are not alone!
“I’m not 100% sure what’s going to be happening," a 16-year-old boy representing Florida told The Washington Times. The only thing competitors were told was there will be a 100M dash, according to that report.
ESPN will stream the entire event on its app. ABC will then carry a primetime taped special next Thursday at 9 p.m. ET.
⚾️ Perfect Game, Yeti Extend Partnership
The outdoor gear maker will remain PG’s official cooler and drinkware provider, continuing a relationship that began in 2021.
Activations at events, on digital platforms
Placement in select PG team stores
Branded content, social media promotion
Branded presence at Dick's Sporting Goods Park at East Cobb
Yeti will provide custom drinkware for players participating in PG's All-American Classic and Select Fest events.
⚽️ TeamSnap Launches MLS Training Curriculum
The management platform will roll out new exclusive training resources for athletes, coaches and families in tandem with MLS and MLS Next.
The curriculum offers custom soccer drill videos and in-depth practice plans, leveraging the developmentally and age-appropriate, tactical and strategic coaching philosophy of MLS NEXT, which serves players U13-U19. This launch builds on individual training videos from MLS GO, for recreational players ages 4-14, as well as more advanced at-home training from MLS NEXT, launched earlier this spring.
TeamSnap began working with MLS in 2023 after acquiring MOJO Sports. The platform has a library of training resources for several sports beyond soccer through partnerships with other pro leagues and organizations like Positive Coaching Alliance.
🔗 Youth Sports Links
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