This is Buying Sandlot — the only newsletter that focuses solely on the business of youth sports.
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In the email today:
🏟️ Facilities Arms Race: Big League Setup
The Tampa Bay Rays still have yet to finalize a deal to build a new $2.3B stadium in Tampa.
But the MLB club is in a good enough spot that it is releasing ballpark renderings with design partner Populous.
Among them: How they plan to get 24 youth volleyball courts on the field at the 30K-seat venue.
MLB.com
The Rays say they want the building — which will be built on Hillsborough College’s campus — to host events year-round and generate significant economic impact beyond the Rays’ 81 home games.
Youth sports tournaments have been mentioned as one of the main strategies to deliver on that goal.
We’ve seen a lot of pro sports teams tie youth sports into new practice facilities or mixed-use districts around new stadiums.
But this is the first time — let me know if I am missing one — I can remember a new stadium being pitched as a youth sports venue beyond the occasional showcase or high school state tournament event.
I wonder if this will become a trend, especially in markets where a new building is not a slam dunk. The Rays are likely one of those teams that has to come to the table with a proposal that goes beyond just hosting their games. And you can imagine this could catch on with other small market clubs.
But there is also going to be a glut of new NFL stadiums coming with many coming up on 30-ish or so years of age. And all of them are going to have retractable roofs so they can theoretically host a Super Bowl. That also leaves a lot of room for volleyball courts.
This is part of two broad trends, which may unintentionally collide:
1) Stadiums and the mixed use districts they’re being constructed in are now purpose-built with revenue maximization in mind. That includes things like concerts, comedy shows and (making a ton of sense) youth sports. I’ve asked around why stadiums - which tend to have more downtime than indoor arenas - don’t capitalize on their ability to be a bucket-list youth sports venue more often. The answer always comes back to one thing: ®The Grass®®.
So it’s no surprise that 1) many new stadiums are being proposed with a roof or retractable roof and 2) turf or retractable grass.
If this happens at scale over the coming decade as many large cities consider new pro sports stadiums, how much will these venues compete for the more premium youth sports events with the youth sports complexes built around tournament economics? Not only does it create more supply, but these stadiums come with an undeniable cool factor. Given the choice, will teams want to play at one of the five proposed facilities in the Tampa area tracked in our Youth Sports Facilities Map (rolling out Wednesday to premium users)…
Buying Sandlot Youth Sports Facilities Under Development Map
… or at the Rays’ stadium?
These “Super Venues” - pro sports + youth tourism potential - check both boxes with one actual check. And they come with all the hospitality and amenities parents desire.
2) Speaking of hospitality. One topic we’ve written about several times is the need for better hospitality at youth sports venues big and small. There is clear parent demand for this. Pro stadiums are obviously well-positioned to take care of these needs.
Meanwhile, On Location - the official hospitality provider for the World Cup - said before the tournament started that it had already generated more than twice as much revenue as its predecessor for the 2022 World Cup, and that half of the packages sold were to private buyers, not corporations. That will provide a blueprint to pro sports owners across the board on how to maximize revenue in their own buildings. Expect tiered pricing and lounge access akin to airports to come to every stadium near you. All the more reason parents and families would be much more eager to attend youth sports tournaments at pro stadiums.
🏉 A continent’s largest tournament, streamed in full*
Tropical 7s, held annually in Tampa, bills itself as the largest youth rugby event in North America.
Every kick, phase, scrum and try at this year’s edition was streamed thanks to Blackmagic Design.
Youth sports production company Game On Live Studio uses BMD products in all its work, including its role broadcasting Tropical 7s — 250+ teams and 750+ matches across 15 fields (and 1.2 million square feet) over four days of frenetic action, streamed live in its entirety at a level not previously seen in the sport.
ATEM Mini Extreme ISO, Mini Pro ISO switchers for multi-camera streaming
ATEM Streaming Bridge converter
DaVinci Resolve, the world’s most popular post production solution
Everyone who watches youth sports — athletes, parents and grandparents, coaches, college recruiters — has come to expect streaming that looks and sounds professional.
Blackmagic Design can deliver just that for your club, event, facility of school. Our suite of affordable products are the same high quality as those used by professional sports teams and in Hollywood, delivering easy-to-learn multi-cam streaming that open new revenue streams.
For more information, visit Blackmagic Design.
*Sponsor
⚽️ Rush Soccer CEO’s Post-World Cup Thoughts
Everybody had a take about the World Cup and the U.S. Men’s National Team’s ugly exit.
Justin Miller loved it.
“The majority of the coverage was negative, and to be honest I think it was deservedly so,” the Rush Soccer CEO told Buying Sandlot. “But I still remember getting to a Round of 16, getting kicked out in the same way and not having the same care. That’s amplified by the fact it was on home soil. But everyone watching and everyone giving their two cents on our performance is the best thing for the sport. … People talking about it at the kitchen table. It’s going to impact interest in the sport, and interest is going to impact growth.”
Miller’s belief: American soccer has an interest problem, but the reaction to the World Cup may have been the start of a turning point where greater attention and media coverage spurs accountability for the USMNT on par with other major sports, as well as fuels overall participation and investment in the sport.
“It’s motivating,” he said. “Can we have an impact at Rush? Can we do better by our members and that will maybe affect the national team? Those things are exciting for us.”
Miller added he thinks many of those yearning for the U.S. to have developmental structure similar to European countries are “not thinking critically.”
“People love to romanticize the European system. But that system is antithetical to American structure and values,” he said. “That system is brutal. When you are 11 or 12 and you are not the best, you are cut. And now you have very few places, much less structure to grow as a player.
“In the United States, we have a first team, a second team, a third team, an elite club, a medium-level club and all of this infrastructure that allows players to play, develop and find joy and happiness in the sport in a competitive way. And the other real thing is at the elite level (in Europe), these players are owned. No one wants to talk about this.
“You think that’s going to work here? These kids are getting [millions] put on their heads at age 14 or 15 and are owned by an entity. So yes, there are more free resources going into this player because they are going to be sold and that’s the recoup. And in addition the main thing that is funding that is TV deals, and soccer is just not in that position in the U.S.”
And if player sales and media rights are not providing the bulk of the funding …
“The reality is the only people that is going to fund the structure are families,” Miller said. “That is the only way for this infrastructure to stay afloat in the United States in its current iteration. But now it’s on us to make it affordable and see how we can drive down the price.”
Quick Take: Another thing going for American soccer is the fact the next three World Cups — men’s and women’s — should be able to generate similar interest. The 2027 Women’s World Cup (Brazil) and 2030 Men’s World Cup (Portugal/Morocco/Spain) will be in advantageous time zones for viewers before the U.S. hosts the 2031 Women’s World Cup.
🛍️ Facilities Arms Race, Part 2: Let’s Go To The Mall
A development group has agreed to buy about 14 acres of a fading California mall and turn it into a youth sports complex.
The Mettle Shop plans to build a $120M facility — Sunrise Sports Center — at the Sunrise Mall site in Citrus Heights, according to The Sacramento Bee.
2 covered turf fields
2 NHL-size ice rinks
4K seats, club space, suites
Plans to have minor league hockey team as tenant
Event space, medical space for lease
Projected 1.29M guests per year
The city may issue up to $60M in debt financing bonds, which would be paid off by complex revenues and a lien; the rest of the project would be funded by “private equity,” according to the report.
The rest of the site will be used for a mixed-use district.
🧱 More Youth Sports Facilities News
Kalamazoo, Michigan: Ground has broken on the $49M Kalamazoo Indoor Sports Facility, one of the first projects we ever wrote about here at Buying Sandlot. The venue — which will be paid for by a lodging assessment — will have eight basketball courts that can become 16 volleyball courts or 24 pickleball courts.
Maricopa, Arizona: A 44K-square-foot indoor complex is set to open soon. The Fieldhouse at Copper Sky will have four basketball courts, six volleyball courts and 12 pickleball courts, plus spaces that can be used as classrooms or for other uses like meetings.
West Valley City, Utah: City officials are considering a new indoor complex that would have 12-15 basketball courts and be used for other sports. The venue would be built on public land and designed to host regional weekend tournaments while also addressing local facility availability issues. The city is Utah’s second-largest, but sits just next to Salt Lake City.
Yukon, Oklahoma: NBA star Trae Young’s charitable foundation is expected to build an indoor complex as part of a $62M mixed-use development in the Oklahoma City suburb. Young is a native of the state and played at Oklahoma; the surrounding area will be funded by a tax increment district and hotel taxes.
🥵 Experts Urge New H.S. Football Heat Rules
NFHS and the National Athletic Trainers' Association are recommending new approaches to avoid heatstroke in linemen, according to ESPN.
[NFHS] told its state associations in June that prior guidelines calling for wearing cooler and lighter clothes at practice, increasing hydration and giving athletes more time to acclimate to the conditions were important but that they weren't enough to prevent fatalities because they don't account for the linemen's specific risks.
"Linemen face unique vulnerabilities, including larger body mass, lower aerobic fitness, greater metabolic heat production and reduced cooling efficiency," NATA noted in an email statement, in advance of its publication in medical journal Sports Health.
Among the suggestions:
Excluding linemen from early-season mile runs, serial sprints, testing
End use of exertion drills as punishment
Train linemen based on game conditions
Consider having them train in air conditioned areas
A jarring statistic: The average number of annual football heatstroke deaths has gone up from 2.1 to 2.6 since 2000 despite greater awareness.
Quick Take: Yet another reason why athletic trainers are critical and every operator and school should be calling platforms like Go4 if they do not have one. There are thousands of heatstroke cases every year and studies show the chances of survival are infinitely higher when an AT is present.
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