Weekly News Roundup: The Biggest Headlines in the World of Youth Sports
Anwar Stetson
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🏈 Drew Brees, FNA Join Unrivaled Sports
The future Hall of Famer has struck a “long-term partnership” with the youth sports giant after Unrivaled acquired Football N’ America — the flag football organization co-founded by the 13-time Pro Bowler.
Brees will focus on growing and expanding flag football participation and leagues, but also “bring [his] leadership and vision to other sports across the Unrivaled portfolio.”
FNA is the fourth flag brand to join the Unrivaled Flag vertical as the sport booms both nationally and inside the Unrivaled portfolio.
FNA offers coed K-10 competitions and currently has 24 leagues in eight states. The bulk of the leagues are in Louisiana, California and Texas with a handful elsewhere in the Midwest and South.
FNA leagues will now be connected to Unrivaled’s marquee flag football events, High School Girls Nationals, the Gold Jacket Classic and the Youth Flag World Championships.
⚾️ Perfect Game Plans Over 7K Events In 2026
The baseball and softball developmental platform released its schedule for next year.
The highlights:
- A record 7K+ domestic and international events
- Games in 40+ states
- Over 20K teams will compete in Texas
- WWBA National Championship and Youth 8U-12U World Series in Georgia
- Events in Australia and Japan
PG said it will focus on expanding operations in Illinois and Texas this year, including five new PG host venues:
- Wintrust Crossroads Sports Complex in New Lenox, Illinois
- Scheels Sports Park in Springfield, Illinois
- Fields at Station 63 in Mansfield, Texas
- CTX Field of Dreams in Dripping Springs, Texas
- Black Star Athletic Complex in Kyle, Texas
🏀 Starter Sponsors Major Hoops Event
BASE Sports Group has brokered a partnership between Starter and the Governors Challenge.
The annual event is one of the nation’s biggest high school holiday basketball tournaments with dozens of boys and girls team playing across several venues in Maryland. Most of the teams are from the Northeast, but there is national representation.
- Starter is the official apparel and event merchandise provider
- Branded spaces in team lounge and main venue
- Exclusive signage, live stream placement and custom digital content
- Custom jerseys for dunk contest
- Limited edition gear available on site
It is one of Starter’s biggest youth sports initiatives yet. The brand has enjoyed a recent renaissance led by former NFL star Carl Banks, who is the brand president and has significant experience in the sportswear space.
Starter will also sponsor the D3 version of the tournament.
👔 C-Suite Moves At PlayOn
Perkins Miller is the streaming giant’s new CEO as founder David Rudolph makes a planned transition into a new role overseeing analytics and streaming.
Rudolph was PlayOn CEO for 17 years after spinning the company out of Turner— the firm merged with ticketing platform GoFan and acquired MaxPreps under his watch. NFHS Network is also under the banner.
