This is Buying Sandlot — the only newsletter that focuses solely on the business of youth sports.
We have a loaded send today! The second episode of our Buying Sandlot podcast is now live— an interview with PlayOn CEO David Rudolph.
Let’s get to it.
In the email today:
📰 New York Times Highlights Youth Sports Boom
Published on Wednesday morning: Youth Sports Are a $40 Billion Business. Private Equity Is Taking Notice.
The report — a co-byline from Ken Belson and Joe Drape — is an explainer on the industry in sort of classic NY Times fashion: recapping the big-name players in the space and providing an anecdote from an Upper East Side parent.
There are brief overviews on Unrivaled Sports, Ripken Baseball, and IMG Academy, along with numbers from the oft-quoted Project Play surveys.
Joshua Harris’ statement is the newsiest aspect of the piece:
“We’re in the early innings,” Harris told the newspaper. “Our ambition is to build the most trusted, expansive and impactful youth sports platform in the country.”
There comes a time in any booming market where major media outlets like the NYT parachute in and inform the masses about this newfangled thing as if it were a recently-discovered planet— curious, interesting, and perhaps hurtling toward Earth to kill us all.
Belson and Drape took no “stance” on the merits of such investment in youth sports, but they repeatedly returned to the cost aspect, tipping how this narrative will play out over the long-term in the mainstream.
My prediction: This will further fuel investment and interest in the space.
About twice per year in a growing market - one that is well-established and obvious to the participants, but lesser-known to the general public - there will be a feature story that injects the opportunity into the mainstream consciousness. I’d argue an August, 2024 Bloomberg article headlined “Private Equity Is Coming For Youth Sports” did much the same.
There will be derivative coverage of the space, all citing the NYT story.
At first, this will elevate interest, increase valuations, and add some froth. But after about 2-3 years, the switch will flip, and mainstream coverage will focus solely on the costs, the damage specialization is doing to young athletes, and pressuring regulators to provide some guardrails.
We are now entering the high-flying phase of youth sports. Enjoy it, but watch your back.
🧱 The Kansas City Youth Sports Facility Arms Race Continues
The metropolitan area may now boast more facilities than Taylor Swift camera shots during your average Chiefs game.
Lee’s Summit — a suburb on the Missouri side — has approved a $48M indoor youth sports facility that will be the state’s biggest.
The 180K-square-foot View High Sports & Entertainment will have:
FIFA regulation size soccer field
8 basketball courts
12 volleyball courts
7.5K-square-foot training area
Batting cages and pitching tunnels
10K-square-foot family entertainment center
Cafe
Office space
Retail space
Groundbreaking is expected this fall with a projected opening a year later.
The project will be, by our count, the sixth significant operational/planned youth sports facility in the region (let us know if we are missing anyone) at a combined cost of (at least) $265M.
Hy-Vee Arena
Sporting KC (MLS) and KC Current (NWSL) training complexes
Also in the works: A entertainment district in Olathe — Lamar Hunt Jr., the son of the late Chiefs owner, is involved — anchored by a youth sports-focused arena. The initial phase of that project is estimated to be $320M.
Look at that handsome guy!
Anyway …
We typically end up talking about two big things whenever a new youth sports complex is proposed: Demand and money.
They have the money lined up in Lee’s Summit. But they will also have a lot of competition.
Including a rival — AdventHealth Sports Park at Bluhawk — that is twice the size and already exceeding revenue goals before any of the three hotels planned for the complex are open.
(And the Chiefs and Royals may soon be its neighbors.)
The proposed site in Lee’s Summit is nowhere near any dining/lodging/retail infrastructure that compares to the behemoth in Overland Park. There was no local reporting on any plans either, so this is not a project that will get a boost from World Cup traffic next year.
The Kansas City region can pull from several mid-sized Midwestern cities within reasonable driving distance. But there are only so many teams from Des Moines and Omaha. Plus those cities are also getting their own facilities now!
📡 Tech Watch: TAG One Sports Radar
This is a bit of an improvement over the radar guns lugged around by baseball scouts.
Ainstein, a sensing intelligence firm that has worked with NASA, has launched TAG Sports.
The first product: The TAG One Sports Radar, a handheld device that tracks pitch speed and exit velocity.
The goal is to make professional-quality pitching and swing metrics available for youth baseball players.
$399 retail price
Tracks ball speed to 225 MPH
Tracks ball from up to 130 feet away
Companion app with real-time metrics and AI-enhanced coaching
Can be affixed to an backstop, cell phone or tripod
First off, cool. My buddies and I who go to Phillies Phantasy Camp every year will happily dispose of income on this seeing which one of us has the strength… to hit the ball out of the infield next January.
But next week on the podcast, we’ll hear from the owner of All-Star Baseball and Softball Academy. He owns 7 legacy facilities in the Philly area and has plans to self-fund expansion to 30 facilities up and down the East Coast.
All-Star has trained many MLB players and values consistent coaching over measure-everything culture that has invaded sports at all levels. His argument is that we may be doing more harm than good by having 11-year-olds worry about their launch angle.
🏐 AAU Youth Volleyball Event Sets Records
The AAU Junior Volleyball National Championships, which concluded earlier this week in Orlando, set new marks for attendance and participation.
Over 6.5K teams competed
Over 325K fans attended
The event was held June 13 to July 7 at the Orange County Convention Center. Visit Orlando said last year's event, also in the city, generated $760M in local economic impact for central Florida. Officials expect this year's event will have the same effect.
Also: The inaugural USA Volleyball Girls Junior Club Championship was awarded to Columbus, Ohio. That event will feature 450 teams (10U through 17U and run June 5-7, 2026. Organizers expect the event will grow to include over 1K teams in the future.
Volleyball is definitely having a moment. It has been the most popular girls high school sport for a decade and boys’ participation has jumped 50% in that span as well.
Now the youth sports industry is meeting volleyball where it has been.
Club play has become extremely lucrative, with participation and registration fees before travel often in the $2K-$3K range (at least).
Seemingly every basketball court inside a youth sports complex or facility converts to 1.5 or 2 volleyball courts, which means more teams, more athletes, more parents, more everything.
The streaming component is a big piece. Tech companies like SportsVisio are investing heavily in the sport.
Unrivaled Sports co-founder David Blitzer recently bought into the LOVB professional league and its robust development system.
And the rising popularity of NCAA volleyball and the 2028 Summer Games in Los Angeles mean growing exposure.
It’s a rocket ship, folks.
🏃♀️ A Notable Youth Sports NIL Deal We Missed
Nike recently inked Melanie Doggett — a 14-year-old sprinting phenom with several age-group world records — to an NIL deal.
Doggett will be a freshman at Landmark Christian High in Atlanta this fall. She ran a 7.17-second 60M dash and 11.53-second 100M dash at the Millrose Games earlier this year.
Doggett does not appear to have any significant social media presence -- very normal for a middle schooler! -- so this is not an influencer situation. It's an athletic one.
It could pay huge dividends for Nike if she is a 16-year-old wunderkind of Team USA in 2028 and then a headline name in Brisbane come 2032.
🏈 Youth Football Brand Sponsors College Showcase Game
More Kansas City talk!
Battle Sports — a football-only apparel and equipment company that focuses on the youth and high school levels — will be the title sponsor for the Kansas City Classic.
The event is a new college football neutral site season opener— it will be played at the Chiefs’ GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium. Cincinnati and Nebraska will play in the inaugural edition next month.
Battle Sports sponsors the Youth National Championships as well as 7-on-7 and flag events nationwide. And they will have plenty of potential locations to scout before the Bearcats and Cornhuskers kick off!
🔊 New Podcast
This is our second episode, and we’ve gone straight to the top with PlayOn Sports CEO David Rudolph.
Setting the bar quite high with this one.
For those who are unaware, PlayOn owns the NFHS Network (the leader in high school streaming), GoFan (the leader in high school ticketing), and MaxPreps (the leader in high school news and information).
To say David has his whole hands on the pulse of the high school sports market would be an understatement.
For my money, the last 10-15 minutes of this interview is so dense and a must-listen for anyone in youth sports.
You can subscribe to the podcast with the following links or by searching “Buying Sandlot” in your podcast player of choice.
🏢 More Youth Sports Facilities News And Notes
Some project updates …
Kuna, Idaho: City officials signed off on zoning changes that would pave the way for the True Gritt Sports Complex. But the funding for the $120M project remains a colossal hurdle.
Rapid City, South Dakota: The city council approved earmarking $5M toward a multi-purpose youth sports complex. Officials said the $55M facility will also be funded by hotel fees and other sources. The city is under a half-hour from Mount Rushmore and has a sizable hotel, dining and retail district.
Kalamazoo, Michigan: Talks continue over the makeup of an independent authority that will oversee a $40M indoor sports facility. The project will be funded by an assessment on local hotels. Those revenues have already begun to be collected.
🧢 Positive Coaching Alliance Hosting IDEA World Workshop
PCA will lead a free workshop on July 19 as part of the IDEA World Convention in Sacramento.
The workshop is open to the public. It will align with the 25×25 California Coaches Challenge, an initiative to train 25K state coaches on positive youth coaching practices by the end of this year. More information can be found here.
🔗 Youth Sports Links
📋 Job Alert: Account Executive, Club and Youth Sports — PlayOn Sports
Fitting for today!
Playon is expanding into the fast-growing club and youth sports space, and we’re looking for a results-driven Account Executive to help us lead the charge. If you're energized by building something from the ground up and want to play a key role in opening a new market, this is your moment.
As the Account Executive for Club & Youth Sports, you’ll be responsible for developing new business in an emerging vertical. You’ll prospect and close partnerships with tournament organizers, club directors, and venue operators across the U.S., introducing them to industry-leading event management products from Playon. You'll own the full sales cycle, from outreach to onboarding, while helping define best practices and go-to-market strategy in a space with massive growth potential.
You’re a self-starter with a hunter mentality and a track record of outbound sales success. You thrive in fast-moving environments, love identifying new opportunities, and can build trust quickly with decision-makers. You bring strong communication skills, natural curiosity, and a deep understanding of what it takes to grow early-stage business lines. Bonus points if you have experience in the sports, events, or SaaS industries.
The position is hybrid and based in Alpharetta, Georgia. A full job posting can be found here on LinkedIn.
If you’d like to list an open position here and reach 6,000+ youth sports professionals in a single email, email me.
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Good game.