“A participation problem means not enough kids are starting. A retention problem means kids are starting and then walking out the door.”

Dan Soviero, Founder & CEO, Signature Athletics | Read full post →

On October 14, Capacity Sports Group (CSG), a youth sports company formed in January by merging Prep Baseball and Bullpen, said it now owns the 78-acre LakePoint Sports property in Emerson, Georgia, outside Atlanta, and holds what its release calls a lease to operate the Champions Center, a 170,000-square-foot indoor pavilion owned by Bartow County. Sports Business Journal reported that CSG acquired 100% of LakePoint Sports, which includes eight baseball fields and three multi-sport fields, and that financial details were not available. The seller was Rimrock Capital Management, which SBJ says has owned the property since buying it out of bankruptcy in 2018.

Most of the coverage treated it as one more add-on for an active buyer. The detail that explains it better is CSG's own strategy. CEO Ken Kocher told SBJ he expects CSG to stay an asset-light business that prefers operating agreements over buying facilities. The company's ownership or financial backing were not disclosed. SBJ noted that private equity firm AEA Investors lists CSG in its private debt portfolio.

The Bottom Line: CSG has made eight acquisitions since January, by Youth Sports Business Report's count, and Kocher told SBJ the company prefers operating agreements but buys facilities "strategically when it makes sense, like LakePoint." He also said a volleyball brand acquisition is likely soon. That next deal will show whether LakePoint is meant to anchor CSG's move beyond baseball, and who is paying for the expansion is still the open question.

On October 20, State Farm and Overtime, the sports media company and league operator behind Overtime Elite, Overtime Select and OT7, told Marketing Brew that State Farm will sponsor Overtime's first All-American girls flag football game, planned for next summer with NBC Sports. The deal also keeps State Farm in Overtime's basketball and 7-on-7 leagues and adds NIL deals with Overtime athletes. The companies said they will have worked together for six consecutive years once the deal runs. The fee and the new term weren't disclosed. Whether flag football is new money or a slice of a renewal is the open question.

On October 20, Sports Business Journal reported that the Rose family, whose sons Logan and Carson launched Big League Wiffle Ball, a 10-franchise pro league with games on ESPN2 and ESPN+, acquired the Wiffle brand and its IP from The Wiffle Ball, Inc. of Shelton, Connecticut. The deal ends 73 years of Mullany family ownership. Manufacturing stays in Shelton, and Wiffle has sold more than 100 million balls, the company said. Financial terms weren't disclosed, and SBJ reported the two businesses will remain separate. How the league and the ball maker split the value of the Wiffle name is the open question.

On October 14, the Clearwater City Council in Florida voted 4-0 to move forward with a proposed $180 million sports and entertainment complex at The Landings Golf Course, FOX 13 reported. The plan, from Sunshine Recreational and Entertainment LLC, a team led by Porter Development, per the city's Oct 14 council records, would replace the 56-year-old course on 77 city-owned acres with pickleball and volleyball courts and a water park. The vote allows negotiations but doesn't authorize construction, and a neighborhood group, Keep Keene Green, opposes it. What the city gets back for 77 public acres is the open question.

Have a great sports week,

Dan Soviero, Founder and CEO, Signature Athletics