This is Buying Sandlot — the only newsletter that focuses solely on the business of youth sports.
I (Kyle) plan to attend 2 events in NY next month (and maybe a 3rd private dinner):
The John Wall Street Youth Sports Summit on October 8 (register your interest here), where I’ll be moderating some panels.
The LeagueApps NextUp event on October 15-16, where we plan to try to conduct a handful of podcast interviews.
If you are attending either event, or if you’ll be in NY on or around those dates and would like to say hello, please drop me a line at [email protected]. Always good to connect with the audience in person.
Our team will also be present— James will be at NextUp, and our partnerships manager, Paul, will be at both events.
If you will be at NextUp and think you are a good in-person podcast interview candidate, let us know. We have limited capacity for those.
Feel free to include James and Paul on any email as well— [email protected] and [email protected].
Let’s get to it.
In the email today:
🗣️ USSC’s Brett Meyer Talks New Role
Brett Meyer has a simple vision for US Sports Camps as its new VP of brand marketing.
“I want to grow this brand into the most trusted brand in youth sports,” he told Buying Sandlot. “Not just youth sports camps, but youth sports.”
It is a unique challenge for Meyer.
USSC — owned by Youth Enrichment Brands — is celebrating its 50th year. The platform supports camps in all 50 states, Canada and the United Kingdom and has had 200K campers this year. But many likely think of Nike Sports Camps — USSC has been the licensing partner for 30 years — or a individual college camp (i.e. Stanford tennis) before the operator behind it all.
“You are talking about a brand that has been a leader in youth sports camps for 50 years. The history and heritage goes way back,” Meyer said. “But in my estimation coming in, it’s not that well-known outside of small circles of folks, and we’re really known for Nike Sports Camps and things we work with and work on.
"Being able to tell our story and build that brand is first and foremost what I’m here for. Consistency in our messaging, in our branding, in our look, in our feel. Engaging with coaches, with families and kids and trying to grow in that sense. … You have to pull the curtain back a little bit.”
Meyer previously spent over a decade at Nike, where he was the brand manager for North American soccer. He also more recently spent time with two biotech startups. His goal with USSC is to both connect with top-tier coaches and partners across the platform’s 25 sports as well as with youth sports families.
“As a parent, I want to know my kid is going to be a safe,” Meyer said. “I want to be able to trust the camp they are going to, know they are going to have real development, some growth going on there. And I want to know they are going to have fun. I want our logo to stand for that, so when you see it, it is a stamp of approval.”
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📺 LOVB Secures TV Deal
League One Volleyball — the youth-to-pro league that includes Unrivaled Sports co-founder David Blitzer among its investors — recently struck a media rights agreement with Versant, the new Comcast cable network spinoff company.
USA Network will carry LOVB matches on Wednesday nights in primetime (8 p.m. ET). The network will also air playoff and championship matches. LOVB also has a deal with ESPN.
LOVB is a grassroots-up operation that runs junior volleyball clubs nationwide. The league started out as a youth volleyball business and then expanded into the professional ranks after securing $100M in private investment.
81 LOVB-connected clubs in 28 states and 93 locations
Over 24K athletes
Over 3K coaches
Over 2K affiliated teams
Volleyball continues to be a youth sports rocket ship. It has already been the No. 1 high school girls sport by participation for a decade and now we have the exploding (and lucrative) club scene, three pro leagues and growing NIL opportunities.
I love the concept of LOVB’s bottoms up youth-to-pro model, something that is not really possible in the major US sports given so many entrenched entities at all levels of the stack and the existence of new player drafts. If we were all starting over, it’s probably the right way to do things.
The closest comp among the top 5 sports is MLS club-owned youth programs. My son’s soccer team played the Union’s U8 team this weekend— their facility has 7 outdoor fields + an indoor complex adjacent to the pro team’s Subaru Park. It was my first time there. Impressive complex.
While the LOVB media rights deal is obviously for the pro league, you can easily see the flywheel effect of increased exposure leading to more youth participation and, thus, even better pro competition in the future.
As an aside, I do wonder if all of these secondary sports and leagues popping up will be able to get meaningful traction with their broadcasts.
It’s kind of the great paradox of sports media rights: there are now more sports vying for less available attention. All pro sports, but especially upstart leagues, are competing with a massive ocean dredge pipe spewing content from streamers and creators alike.
The largest, most established leagues now have to get creative about how they package and distribute highlights to capture Gen Z. So, it’s a daunting challenge for newer leagues to command meaningful live broadcast attention. Ergo, I’m not sure the same rationale about NFL games being live appointment viewing applies to the long tail of sports, or if the WNBA’s recent TV success - led largely by one player - can be extrapolated to other leagues.
That said, youth volleyball is hot right now, and regardless of the success of any particular rights deal, it shows no signs of slowing down.
🌍 The Sheer Scale of Youth Sports
Houlihan Lokey put out its Fall Sports Market Update last week. Slides 36-41 focus on youth sports. It’s worth reading for anyone in the industry.
But I’d like to call your attention to 2 charts.
First up:
Sometimes you just need a visual to put things in perspective.
The report was riddled with growth projections in all areas of sports. And while women’s sports and NIL are poised to grow at a higher rate, no area of sports comes even close to youth sports in terms of $ growth:
That’s $50B of growth. Like creating a whole new small European country.
Read the report here.
🏐 D1 Coach Laments Rec Sports Decline
Louisville women’s volleyball coach Dan Meske had some interesting comments about club/travel and rec sports on the Healthy Sports Parents podcast.
“There is no shame in being a rec league player,” Meske said, adding he often talks with club volleyball coaches and finds the issues they struggle with are often due to athletes who belong in rec competition being "swallowed into travel sports" because it is the only available participation opportunity.
“The level is probably a little bit off, and so is the commitment,” he said.
Meske also had an interesting take on coaching, comparing it to how a great teacher often has a greater impact on students than a school's prestige or quality.
“If you don’t get the right coach in [some clubs], your experience is going to be terrible,” Meske said. “And on the flip side, there are some clubs that don’t have the notoriety, but have some great coaches at different levels, and that will be the best club experience you’ve had.”
🤖 Youth Sports Tech Update
Rematch has officially added four sports to its platform:
Football
Volleyball
Rugby
Futsal
Rematch allows users to rewind footage captured through its app, eliminating the need to constantly record game action to get highlights. The company launched a premium platform a few weeks ago after launching earlier this year— it has also secured a slew of soccer partnerships, including with Paris Saint-Germain’s U.S.-based academies.
🤦♂️ Parents Behaving Badly
This is a unique one.
A parent accidentally discharged their gun during a soccer game at a middle school in Henrico, Virginia.
No one was injured. And the involved person was “a federal law enforcement officer,” according to WWBT-12 in Richmond.
🔗 Youth Sports Links
We’re new— help us build up our social media accounts by following along:
Good game.