Weekly News Roundup: The Biggest Headlines in the World of Youth Sports
Anwar Stetson
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🏈 NFL Announces Next Big Flag Football Move
The Shield plans to start pro leagues for men and women before the sport’s Olympic debut at the Los Angeles Games in 2028, commissioner Roger Goodell said last week at a conference in London.
“The demand is there,” Goodell said. “We’re seeing colleges in the states and universities internationally also that want to make [flag football] a part of their program. If you set that structure up where there’s youth leagues, going into high school, into college and then professional, I think you can develop a system of scale. That’s an important infrastructure that we need to create.”
The NFL has been all-in on flag amid its explosive growth at the youth level, especially with female athletes.
The news also comes a few weeks after Tom Brady and other current and former stars were attached to the Fanatics Flag Football Classic next year in Saudi Arabia.
⚾️ Another New Multi-Sport Operation
New York Empire Baseball and Shore Capital Partners have launched Relentlessly Inspiring Sports Experiences (RISE) Partners.
Shore is a Chicago-based private equity firm. NYEB has over 60 teams and 1K players participating annually in the Big Apple. It is known for its emphasis on culture and sports science-driven training methods. NYEB also operates The Arena, a two-story, high-tech indoor training facility in Manhattan.
NYEB CEO Jordan Baltimore will also serve as RISE’s CEO. He told Buying Sandlot the new platform plans to operate across 3-5 sports while also expanding the geographic footprint.
The growth strategy includes acquisitions and organic growth.
Baltimore said NYEB has been interested in expanding into other sports for some time, “but we always wanted to have the expertise to do it. We didn’t just want to be a sports babysitting service. … We want to know the culture, the content, the coaching is shared across all sports.”
👨💻 PlayMetrics Divests Pro Sports Platform
The youth sports management software provider sold sports performance video analysis tool Steva to Cardinal Sports Capital.
The sale comes a few months after Stack Sports acquired PlayMetrics. That deal was announced as a merger with Genstar Capital as the majority owner of the combined company, but both brands are mentioned in the press release on the Steva sale.
The companies plan to “concentrate our resources where we can deliver the most value,” PlayMetrics CEO Mike Doernberg said in the release.
🧢 Million Coaches Challenge Reaches Goal
The initiative launched by the Susan Crown Exchange in 2021 along with over a dozen partner organizations has reached the finish line. 1M youth sports coaches nationwide have been trained in positive, evidence-based youth development practices.
MCC said only 33% of the country’s 6M youth coaches had received education when it launched the campaign. And 93% of participating coaches said they feel more confident in their ability to support youth athletes.
MCC also released a pair of new resources to mark the occasion: a playbook of 12 youth coaching strategies and an agenda for the future of youth sports.
