Buying Sandlot: The Business of Youth Sports

Kyle Pagan and Kyle Scott discuss a jam packed week of news from the uncertainty around Norway’s youth sports model, D1 Training launches a new verified testing platform, USA Baseball changes the bat specs for high school, and more. 0:00 - USA Baseball's Changes Bat Specs 12:06 - The Norway Model Faces Uncertainty 28:06 - D1 Training's New Testing Platform 34:38 - Update: Stay To Play Lawsuit 38:2...

Kyle Pagan and James Kratch talk to Co-Founder and CEO of Real America Freestyle Wrestling Chad Bronstein. RAF is a rapidly growing wrestling league that announced the launch of Next Gen, a national youth wrestling series that will stream on Fox Nation. Chad breaks down why he believes wrestling is on the verge of becoming America's next breakout sport, the Next Gen tournament, RAF's plans to acqu...

Kyle Scott and Kyle Pagan interview Jeremy Goldberg, President & Co-Founder of LeagueApps, and Kate Quattlebaum, VP of Safety at NCSI, as LeagueApps announces they’ve acquired the background screening and compliance app. We discuss why LeagueApps made safety its next major investment, how they’ll integrate NCSI into the company, the conversation around athlete safety evolving, and their plans...

Kyle Pagan speaks with Paul Anton, CEO and Co-Founder of huupe, a company behind the world’s first smart basketball hoop. huupe uses an integrated screen, computer vision, and AI-powered training that transforms a driveway or gym into an interactive player development experience. We dive into the origins, their core products, why consumer expectations around sports training are changing, and the f...

Kyle Scott and Kyle Pagan talk to the founder of 108 Performance, Eugene Bleecker, about 108's journey from a small training facility to MLB player clients, how the next generation of athlete development will combine software, education, products, and AI into a single ecosystem and we dive into his ambitious professional women's softball project in Knoxville, Tennessee. 0:00 - 108 Performance's Jo...

Kyle Pagan and James Kratch speak with President of U.S. Sports Camps, Justin Hoeveler, about their new partnership with UCLA Softball, the continued rise of girls sports, what the World Cup could mean for soccer participation, and whether flag football can avoid some of the pitfalls that other youth sports have experienced as they've scaled. 0:00 - U.S. Sports Camps Partners with UCLA Softball 8:...

Kyle Scott, Kyle Pagan, and James Kratch discuss their takeaways from the "Field of Fees: Private Equity’s Role in the Commercialization of American Youth Sports" hearing on Capitol Hill. Is the Let Kids Play Act in jeopardy? How are conversations being led by misleading numbers? What should private equity be liable for? We're even seeing one PE firm go on the offensive. Kyle Scott also submitted...

Kyle Pagan is joined by two leaders helping shape the future of club baseball. Jack Cressend, founder of Knights Knation Baseball and Tyler Naquin, Director of Baseball Operations. Knights has built one of the most successful club baseball organizations for nearly two decades. They’ve produced more than 1,000 college players, over 100 MLB Draft picks, and have a growing network of programs across...

Kyle Scott and Kyle Pagan talk about Unrivaled Sports' latest baseball move for Ripken Nationals while we wonder if they will build a LLWS competitor, FlexWork and ProCamps merge, which could create an opportunity for pro teams to leverage new revenue streams. Also a streaming message comes out of Cannes. 0:00 - Will Unrivaled Build A LLWS Competitor? 14:46 - Youth Sports Camp Operators Merge 19:4...

In this episode we discuss trends we saw from a World Cup experience, recap the insights gathered from our interview with Nina Johnson and Rep. Chris Deluzio, Perfect Game announces their next media rights move, and another facility sells their naming rights. 0:00 - Trends from World Cup Experience 6:29 - Insights from Bananas Interview 16:06 - Insights from Rep. Deluzio Interview 22:42 - Perfect...

Rep. Chris Deluzio joins the show to discuss what inspired the framework of The Let Kids Play Act, the biggest debates surrounding the bill, and why the legislation targets "vulture practices" that he argues are driving up costs and limiting access. 0:00 - Reactions & Progress of the Let Kids Play Act 5:47 - Addressing the Vulture Practices 13:00 - Fors & Against of Stay To Play 18:33 - Re...

Banana Ball Chief of Staff, Nina Johnson, dives into how the Savannah Bananas are approaching youth camps and tournaments, what a future Banana Ball youth league could look like, the challenges facing community-based programs, and how parents a lot of times shape sports decision-making. 0:00 - Bananas Vision for Youth Programming 10:26 - Maintaining Control Over the Experience 20:27 - Scaling Bana...

We're joined today by RCX Sports' CEO, Izell Reese, and Brand Velocity Group Founding Partner, Austin Ramos. We discuss BVG’s recent acquisition of RCX, why they believe youth sports remains a compelling investment opportunity, how RCX grew NFL FLAG into the largest youth flag football league in the world, why affordability and accessibility remain at the center of their mission, general thoughts...

Today we're talking about a bill in Massachusetts that wants to establish a state governing body for youth sports, the MLB draft proposal could have some drastic effects on youth baseball, news releases in the age of The Let Kids Play Act, and a youth Whiffle Ball League is a point for organized pick up. 0:00 - Buying Sandlot Premium Update 5:51 - Youth Sports Regulation in New England 11:28 - Ben...

On today's episode Quinten Griffiths, CEO of Sportball, one of the largest rec sports providers in North America talks about why Sportball believes the future of youth sports starts before kindergarten, how the company is helping parents navigate specialization in sports, why Quinten sees a massive opportunity for non-competitive youth sports in America, and he gives his thoughts on the Let Kids P...

On today’s episode we check back in on the Youth Sports predictions we made in January, now that we’re at the halfway point. How many did we get right and how many have we been flat out wrong about so far? We look into the state of international expansion, government legislation, flag football infrastructure, and the SportsEngine sale. Later in the episode, we'll have more predictions for rest of...

A former hacker and DARPA program manager Jason Syversen launched SportsVisio after an 8-figure exit from his cybersecurity company. SportsVisio brings computer vision and AI to youth sports and helps teams, clubs, schools, and facilities automatically capture games, generate highlights and box scores, and track stats typically only available to the highest levels. We talk about the product, democ...

Huck Sorock, Co-Founder and CEO of Refr Sports, is one of the fastest-growing companies in the officiating technology space. A former hockey player and referee, Huck experienced firsthand the challenges officials face—from inefficient scheduling and long payment delays to the broader referee shortage impacting youth sports across the country. We talked about how technology is changing officiating,...

Jake Hirabayashi, founder and CEO of The Futures App, talks about his all-in-one youth sports technology platform focused on: team management, training delivery, and athlete development. During this interview we dive deeper into the player development modules, expanding to new sports, his thoughts on interoperability, and a new partnership with CURVE sports. 0:00 - Training Modules & Player De...

New Chief Growth Officer at TPH Academy, Steve Sanders, talks about the innovative day school model, growth opportunities in a variety of club sports, education trends, new revenue streams, and the emerging legislation. 0:00 - Premium Community Update! 3:42 - Why Steve Left For Tph & His New Role 6:03 - TPH Academy's Sports, Club, And Day School Model 10:46 - Sports Academy Opportunity & D...

US Soccer execs spoke about a proprietary AI tool the federation built that will scout 50-70 million American-eligible soccer players. We also talk about the recent amendments the NCAA made to their eligibility rules, World Cup teams are forgoing state of the art training centers for high school sports academies, and there is a business opportunity as high school athletes capitalizing on NIL ball...

The new President of i9 Sports, Ron Shimek, talks about I9’s plans to scale with intention, their expansion into new mrkets, sports, and schools, and the goals they have around girls flag football plus more. 0:00 - Ron Shimek's New Role at i9 Sports 7:04 - Scaling i9 Sports with Intention 9:59 - Expanding to New Markets & Schools 17:39 - Customer Habits & Expanding Sports 21:23 - i9's Girl...

Eli Manning's private equity firm, Brand Velocity Group, makes a significant investment in youth sports acquiring RCX Sports. Another background check debacle happens as the New Orleans Recreation Department fails to conduct proper volunteer compliance. Raising Cane's and LCMC Health spend $2.6 million on stadium naming rights. 0:00 - The Premium Community is Live! 4:47 - Eli Manning's PE Firm Buy...

XbotGo's CEO, David Tan, announces Julian Alvarez as global ambassador before the World Cup. We talk about the "Dare to Dream" campaign, the future of AI sports cameras, their product innovations coming shortly, enhancing player development and what Apple's innovative MLS broadcast signals. 0:00 - Xbotgo Announces Global Ambassador 4:32 - What Is The Future Of Sports Cameras? 6:47 - Making The Cam...

A viral baseball incident reveals a gap in USSSA's background check and compliance process. We talk about how safety is still fragmented, CURVE Sports & The Futures App partner, and SPIRE Academy CEO, Steve Sanders, leaves for TPH Academy. 0:00 - Premium Community Update! 4:47 - Viral Baseball Incident Gets Even Worse 9:54 - Background Checks, Compliance, & Innovation 18:30 - CURVE Sports...