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This is Buying Sandlot — the only newsletter that focuses solely on the business of youth sports. |
Let’s get to it. |
In the email today: |
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🤖 Another AI Tactic To Transform Youth Soccer |
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Interview: How Game1.ai is Redefining TalentID |
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The World Cup wrapped up yesterday with Spain’s 1-0 extra time triumph over Argentina in the title game. |
But it feels like the recriminations over the U.S. Men’s National Team’s Round of 16 exit — and the state of American youth soccer and youth sports in general — will continue. |
AI has been thrown into the discussion, like everything else in life. U.S. Soccer has said it plans to leverage it to identify every national team-eligible player in the world. |
Game1.AI believes it can go even further. The startup analytics platform pairs combine-style testing methods with historical data derived from academies and clubs to map talent and project an athlete’s future potential. |
"What kind of trajectory are you on as a young athlete? What does your future potential look like?" co-founder and CEO Amir Donath told Buying Sandlot. "And then what are the one or two things you in particular should work on over the next few months that will have the biggest impact on your development? It's very personalized, very individualized training plans with the goal to bring you to the next level, based on what's best for you in particular as an athlete." |
Standardized tests for ages 10-16 Over 500K historical data points Biological, mental, physical, technical measurements Embedded into academy/club curriculum Tests run every three months
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Game1 works with professional teams worldwide; Donath said it is focused on expanding its U.S. presence and entering the youth club space. It expects to analyze more sports in the future as well. |
The platform is designed to help clubs surface potential late bloomers; its algorithm values development and improvement, which Donath said is a counterweight against the slew of tools that emphasize game results. |
Game1 also aims to measure intangibles — one of its tests involves small-side games where the teams change every five minutes with the goal of assessing which players are most impactful. |
"It's really not that we're putting a benchmark on everything," Donath said. "It is much more taking everything together -- where are you today and what could your future potential look like? We're not going to a club or an academy and tell them you need to make sure that every kid can run a 30-yard dash below this time." |
Donath said he typically sees is an athlete needs to have one elite skill in order to project into high-level competition. The platform cannot provide definitive conclusions — machine learning is by nature “a little bit of a black box,” Donath said — but it does present realistic feedback for athletes and families while supporting scouts. |
"The goal of the tool is not to replace anyone," Donath said. "It's just to support you, to help you. It is here to make sure you're not overlooking anything. In most cases, it will simply confirm what we have already what you have already thought, but it will give you that data confirmation. In some cases, it might challenge you as well. And that's where there's, you know, there's a lot of value created." |
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Maybe I am being naive here, but I really think the Moneyball approach might be the way to go for American soccer. |
Forget about trying to be England or Norway tomorrow and start looking for the inefficiencies while slowly transforming the system. Sometimes, as Ed Harris said in “Apollo 13,” you just have to work the problem. Leaning on AI and pairing it with human coaching and evaluation is the modern version of teaching Scott Hatteberg to play first base because of his OBP. |
The comment about one elite skill resonated with me because it echoes what a professional baseball scout once told me — if a high school kid showed the ability to do one thing at a big league level, you should consider giving him a chance to grow into doing several things. More of those kids will be ID’d with the ability to contrast their performance to long-term data. |
Last thing: I wonder if we are underselling the potential impact of MLS in this sense — if the league can elevate its level of competition, that will mean more of the world’s best athletes and coaches will see it as a destination, and bring their expertise and resources with them. |
MLS is never going to be the Premier League, but if it could move ahead of the second-tier European leagues — and shifting to the international calendar will help — that could have just as big an impact on the sport here as any. And tools like Game1 will help. |
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📆 EventConnect Exists To End Tournament Chaos— For Organizers And Families* |
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Tournament weekends have become mini supply chains: teams register, rosters change, schedules shift, hotels fill, and parents scramble. |
Too many events still run things on spreadsheets, portals, and last-minute calls. |
What we do (and why it’s different): |
Centralize the weekend workflow: registration, rostering, payments, lodging, and real-time reporting. Organizers can run end-to-end on EventConnect or integrate the systems they already use— no rip-and-replace required. Either way, the data lands in one place so operators aren’t stitching together reports from multiple tools.
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The “moment that changes outcomes”: |
HousingConnect embeds hotel booking directly into checkout— capturing rooms at peak intent instead of sending families to a separate portal later. Results can be up to 30% more room-night reservations and 24% savings on team hotel costs.
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Proof of scale: |
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Learn more about how EventConnect can help power your tournament right here. |
*Sponsor |
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⚾️ Perfect Game Partners With MLB All-Star |
LGND Glove — recently launched by Dodgers outfielder Mookie Betts — is now PG’s official glove. |
The partnership will launch July 27 with the LGND Block Party in Fullerton, California. Betts will headline the public event and it will be "supported by Perfect Game’s nationwide athlete and family community." |
Release of 300 LGND gloves On-field baseball drills, athlete engagement opportunities Celebrity appearances Food trucks, fan experiences Mookie Betts raffle experience, additional giveaways
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PG said over 1K of its families were surveyed on what they want in a glove to inform LGND’s developmental process. There will be two glove lines available at launch. |
LGND will be integrated into Perfect Game athlete experiences, digital platforms, events and national programming. |
PG previously partnered with Betts’ BatWraps brand. |
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🚂 Facilities Arms Race Update: Chattanooga |
The push for a volleyball-focused indoor complex in southeastern Tennessee continues. |
Hamilton County officials are working to form a joint sports authority with the city of East Ridge — which borders Chattanooga — to develop the project. |
A report commissioned by KemperSports and the Chattanooga Tourism Company earlier this year concluded the region is missing out on millions in sports tourism revenue. |
The plan calls for a venue with about 12 basketball courts/24 volleyball courts in the $53-62M range. There has also been talk of an additional $30M or so in upgrades to existing outdoor facilities — the total potential investment has been pegged at $89M. |
Hamilton County Mayor Weston Wamp has previously said the region is “really deficient” when it comes to youth sports facilities and they are important for Chattanooga to be considered “one of America’s better mid-sized cities.” |
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We've said this before, but this is a metropolitan area where the lofty economic impact projections feel more feasible than others. |
Chattanooga is the No. 86 media market and has three interstates running through it, plus Atlanta, Birmingham, Knoxville and Nashville are all a two-hour drive away. |
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🧱 More Youth Sports Facilities News |
Charlotte, North Carolina: A church has agreed to buy a YMCA complex for $42.5M and convert it into its headquarters, which will include youth sports facilities. The move is being protested by community members; the YMCA says it is necessary for a $100M regional reinvestment plan. Lawton, Oklahoma: City Council approved over $33M in funding for its new indoor facility. The city — which sits an hour from Oklahoma City and three from Dallas — has previously expressed interest in investing up to $60M in an indoor-outdoor complex. Lubbock, Texas: The developers behind The Forge are seeking to buy city land and get zoning changes to alleviate traffic concerns. The 60K-square-foot indoor facility is expected to hold six basketball courts/nine volleyball courts and host regional events; it is slated for a 2027 opening. West Brookfield, Massachusetts: A closed elementary school could become a complex. The site has a gymnasium, tennis courts and outdoor basketball courts in addition to soccer fields and baseball/softball diamonds; a parent-led nonprofit would be formed to operate the venue.
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🏃♀️ Kids Are Moving Really Fast These Days |
Wired published a fascinating story this morning about how elite youth track and field has become a booming ecosystem. |
The piece is centered around how college and pro training is trickling down to the youth level and leading into blistering times — state record-holders will show up to national events and finish dead last. |
But it also examines how the state of youth sports as a whole has contributed to track’s rising popularity. The sport’s features — individual competition, the objectivity of time, clear ways to track improvement — are being seen by families an anecdotes to negative experiences in other sports. |
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🔗 Youth Sports Links |
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