Weatherford Capital's Drew Weatherford Talks Youth Sports In

“I’m a big believer in youth sports streaming. The reason why I’m really bullish on that is I do believe in the same way that professional sports has commercialized and institutionalized, and college is in the midst of it, that is going to happen at the youth level. And you need streaming in order for media rights, for sponsorship to take place. And we’re thankfully at a place where a lot of the camera systems are becoming more affordable, they’re way more capable. The viewing quality is better. So I believe the youth sports streaming business in the U.S. is going to be pretty robust for quite some time.”

“Look at the way things are set up today in youth sports. By and large they are set up very inefficiently.

“Professional sports are set up as leagues. College sports are set up as leagues, otherwise known as conferences. Recreational, entry-level sports are set up [as leagues]. But youth travel sports is set up as a tournament system, which is fundamentally about the most inefficient way that you can run a network of anything.

“Kids participate at a local level, practice at a local level. But then to really go play competitive baseball you have to travel to tournaments and pay for travel, lodging, tournaments. When ultimately what I believe will happen is if these youth clubs get to scale, they can run their own tournaments — otherwise known as a league.

“I have a fundamental belief that you don’t need to leave the state of Florida to play good baseball. There are plenty of good baseball players in Florida, plenty of good teams. And you shouldn’t leave until you’re one of the best teams in Florida. And then you’ll play in a regional tournament. If you win that regional tournament, great, you travel once outside of the region to go play in a national tournament.

“I don’t think it’s good for families, I don’t think it’s good for the athletes to have to travel 6-8 times a year, spend all that money. And I believe that Curve, by rolling up all these clubs, creating more value for the athletes, having smarter ownership, overseeing how much they practice, how much they play, making decisions like, ‘Hey, maybe we don’t need to go to that tournament.’ I believe there are a lot of efficiencies and a lot of value that can be created at scale for youth baseball clubs, but that’s for all youth sports.”