What KKR's MLS Move Could Mean for Youth Sports

This is Buying Sandlot — the only newsletter that focuses solely on the business of youth sports.

Let’s get to it.

The investment firm has made a strategic investment in MLS’ Next Pro League — the bridge between youth academies and the top flight.

MLS and KKR have formed Hometown Soccer Holdings to operate the league, which currently has 27 teams owned by MLS clubs and three independent teams. An additional four independent clubs are set to join as well and further expansion is expected.

KKR and HSH will oversee commercial strategy for Next Pro, including plans to move team-affiliated clubs to nearby mid-sized markets and build 6K-8K-seat stadiums, according to SBJ. MLS clubs can turn over business operations to HSH if they opt to; all clubs will continue to control soccer operations regardless.

While this is a professional soccer deal, the potential impacts on youth soccer are not hard to see:

1) MLS is further developing a youth-to-pro pipeline.

2) The partnership opens the door to seemingly endless synergies with KKR’s other youth sports holdings — Varsity Brands could be involved in apparel, Varsity Cheer could use the stadiums for events, PlayOn can stream MaxPrep events there, GoFan handles ticketing, etc.

3) This partnership also feels like MLS’ attempt to kneecap USL’s plans to launch a Division 1 league, which has included building stadiums and multi-purpose districts in mid-sized markets with significant youth soccer investments.

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The insurance giant’s charitable foundation has committed $15M over three years to its Coaching the Future campaign.

The initiative will "expand access to trained coaches and mentors for young people across the country,” with a focus on three areas:

The initiative aims to train 25K coaches and mentors. Four organizations have received strategic grants so far.

Among them: Boys & Girls Clubs of America and Positive Coaching Alliance.

BCGA’s funding will go toward coach training and sports facilities upgrades. PCA will kick off a coach training campaign with a rollout of 1K free virtual training slots.

We have new developments in a pair of ongoing sagas.

We'll start in Wisconsin: The village of Big Bend has officially approved the first phase of Breck Athletic Complex despite significant community opposition.

ICYMI: Plans call for a sprawling multi-use complex designed to evoke a "Colorado mountain town" with a price tag between $175M and $225M and close to two-dozen fields for various sports plus a 155K-square-foot indoor facility with turf.

The catch with the project: It will require farmland in the small Milwaukee suburb -- population of about 1.5K -- to be rezoned for commercial purposes.

Village officials signed off on the first phase — which does not require rezoning — during a meeting last night. They also approved an overlay district that would cover the entire complex if subsequent phases are approved.

The developer hopes to break ground next month. But a group opposing the project said it intends to file a lawsuit in an attempt to block the project.

Moving north to Minnesota … the situation surrounding the proposed Rochester Sports & Recreation Complex is even more convoluted.

Local officials initially proposed a $65M indoor-outdoor facility that would be funded by a local sales tax extension. Voters then approved the extension after local soccer leaders pushed hard, motivated by the promise of much-needed new fields.

The city then pivoted to a focus on baseball/softball fields after the vote.

The switch made sense as a business move — there were concerns about competing with Blaine’s National Sports Center for soccer tourism. But it angered many constituents.

And then the project cost then ballooned to $120M.

City Council voted to only build the outdoor component at the $65M price tag, but the mayor vetoed the decision. The council then overrode the mayor’s veto, which spurred state legislators to propose legislation that would cancel the complex’s funding entirely.

That process is now underway. It is considered a long shot, but some lawmakers argue voters were misled when they approved the tax extension.

In the meantime the city had discussed assisting with renovations to an existing facility at a college in town, including an inflatable “mega-bubble” that would house fields and courts.

The idea was the upgrades would allow the facility to host more community and youth sports events — and compensate for the loss of the proposed complex’s indoor component, as well as the closure of the city’s YMCA.

But now City Council says it is moving off that plan, much to the surprise of the college. And there is no indication of any new effort to address the need for indoor facilities in town.

SE is now USA Lax’s “preferred” management platform.

The designation comes a few weeks after the NGB extended its background screening deal with the National Center for Safety Initiatives, an advocacy group owned by SE and parent company Versant.

We wrote about Upward Sports earlier this week.

One of the Christian nonprofit youth sports organization’s 1.5K member churches is now building its own complex.

The River Church in Alto, Georgia, will convert over 30 acres of its land. Plans call for two baseball/softball diamonds, a football/soccer field, an indoor facility and a biking/walking trail.

Also: The Emerald Youth Foundation — a Christian non-profit — was aiming to buy a portion of a city-owned park in Knoxville, Tennessee, to build a center that would include sports programming. It has now pivoted and purchased property from a church to build after the park plan fell through.

Quick Take: Churches tend to have plenty of land (or rights of first refusal on surrounding lots) and the ability to move quickly once a plan is in place. This church, about 90 minutes outside of Atlanta, is hoping to have one field done within weeks.

A small Massachusetts newspaper ran a feature on “Billy Buckets,” a 13-year-old hoops player who has become a local celebrity for social media videos with his mom.

The follower numbers aren’t crazy — 91K on TikTok, 14K on Instagram, 6K on YouTube.

But his AAU games have big crowds, people want to take pictures with him and he even drew attention at a Boston Celtics game.

Young Billy has also landed some deals. He’s partnered with two basketball product companies and has a special menu item at a local wing place.

The bulk of the money/free stuff he gets is going toward supporting his teammates — the wing promotion was assisting a family dealing with a medical emergency. But his mom said she is able to put some in a savings account for his future.

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Good game.