Youth sports have become a hot area of investment — and it's prompted a fresh set of concerns
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- Youth sports have drawn investor interest over the last few years.
- Some of the areas where money is coming in are experiences, like tournaments, and technology.
- The surge in interest has prompted concerns that money could harm the experiences of some athletes.
As a kid, I ran from field to field for soccer tournaments with back-to-back games, and woke up before the sun was up for lacrosse tournaments that were a long drive away.
I'm not alone. It feels like nearly everyone in the US has some connection to youth sports, either through their own kids, their childhood experiences, or through siblings and other family members. Over 27 million children in the US — 54.6% — played organized sports, according to the most recent data from the National Children's Health Survey, which covered the 2022 and 2023.
And investors ranging from venture capitalists to private equity have increasingly been paying attention to the deep connection Americans have with youth sports.
"If you look at wallet share and the statistics around that for parents, how much they will spend on youth sports, it's insane," Aaron Miller, an investor at early-stage VC firm Will Ventures, told Business Insider. "For the first time, institutional investors are realizing that these are really interesting assets to own and maybe even optimize."
Miller said the addressable market for youth sports is massive. According to The Aspen Institute's Project Play, the average US sports family spent $1,016 on their child's primary sport in 2024.
Miller said the US is really the only country in the world with this level of spending on youth sports, which makes it attractive for investments. He said investments had grown in two areas: experiences and technology.
Some of the new technologies in the space are using AI, like GameChanger, a livestreaming and game management software that youth teams use to keep track of stats and film, and put together highlights.
Unrivaled Sports is an example of a company pouring money into experiences. Josh Harris, the owner of the Washington Commanders and cofounder of Apollo Global Management, along with Blackstone's David Blitzer, co-invested their own money to launch the company this year. Unrivaled Sports specializes in creating unique experiences for kids who play baseball, soccer, football, and action sports and also recently got a further $120 million investment, led by Dick's Sporting Goods.
Miller's firm itself has invested in several youth sports companies, such as Youth Inc., a media and commerce company founded by former NFLer Greg Olsen, and Aktivate, a sports tech platform for K-12 schools.
Some notable deals in the space include KKR acquiring Varsity Brands last year, and PlayOn (backed by KKR) buying MaxPreps from CBS Sports. TeamSnap acquired Mojo, a youth sports streaming service, in 2023.
Investing in youth sports can also benefit leagues. Initiatives like the Junior NBA or LOVB's youth programs are helping to grow the game at a young level.
"If you win over a kid in middle school, they're very influenceable, they could be loyal customers for the next 50-plus years," Miller said.
Does the money stop kids from being kids?
Concerns about the professionalization of youth sports have been growing in the last few years, with some parents concerned about burnout or overuse injuries happening at younger ages. As part of its Project Play research, the Aspen Institute found that some parents felt pressure to have their children specialize in a sport at an earlier age.
The costs have also increased. The Aspen Institute reported a 46% increase in cost for a child's primary sport from 2019 to 2024. The study found that spending on travel and lodging, team registration fees, and camps or private training contributed to the increase.
Melissa Jacobs is a journalist and the creator of the Good Game Substack, which focuses on talking about youth sports for parents. She said that destination youth sports tournaments and experiences have been proliferating.
She said parents' inboxes can be "flooded with emails saying come to Huntington Beach, come to Omaha, come to Florida for every single sport."
"It's making the equity gap humongous, and it's also watering down the experience," she said.
Miller said he felt there needed to be a system to ensure that youth sports don't get over-optimized as more money flows into the space. Companies can offer services that can be great for talent development and earn more money. But this professionalization could negatively affect the kids playing who don't want to take things as seriously.
"Youth sports are really expensive, and I think a lot of people have talked about, what's the breaking point?" Miller said. "Are a lot of these really expensive camps asking families to spend as much as possible? Yes. At the same time, I feel like there are a lot of really awesome products and solutions that haven't been built yet."