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:
👷♂️ Fort Worth Plans Major Youth Sports Investment
Another major diamond complex could be coming to the Metroplex.
Fort Worth’s City Council is working on a preliminary plan that calls at least $88M in youth sports investment over the next 12 years, according to Fort Worth Report.
The big item: A proposed baseball and softball facility with a price tag between $40M and $50M.
City still must acquire the land
At least 8 fields of varying sizes
A 2030 bond proposal could fund the project
The venue would be partnership with local and regional sports organizations — lots of talk about public-private partnerships, as is the case everywhere these days.
A bond proposal next year could also bring an additional $185M in funding for open space initiatives and current parks and stadiums.
City officials are also planning to revamp four existing parks and add more sports fields— those projects would cost a combined $48M.
Fort Worth’s parks and recreation director said the need is two-fold: The city lacks the infrastructure to meet its own youth sports demand, but it is “kind of missing the boat” on the sports tourism gold rush.
Case in point: The annual Cowtown Classic soccer tournament has over 300 teams, but organizers turn away many more interested clubs due to space constraints.
⛹️♀️ 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
📅 Tech Update: Orgo Rolls Out New User Interface
The youth sports logistics platform which bills itself as “the shared calendar for active families” launched a fresh UI with new features.
Events filter by crew/family member
Driver assignments in one place
Option to toggle to agenda/calendar/shareable text views
Set preferences in settings for map app, etc.
"Advanced features kept rolling out, increasingly constrained by design principles that dated back to the original launch," founder and CEO Zoya Lehrer said on LinkedIn.
"So it was time to flatten the experience and make features more discoverable, intuitive, and cohesive."
Orgo blends schedules, communications and travel times into a single workflow. Its offerings include conflict detection functions, real-time traffic data and carpool organization. It started with a youth sports focus but can also be used for other time-important activities.
There are several takes on tech that helps parents and families make sense of the increasingly complex thicket of apps needed to exist in youth sports and beyond:
1) Orgo looks like it is casting a wide net over “scheduling” and logistics when it comes to youth sports and family activities.
2) Onsides (I’m an advisor) consolidates scheduling, but views it as one part of the broader scope of how parents manage their sports lives.
3) I think you’ll increasingly see the existing platform apps use their tech lead, so to speak, and market share to lean into consolidating as much of the experience as they can.
As tech proliferates in youth sports, integration will be something to watch. Major platforms that focus on more B2C features for parents will understandably want more time spent in app (sponsorship potential + subscription upsells). But fragmentation is real, and the need-demand-desire for integration between services may only grow over time as millennial tech habits come full boar for parenting apps.
🏀 NBA Star Behind Uniform Sponsorships
Kyrie Irving will outfit over a dozen youth basketball programs through his partnership with ANTA, the Chinese sneaker giant whose annual revenues only trail Adidas and Nike.
The 14 programs will receive full uniform sponsorships, including footwear and gear.
The bulk of the sponsorships are for middle and high school teams in Irving’s home state of New Jersey. Two Dallas-area prep schools — Irving plays for the Mavericks — and a prep school in California will also receive sponsorships.
ANTA is expanding its U.S. business with a focus on California.
🗳️ Youth Sports On The Campaign Trail
A Nebraska congressional candidate is calling for aggressive investment in youth sports complexes.
Brett Lindstrom — a former state legislator seeking the Republican nomination in the 2nd Congressional District — published an op-ed in The Omaha World-Herald arguing the state must do more to keep youth sports families’ spending in-state and pursue sports tourism, citing a program that offers state assistance for sports arenas and facilities.
Nebraska stands at the precipice. Across our borders, neighboring states are erecting modern youth sports facilities, drawing families, teams and the energy of our youths.
They are reaping the economic and community rewards that Nebraska cannot, in good conscience, allow to slip away. It is time for Nebraska to step forward and build facilities that deliver measurable local impact, strengthen youth sports and create opportunities for families across the state.
The full op-ed is here.
There appears to be no slowing down in the Youth Sports Facility Arms Race™.
We have some data coming out arguing the direct spend of youth sports tourism is well over $20B per year.
But I continue to wonder at what point the radiuseseseses that large facilities say they will pull from in their economic feasibility studies begin to overlap and resemble a Venn diagram, creating classic supply and demand pressures on all of them. We may be a ways off from that, but eventually it has to happen.
🏐 Another Feather In Volleyball’s Cap
This certainly cannot hurt the exploding popularity: Volleyball is one of the safest sports in the country, according to data compiled by a law firm in Florida.
The sport saw 19 injuries per 100K participants during the 2023-24 academic year, according to the National Safety Council’s Injury Facts database.
Basketball’s injury rate was almost 6X that in the same span.
Volleyball’s injury rate was also well below football, baseball, softball and soccer.
The country’s most dangerous sport: Cycling.
💰 Youth Sports Could Capitalize On Turmoil
Sports wagering is the subject of increased scrutiny with MLB and NBA players facing federal charges.
The bell legalizing it cannot be unrung, but changes - and measures to reinforce public comfort and confidence - seem inevitable.
Youth sports could stand to benefit.
The concept of state governments using that industry’s tax revenues to fund youth sports is not a new one— The Aspen Institute’s Tom Farrey advocated for it in 2021, and it has become a reality in some places.
New York will direct $12.5M of such revenues toward state-controlled youth sports grants this year, FundPlay Foundation executive director Jared Cooper said during Aspen’s Future of Sports Policy forum last month. North Carolina and Ohio also have laws on the books, and Minnesota allows non-profits to sponsor charitable gaming.
But a big chunk of change remains out on the table: the Federal Sports Gaming Excise Tax.
Cooper said the unappropriated pool was $370M this year and is projected to be over $400M next year.
FundPlay and other groups have pushed for Congress to allocate those funds toward youth sports.
"There is precedent for excise taxes being used for positive purposes," Cooper said, using the example of airline excise taxes going toward airport funding.
"We believe there is an opportunity through legislation to utilize the finds to support youth sports organizations, play spaces, background checks, coach training, even implement the Presidential Fitness Test, and still use some of those funds to combat problem gaming, which is a legitimate problem.”
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