This is Buying Sandlot — the only newsletter that focuses solely on the business of youth sports.
We have surpassed 12k subscribers. A big thank you to everyone who has supported. And also welcome to our new sponsor, Pomi!
Lots of news today. Let’s get to it.
In the email today:
👨💻 TeamSnap Teases ‘New Standard’
The sports management platform will unveil a major new product on Nov. 18.
The announcement of the announcement is certainly not trying to minimize expectations!
“What to expect: An exclusive first look at how TeamSnap’s newest platform is setting the new standard for youth sports management. TeamSnap CTO Reed Shaffner will walk us through an all-access tour of our new product and explain how this platform will empower every level of your organization. Every athlete, every parent, every coach, and every operator. Perfect for: Club and league administrators, directors of coaching, and anyone ready to see what’s next in youth sports technology.”
“Meet the new standard in club and league management”
“The software game is about to change”
"Something big is coming"
"A new era at TeamSnap"
"Something entirely new"
"A powerful, connected platform built to bring every part of youth sports together like never before"
"The next evolution in running, managing, and growing youth sports programs everywhere"
The product will be unveiled on November 18, with TeamSnap customers receiving an exclusive look on Nov. 19 and 20 during streaming sessions with CTO Reed Shaffner, who was the co-founder and chief product officer of Mojo Sport, a coaching resource and streaming platform that TeamSnap acquired in 2023.
Employees are not being shy about the launch on LinkedIn:
⛹️♀️ There Is a New Way to Play It Safe in Youth Sports*
Pomi can be a great teammate for sports parents, youth sports operators, and sports registration sites. They’re focused on helping protect families from the financial burden that comes when young athletes are unexpectedly forced to the sideline.
Pomi stands for “peace of mind insurance” and they provide two important youth sports coverages for parents:
With Season Saver, parents can recoup up to $25,000 in nonrefundable team registration fees if their child misses all or a portion of the season due to injury or illness.
With Player Protect, parents can get help with medical costs from sports injuries with up to $10,000 in gap medical coverage to address costs primary health insurance does not cover.
For e-commerce and registration sites: Pomi’s tech can seamlessly embed into your purchase path as a one-click add-on that can serve your customers, add more value and generate more revenue for your business.
For leagues and teams: Pomi can work directly with you to help protect your budget and reduce workload. Coverage can replace your existing refund policy saving you time and headaches — parents can be refunded, but not at your expense.
For sports parents: Checkout is simple whether you’re purchasing through your league registration or directly on getpomi.com. Sign up is fast, easy, starts at just $10* and can be done even after the season starts.
Pomi is underwritten by Great American Insurance Company, which has an “A+” (Superior) rating from AM Best so you know they’re one of the best.
Millions of sports injuries happen every year. Help protect your athletes’ finances with pomi. It can be a win-win for everyone.
*Sponsor
🎥 Pixellot, PlayOn Shift To New Business Model
The youth sports streamer and high school sports content platform have extended their existing partnership for five more years.
The extension comes with a new business model for the pact — what the companies are calling the industry’s first AI-as-a-Service deal.
Here’s how it’s described in the press release: Unlike traditional SaaS models, which are one-way economic exchanges, AI-as-a-Service (AIaaS) enables a revenue-sharing model between aligned stakeholders. Pixellot and PlayOn are the first to deploy AIaaS in the exploding sports tech industry and are among the first to introduce it in any industry sector.
Pixellot and PlayOn will share revenues driven by Pixellot’s Agentic AI and the end-to-end features it brings to PlayOn’s MaxPreps and NFHS Network.
Pixellot CEO Doron Gerstel said the approach will “unlock unprecedented revenue opportunities” in a release.
“We are leveraging the capabilities we have in AI to bring them and these features to our clients and really enhance the experience we’re giving the consumers at the end of the day,” Pixellot North American President Rob DeSalvo told Buying Sandlot.
“It’s something that is a vision from our CEO down to product and development. We are looking at everything through that lens of the AI being the service we are bringing to our customers at the end of the day.”
Pixellot has rolled out new AI-powered offerings on its streams including a yellow first down line for football, automatic replays and automatic highlights. The company released the new Pixellot S3 camera earlier this year.
The features also boost the MaxPreps Advantage coaching analytics platform.
Streams featuring the first-down line have seen 40% more fan engagement.
“This extension represents the single-biggest thing we’ve ever done with them,” Pixellot North American COO Colby Adamson said. “Not just the business model change, which I think is really positively impacting both of our businesses, but I think we are doing it alongside a lot of really new, innovative features we’ve been able to bring to the market — partially due to the business model change. And we’ve just seen a massive increase in engagement from families and users over the last couple of months.”
Pixellot streams over 500K high school games annually and has streamed over 3.4M with PlayOn since linking up in 2017.
Pixellot has 16K systems installed at over 9K schools nationwide.
My read on AI-as-a-Service: Pixellot brings the tech, PlayOn the distribution, and then they’ll share up-sell revenue. Makes sense. But I plan to dig deeper on the specific arrangement here.
One of the limiting factors of youth sports as a media play - indeed, PlayOn as a media play - is the lack of broadcast quality production. The industry will never get every youth and high school game to look like the Little League World Series, but AI can enable features that make streams more watchable.
And here, we get some data behind it: streams featuring the yellow line get 40% more engagement.
Somewhere, the GameChanger team works on a virtual strike zone so we can second-guess every umpire across the U S of A.
⚽️ U.S. Soccer Foundation Partners With Salvation Army
The organizations have launched a national collaboration that will be focused on serving children in underprivileged communities.
Through this partnership, The Salvation Army will integrate U.S. Soccer Foundation resources and soccer programming into community centers, corps, and after-school initiatives nationwide. The evidence-based programs will promote teamwork, leadership, and respect, helping young people succeed both on and off the field.
This is a new partnership— U.S. Soccer Foundation has only previously worked with local Salvation Army chapters in the past.
U.S. Soccer told me it is still working on what the partnership will look like programmatically, including how many youth athletes and families will be impacted and how the initiative will work nationwide.
But the basic numbers we do have — the Salvation Army served close to 28M people in the U.S. last year and has over 7K physical locations nationwide — suggest this partnership could have a major long-term impact on youth soccer in America.
There has been so much talk during the run-up to the World Cup about the long tail of the event’s impact and the need to create soccer opportunities outside the pay-to-play ecosystem. Working with the Salvation Army gives U.S. Soccer a chance to make significant strides on that front at immense scale.
🌽 An Update In Iowa
The city of Waukee has pledged more public support amid a tax dispute between the Kettlestone Central Sports Complex and Dallas County.
ICYMI: The $40M facility — Iowa’s biggest youth sports venue — is operated by the non-profit Iowa Youth Athletic Foundation. But the county has denied it tax-exempt status; the IYAF is now suing and says it will have to close the facility or sell it to a for-profit operator if it does not prevail during a non-jury trial next year.
Waukee’s city council has since approved an amended agreement with the complex that would provide an additional $15.5M in grants and tax incentives. Officials also said they too expected the facility would be tax-exempt.
The extra sweeteners only take effect if the IYAF loses in court. The organization has estimated its annual tax bill would be at least $500K.
The Kettlestone Central Sports Complex opened in April as part of a $350M multi-use district; it is projected to drive $125M in annual economic impact.
⛳️ Youth Golf Access Program Goes National
Dick’s Sporting Goods and Youth on Course are expanding initiatives promoting youth golf development and eliminating financial barriers to the sport.
The program began with a pilot launch at 25 Dick’s-owned Golf Galaxy stores; it will now include all current and future Golf Galaxy and Dick’s House of Sports locations.
Youth on Course members will receive:
A free lesson from a PGA teaching professional
Simulator rentals at $5 an hour
Access to special in-store events
There are 110 Golf Galaxy locations nationwide and 35 open or planned House of Sport locations.
⚾️ Blake Snell Teams Up With Players Health
The two-time Cy Young Award winner (and new world champion) has joined the Players Health Foundation’s board of directors.
Snell will be a brand ambassador and lead youth baseball initiatives for the athlete safety and insurance platform.
Players Health recently announced it will give back 1% of its revenue to the foundation to directly support youth sports.
🔗 Youth Sports Links
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Good game.