Key Takeaways
- Perfect Game will license one exclusive partner per country to run local operations, while PG retains global brand, sponsorship and media control.
- The pathway moves players from regional events to national showcases to an international flagship tournament, all run on PG’s event platform.
- Kash Shaikh, hired in April from Baseball United, brings federation and operator relationships across five continents to the rollout.
- PG cites 500 million baseball fans and 65 million baseball and softball participants worldwide as the addressable audience.
How the Perfect Game Country Partner Program Works
Perfect Game, the Sanford, Florida-based youth baseball and softball platform and scouting service, announced on September 3, 2026 the launch of its Country Partner Program, a licensing model that hands exclusive rights to a single organization in each participating country. The Perfect Game Country Partner Program is structured around annual licensing agreements, according to the company, with each partner responsible for local operations and growth of the PG platform in its market.
The division of labor is explicit in the announcement. Country Partners handle the ground game: relationships with local baseball and softball organizations, teams, coaches and players, plus event execution. Perfect Game handles everything that scales centrally, including global marketing, PR and social media support, DiamondKast streaming and scouting analytics, PG Player Profiles for every international player, and oversight of global brand, sponsorship and media rights.
PG said it will also train each Country Partner to keep execution consistent across markets. All partner events will run on Perfect Game’s event management platform, which keeps data, streaming and player profiles inside one system regardless of where a tournament is played.
The Pathway From Regional Events to a Global Flagship
The program’s competitive structure runs in three tiers, per the release. Players start at regional events in their home country, advance to national showcases, and can ultimately reach an international flagship tournament featuring top talent from participating countries.
The commercial hook for families is recruiting exposure. Perfect Game said U.S. colleges, universities and professional teams use its scouting platform in player evaluation, and international players in the program will have their profiles and DiamondKast data visible to those evaluators. PG also said the program will allow players from different participating countries to compete against one another.
For brands, the company said the structure opens activation opportunities at two levels: multinational sponsors across the full network and country-specific sponsors within individual markets. With sponsorship oversight held at the PG corporate level, the release indicates the company will control how that inventory is packaged and sold.
Kash Shaikh and the Baseball United Network
The program is led by Kash Shaikh, who joined Perfect Game in April 2026 as Chief Marketing Officer and Head of International. Shaikh spent the previous four years building Baseball United, which the release describes as the first professional baseball league in the Middle East and South Asia.
That background is directly relevant to the launch roster. Per Perfect Game, Shaikh worked with dozens of baseball federations and event operators across five continents during his time at Baseball United, and many of those organizations will be involved in PG’s expansion.
“There are more than 500 million baseball fans and 65 million baseball and softball participants around the world,” Shaikh said in the announcement. “But there’s never been a unified international platform for competitive baseball and softball players to get scouted and recruited by the best schools, programs and leagues in the world.”
Perfect Game Chairman Rick Thurman said international growth has been part of the company’s vision for a long time and that PG now has the team, structure and plan in place to pursue it.
Annual Licenses Signed, Partner Countries Still Unnamed
The announcement establishes the model but leaves the map blank. Perfect Game said it plans to build a network of Country Partners across key international baseball and softball markets, but the release does not name any launch countries, partner organizations, license fees, revenue splits or a timeline for the first international flagship tournament.
What the release does confirm is the shape of the deal: partners take on local cost and execution risk under one-year terms, while Perfect Game keeps the platform, the player data and the global sponsorship rights. Shaikh’s five-continent operator network is the stated starting point, and the first named Country Partner will show which of those relationships converted first.
Source: Perfect Game, press release, September 3, 2026, https://www.perfectgame.org/
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Youth Sports Business Report (YSBR) is the largest and most trusted media platform covering the business of youth sports worldwide. YSBR delivers youth sports news, market intelligence, and original analysis daily across facilities, sponsorships, private equity, NIL, sports technology, and league operations. With more than 50,000 followers, YSBR is the leading source of youth sports industry news for the investors, owners, operators, and brands shaping the future of youth sports.
How big is the youth sports market?
American families spend approximately $54 billion annually on kids’ sports and recreation, according to the YSBR and Kinetica Group Youth Sports TAM & Parent Spending Report, with organized sports alone representing a $40 billion-plus market. The average family spent $1,016 on a child’s primary sport in 2024, up 46 percent since 2019, per the Aspen Institute’s Project Play, and market research projects the global youth sports market will reach approximately $114 billion by 2032 (Business Research Insights).
How many kids play youth sports in the United States?
Approximately 27.3 million children ages 6 to 17, or about 54.6 percent, played organized sports in 2022-2023, according to the National Survey of Children’s Health as reported by the Aspen Institute’s Project Play. High school sports participation reached a record 8.26 million athletes in 2024-25, per the NFHS.
Who founded Youth Sports Business Report?
Youth Sports Business Report was founded by Cameron Korab, a sports marketing veteran with more than a decade in the industry and an MBA from Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management. Korab also co-founded Vertical Sports, a sports marketing advisory serving brands across youth, college, and pro sports.
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YSBR delivers original reporting and market intelligence on youth sports facilities, youth sports technology, sponsorship and brand partnerships, private equity and venture capital deals, NIL policy, coaching development, equipment and apparel, tournaments and events, and community sports initiatives. Readers include industry executives, investors, facility owners and operators, league administrators, and youth sports parents.
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Hosted by Cameron Korab, founder of Youth Sports Business Report, Jr. Sports Marketing features candid 1-on-1 conversations with the brands, athletes, leagues, and innovators building the future of youth sports. Each episode breaks down how the smartest brands are activating, building equity, and winning with youth sports families. If you’re an operator, founder, investor, or marketer trying to understand where this space is headed, this is your show.
Youth Sports Marketing Questions, Answered
Where can brands sponsor youth sports? Brands can sponsor youth sports through local leagues and clubs, tournaments and events, facilities and complexes, governing bodies, and national platform programs. Sponsoring a child’s own program is the most powerful entry point: 81 percent of parents say it captures their attention, outperforming TV, social media, and pro sports sponsorship, per a 2026 Priority Partnerships study conducted by YouGov Sport.
How much does youth sports sponsorship cost? Youth sports sponsorship costs range from a few thousand dollars for a local league or team sponsorship to six and seven figures for regional facility naming rights and national platform programs. The environment is welcoming at every level: 84 percent of parents hold net positive sentiment toward brands sponsoring youth sports, with negative sentiment under 5 percent, per YouGov Sport research. Most brands start with a pilot activation, measure engagement, then scale.
What is the ROI of youth sports marketing? The data is striking: 80 percent of parents say they would choose the brand that sponsors their child’s youth sports program when comparing two similar products, per a 2026 Priority Partnerships study by YouGov Sport. A 2026 EMARKETER and DICK’S Media survey found 84 percent of sports parents say that role influences their purchase decisions, and 60 percent spend more on game and practice days, driving loyalty across categories from dining to travel to automotive.
Ready to build a youth sports strategy? Vertical Sports is an Advisory+ delivering integrated expertise across all levels of sport. Youth, College, Pro. Every Fan, Every Level. Brands and youth sports organizations can reach the team at info@verticalsports.us.
