Key Takeaways:
- DICK’S Sporting Goods has led a $120M investment round in Unrivaled Sports, signaling a significant strategic shift in the youth sports ecosystem
- The partnership aims to expand access, elevate experiences, and increase amenities across youth sports properties nationwide
- Unrivaled Sports has built a national footprint across 30 states, hosting over 600,000 young athletes annually
- The youth sports market is experiencing unprecedented consolidation and professionalization, creating new opportunities for strategic investors
- This partnership represents a blueprint for mission-aligned companies to create sustainable growth while enhancing youth development through sports
Introduction: The Evolving Landscape of Youth Sports Investment
The youth sports industry has reached an inflection point. Once a fragmented ecosystem of local leagues, independent tournaments, and community-based programs, youth sports has emerged as a sophisticated, high-growth market attracting substantial institutional investment. The recent announcement of DICK’S Sporting Goods’ strategic investment in Unrivaled Sports—leading a $120 million funding round to obtain a minority stake in the nation’s premier youth sports experience provider—signals a transformative shift in how major retailers and investors are approaching this space.
This partnership represents far more than a typical corporate investment. It demonstrates a strategic alignment between complementary businesses that share a fundamental mission: leveraging the power of sports to positively impact young lives while creating sustainable business growth. As Andy Campion, Unrivaled Sports Chairman & CEO, noted, “DICK’S Sporting Goods has become the undisputed leader in serving young athletes as they gear up to play the sports they love. Their mission-driven approach to youth sports has been at the center of their ecosystem.”
In this analysis, we’ll examine the strategic rationale behind this partnership, evaluate its potential impact on the youth sports ecosystem, and explore the broader implications for stakeholders across the industry—from facility operators to equipment manufacturers, young athletes, and their families.
The Strategic Rationale: Aligning Retail Power with Experience Innovation
Creating Vertical Integration in the Youth Sports Value Chain
The partnership between DICK’S Sporting Goods and Unrivaled Sports demonstrates a sophisticated approach to vertical integration within the youth sports value chain. DICK’S, as the nation’s leading sporting goods retailer, has established dominance in equipment, apparel, and gear sales. However, until now, their touchpoints with young athletes were primarily transactional—focused on the pre-participation phase rather than the ongoing experience.
By investing in Unrivaled Sports, DICK’S gains strategic access to the experiential component of youth sports, where lasting memories, brand loyalty, and ongoing consumer relationships are formed. This represents an extension of their ecosystem from purely retail into the participation and community-building aspects of youth sports.
Leveraging Complementary Strengths
Michael Stack, Vice President of Strategy and Corporate Development at DICK’S Sporting Goods, articulated the strategic alignment clearly: “We share our core belief that sports have the power to change lives, and the impact they’ve made in just one year has been incredibly impressive.” This statement highlights how the partnership leverages the complementary strengths of both organizations:
- DICK’S brings retail expertise, consumer insights, robust supply chain capabilities, and significant financial resources
- Unrivaled Sports contributes operational excellence in experience design, destination management, and programming across multiple sports verticals
Together, they create a powerful platform that can address the full spectrum of youth athlete and family needs—from equipment purchasing to tournament participation, lodging, food and beverage, and community engagement.
The Unrivaled Sports Growth Strategy: Expansion, Elevation, and Enhancement
The investment announcement outlined three primary areas where Unrivaled Sports plans to deploy capital:
1. Geographic and Demographic Expansion
Unrivaled Sports has already established an impressive national footprint, operating across 30 states and hosting over 600,000 young athletes and nearly 2 million family members and fans annually. However, significant opportunity remains to:
- Further penetrate underserved markets with limited access to premium youth sports facilities
- Diversify programming to reach both boys and girls across multiple sports categories
- Acquire complementary properties that enhance the portfolio’s geographic coverage
The strategic investment provides the capital necessary to accelerate this expansion, potentially through both organic growth and additional acquisitions of regional youth sports properties.
2. Experience Elevation
The modern youth sports consumer—both athletes and parents—increasingly demands premium experiences that go beyond basic competition. Unrivaled Sports has recognized this shift and is investing in:
- Upgrading playing surfaces and facilities across their portfolio (including recent re-turfing projects at flagship properties)
- Enhancing officiating quality and consistency
- Implementing technology solutions that improve tournament operations, communication, and media capture
These improvements address a critical gap in the market, where the quality of youth sports experiences often fails to match the escalating financial and time investments families make to participate.
3. Amenity Enhancement
Perhaps most strategically significant is Unrivaled Sports’ commitment to increasing amenities across their properties, including:
- Expanded lodging options (such as the bunk lodging expansions at Cooperstown All Star Village)
- Enhanced food and beverage offerings that cater to diverse family preferences
- Retail integration opportunities that create natural touchpoints for DICK’S Sporting Goods
These amenity enhancements transform traditional sports venues into comprehensive destinations, increasing both revenue per visitor and overall customer satisfaction while extending the duration of family stays.
Case Study: The Transformation of Flagship Properties
The investment announcement highlighted several tangible examples of how Unrivaled Sports is already executing its strategic vision:
Cooperstown All Star Village: Reimagining the Baseball Tournament Experience
Cooperstown All Star Village represents a blueprint for Unrivaled Sports’ approach to property enhancement. Recent investments have focused on:
- Expanding bunk lodging in the Players Village to increase weekly team capacity
- Upgrading playing surfaces to improve performance and safety
- Enhancing property design and amenities to create a more immersive experience
These improvements have yielded measurable results, with Cooperstown All Star Village projected to set another consecutive record high in annual attendance in 2025.
Expanding into Growing Sports Categories: The Flag Football Opportunity
Unrivaled Sports has demonstrated market foresight by aggressively expanding its flag football offerings—a sport experiencing explosive growth partially driven by its recent inclusion in Olympic competition. Their strategy includes:
- Growing participation in their national flag football league, Under the Lights (30% year-over-year growth)
- Hosting premier events like the Youth Flag World Championship at Disney (715 teams, including 220 girls’ teams)
- Developing specialized venues like the ForeverLawn Complex in Canton, Ohio
This diversification beyond traditional sports like baseball ensures Unrivaled Sports remains positioned at the forefront of youth sports trends while providing DICK’S Sporting Goods with insights into emerging equipment and apparel needs in growth categories.
Market Implications: A New Era of Youth Sports Consolidation
The partnership between DICK’S Sporting Goods and Unrivaled Sports exemplifies a broader trend of consolidation and professionalization in the youth sports industry. Several market implications merit consideration:
1. Increased Institutional Investment in Youth Sports Properties
The participation of sophisticated investors like Dynasty Equity, LionTree, and Miller Sports & Entertainment alongside DICK’S Sporting Goods signals growing institutional confidence in youth sports as an investable asset class. This trend is likely to accelerate as:
- Professional sports team owners seek youth development pipeline opportunities
- Private equity continues exploring alternative assets with strong growth potential
- Strategic corporate investors recognize the brand-building and ecosystem expansion opportunities in youth sports
2. Elevation of Operational Standards
As institutional capital flows into the youth sports ecosystem, we can expect a corresponding elevation of operational standards. Professionally managed properties like those in the Unrivaled Sports portfolio will establish new benchmarks for:
- Facility quality and maintenance
- Customer service and experience design
- Safety protocols and risk management
- Technology integration and data utilization
This professionalization will benefit participants through improved experiences but may challenge smaller, independent operators who lack the capital to compete on facility quality and amenities.
3. Potential for Increased Accessibility
A significant challenge in youth sports has been the growing participation gap based on socioeconomic factors. The Unrivaled Sports announcement acknowledged this issue, highlighting “a commitment to continuing to grow sports participation and expand access for underserved young athletes.” Strategic initiatives mentioned include:
- Free clinics offered nationwide through Ripken Baseball
- Scholarships and free tournament access for teams from underserved communities
The scale and resources resulting from this partnership create new opportunities to address accessibility challenges through systematic programming rather than ad hoc initiatives.
Strategic Considerations for Industry Stakeholders
For Facility Operators and Youth Sports Properties
Independent facility operators and regional youth sports properties face both challenges and opportunities in this evolving landscape:
- Consolidation pressure: Smaller operators may face acquisition pressure or competitive challenges from well-capitalized entities like Unrivaled Sports
- Specialization opportunity: Focusing on specific niches or local market advantages may provide sustainable differentiation
- Partnership potential: Alignment with strategic investors or retail partners could provide access to capital and operational expertise
For Sporting Goods Manufacturers and Retailers
DICK’S Sporting Goods’ strategic move provides a blueprint for other retailers and manufacturers to consider:
- Experience integration: Opportunities exist to move beyond transactional relationships into experiential partnerships with youth sports properties
- Data leverage: Youth sports participation generates valuable consumer insights that can inform product development and marketing strategies
- Brand building: Direct engagement with youth athletes through experiences creates potential for lifelong brand loyalty
For Young Athletes and Families
The ultimate beneficiaries of this partnership should be the young athletes and families who participate in youth sports:
- Enhanced experiences: Professional management and capital investment should yield higher quality playing surfaces, better organization, and improved amenities
- Potential cost implications: Industry consolidation could eventually impact participation costs, though economies of scale might partially offset this trend
- Access considerations: Strategic corporate investment creates both the opportunity and responsibility to expand access to quality sports experiences across socioeconomic boundaries
Looking Forward: The Future of Strategic Youth Sports Investment
The partnership between DICK’S Sporting Goods and Unrivaled Sports provides a window into the future of youth sports investment. Several trends bear watching:
1. Integration of Digital and Physical Experiences
Future investments will likely focus on seamlessly integrating digital capabilities with physical experiences. Potential innovations include:
- Advanced streaming and content creation from youth events
- Personalized development tracking through connected equipment and venues
- Community-building platforms that extend beyond in-person participation
2. Data-Driven Programming and Personalization
The scale of Unrivaled Sports’ operations (600,000+ athletes annually) creates unprecedented opportunities to leverage data for experience enhancement:
- Customized tournament schedules based on team performance and development goals
- Personalized training recommendations integrated with retail offerings
- Community-specific programming tailored to regional preferences and needs
3. Cross-Category Integration
The Unrivaled Sports portfolio already spans multiple sports categories, creating opportunities for innovative cross-promotion and integrated programming:
- Multi-sport venues that maximize facility utilization throughout the year
- Developmental pathways that encourage diverse sports participation
- Integrated retail experiences that serve athletes across their full sports journey
Conclusion: A Blueprint for Purposeful Growth
The strategic investment by DICK’S Sporting Goods in Unrivaled Sports represents more than a financial transaction—it offers a blueprint for purposeful growth in the youth sports ecosystem. By aligning complementary strengths, focusing on experience enhancement, and maintaining a commitment to accessibility, this partnership demonstrates how commercial success and positive youth development can reinforce rather than conflict with each other.
For industry observers, the key insight is that youth sports has evolved from a fragmented collection of local activities into a sophisticated ecosystem worthy of strategic investment. The organizations that will thrive in this new landscape will be those that balance operational excellence, experience innovation, and mission alignment.
As Andy Campion stated, “We are thrilled to build the future of youth sports together with DICK’S Sporting Goods.” That future appears increasingly professional, experiential, and integrated—creating new opportunities for strategic investors and, most importantly, for the young athletes who benefit from high-quality sports experiences.
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About Unrivaled Sports
Unrivaled Sports, the nation’s leader in youth sports experiences, delivers best-in-class experiences for young athletes, their families and communities through a diverse set of brands across youth sports venues, properties and programming. Unrivaled Sports has welcomed some of the most iconic names in youth sports into its growing family of brands including Cooperstown All Star Village, Ripken Baseball Experiences, Rocker B Ranch, Diamond Nation, Unrivaled Flag, We Are Camp action sports camp and more. From hosting destination tournaments to powering hometown leagues, Unrivaled Sports is committed to delivering formative, memory-making experiences to hundreds of thousands of young athletes and their families across the country. Learn more at unrivaledsports.com @unrivaled.sports.
About DICK’S Sporting Goods
DICK’S Sporting Goods (NYSE: DKS) creates confidence and excitement by inspiring, supporting and personally equipping all athletes to achieve their dreams. Founded in 1948 and headquartered in Pittsburgh, the leading omnichannel retailer serves athletes and outdoor enthusiasts in more than 850 DICK’S Sporting Goods, Golf Galaxy, Public Lands and Going Going Gone! stores, online, and through the DICK’S mobile app. DICK’S also owns and operates DICK’S House of Sport and Golf Galaxy Performance Center, as well as GameChanger, a youth sports mobile platform for live streaming, scheduling, communications and scorekeeping.
Driven by its belief that sports have the power to change lives, DICK’S has been a longtime champion for youth sports and, together with its Foundation, has donated millions of dollars to support under-resourced teams and athletes through the Sports Matter program and other community-based initiatives. Additional information about DICK’S business, corporate giving and employment opportunities can be found on dicks.com, investors.dicks.com, sportsmatter.org, dickssportinggoods.jobs and on Instagram, TikTok, Facebook and X.
About Dynasty Equity
Dynasty Equity is a global sports investment firm, co-founded and led by Jonathan M. Nelson and K. Don Cornwell, focused on strategic investments across the sports ecosystem in assets that are resilient, compelling, and differentiated. Dynasty’s founders have deep expertise in sector specific private equity and long histories in the business of sports, media, and entertainment. Integral to Dynasty’s investment approach is a commitment to enduring partnerships. For more information, visit www.DynastyEquity.com or follow the firm on LinkedIn.
About LionTree
LionTree is a global investment and merchant banking firm focused on the media, technology, telecom and consumer sectors. Founded in 2012, LionTree works across offices in New York, San Francisco, and London to serve our clients and community through strategic M&A, capital raising, and investments across the globe that capture opportunity and provide best-in-class execution. Since its formation, the Firm has advised on over $850 billion in transactions by bringing capital together with ideas, investing in and alongside our relationships to accelerate growth and innovation. LionTree invests minority, non-controlling capital in partnership with leading, long-term investors and provides additional value through our relationships, sector and thematic expertise and transaction capabilities. LionTree and its affiliates have active principal investments in early venture, growth, and mature companies across key sectors of the digital economy.
About TCG
The Chernin Group (TCG) is a preeminent growth equity firm investing in sports, media and passion-driven businesses. TCG partners with exceptional founders and management teams to grow and optimize market-leading brands in specific consumer categories with passionate followings. The firm leverages decades of operating experience and deep connectivity to the media, sports and technology ecosystems in service of its portfolio companies.
