Key Takeaways
- Weatherford said the 124 Big Four franchises produce $65 billion in revenue, roughly 2 percent of a $3 trillion global sports economy.
- Youth sports is a $60 billion global market growing 7 to 8 percent a year with cheaper entry valuations than pro leagues, he said.
- He called the youth travel tournament model the most inefficient way to run a network and wants scaled clubs operating as leagues.
- He expects more conference-level capital deals soon, and said the Big 12 financing was never meant to be drawn immediately.
Drew Weatherford, founding partner of Weatherford Capital and a former Florida State University quarterback, made the case for private capital in youth sports on Front Office Sports’ Portfolio Players series with host Dan Roberts, published September 8, 2026. His argument rests on a size comparison: the global sports economy is worth $3 trillion, he said, while the 124 franchises across the four major U.S. leagues generate about $65 billion in revenue, or 2 percent of that total. Youth sports, by his count, is a $60 billion global market growing 7 to 8 percent a year.
Weatherford Capital, founded in 2015 by brothers Drew, Sam and Will Weatherford, manages more than $1 billion in assets, according to the firm. Its sports strategy, which Weatherford calls the “sports continuum,” targets youth, college and professional properties outside the Big Four. Here are the five points from the conversation that matter most to youth sports operators.
1. The Alpha Is Below the Big Four, and Youth Is the Cheapest Entry
Weatherford does not dismiss minority stakes in major league teams. He told Roberts that strategy has made money and will keep making money, but that it is expensive and crowded. “Like all private equity, the greatest alpha is in the lower mid market,” he said.
That framing produces a three-part map. Non-Big Four pro teams and leagues are, in his words, not fully institutionalized and not perfectly priced. College offers what he called interesting opportunities after roughly $3 billion was paid to student-athletes last year through revenue sharing and NIL, by his estimate. Youth is the $60 billion segment: super fragmented, growing 7 to 8 percent annually, and available at much cheaper entry valuations than the professional leagues, he said.
The firm’s disclosed holdings follow that map. According to a February 2026 United Soccer League release, Weatherford Capital’s sports portfolio includes IMG Academy, Curve Sports, Collegiate Athletic Solutions, a minority stake in the Tampa Bay Rays and USL.
2. Why Is the Youth Travel Tournament Model Inefficient?
The sharpest operating critique in the episode concerns how competitive youth sports is organized. Pro sports run as leagues, college sports run as conferences, and entry-level recreation runs as a fixed set of local teams, Weatherford said. Youth travel sports runs as a tournament system, which he called “fundamentally about the most inefficient way that you can run a network of anything.”
Kids practice locally but must travel, with lodging and tournament fees, to find competition. His alternative: clubs that reach scale can run their own tournaments, which he pointed out is simply a league. “You don’t need to leave the state of Florida to play good baseball,” he said, arguing a team should not travel until it is among the best in its state, then play one regional event, then one national event. Six to eight travel trips a year, he said, is not good for families or athletes.
That is the thesis behind Curve Sports. Weatherford described Curve as rolling up youth baseball clubs so that ownership can oversee how much athletes practice and play, and can decline tournaments that do not serve them. Curve launched February 6, 2026, combining the Diamond Allegiance club network with CURVE Test Centers, according to a Weatherford Capital press release. Weatherford said the efficiency argument applies to every youth sport, not only baseball.
3. Private Capital and Access Are Not in Conflict, Weatherford Says
Roberts raised the counterargument directly, citing Landon Donovan’s account on the same series of his eight-year-old’s club team being split into A and B squads. Weatherford’s response was that optionality still exists: rec and YMCA leagues remain available, and competitive play should be competitive for those who opt in.
On the concern that investors will shrink access, he said: “This idea that private capital is going to come in and create less access, that doesn’t make sense. Fundamentally, we want to grow participation.” He pointed to Add More Athletes, an initiative he said he co-founded with the chief executive of IMG Academy to increase youth participation and extend playing opportunities past age 18 for athletes who do not make NCAA Division I rosters.
He also argued for market segmentation: a top tier for families who choose to specialize, with mid-tier and lower-tier options beneath it. In his view, most parents are rational about their children’s odds of playing professionally and are paying for what he called the intangibles.
4. The Big 12 Deal Is a Revenue Partnership, Not a Loan Program
Weatherford said the Big 12 arrangement began as a problem he was trying to solve for Florida State while serving five years on its board of trustees, watching the school operate at a financial disadvantage within the ACC. It evolved into an investment strategy, and he said he has met with the vast majority of Power Four schools.
On structure, he pushed back on coverage focused on which schools are drawing capital. The financing, he said, was never intended to be taken immediately, in part because most schools do not close their fiscal budgets until July 1. The core of the deal is a conference-level relationship to generate sponsorship and other revenue, in the way NFL teams have benefited from businesses such as On Location and Legends, he said.
Reporting fills in the terms. The five-year agreement provides a $12.5 million capital infusion and gives the firms no equity and no governance oversight, according to Associated Press reporting carried by WUSF. CBS Sports reported the opt-in credit line runs up to $30 million per school at double-digit interest rates, and that RedBird’s commercial arm has already signed two major sponsors for the conference, including PayPal, worth roughly $100 million in new revenue.
Weatherford said the vast majority of athletic departments lose money every year and called that unsustainable. Asked whether other conferences will follow, he said: “I’m fairly certain that there will be other deals done here in the not too distant future.”
5. Soccer White Space, Vertical Integration and a Municipal Facilities Edge
Weatherford’s USL case is a density argument. Europe has close to two professional soccer teams per million people, he said, while the U.S. has 0.2 per million, leaving room for both MLS and USL. He cited the recently completed World Cup, the upcoming Olympics and the 2031 Women’s World Cup as tailwinds.
He also said U.S. professional soccer teams and leagues could do a much better job on youth, describing the continuum as a cycle in which kids who play, and parents who watch them play, become fans. Pro properties understand the value of youth sports but are not fully integrated, he said, and need partners to build at scale.
On the Rays, Weatherford called the investment an exception to the non-Big Four strategy, driven by the firm’s Tampa base and its history in regulated industries such as government services and insurance. That background matters for youth, he said, because most youth facilities are municipally owned, and working with parks departments, counties and cities on public-private partnerships is a way to create value. He also said he believes an MLB labor stoppage is likely and hopes it is short.
Florida Baseball Should Not Have to Leave Florida
Strip out the fund-level framing and the youth thesis reduces to one operating change: convert travel clubs from tournament hoppers into league operators, and let the scale pay for itself in fewer trips. Curve is the first test of that model, and Weatherford said the logic applies to every youth sport.
The college side is further along. One conference deal is signed, most Big 12 schools have not yet drawn on the credit line, and Weatherford said the financing was designed to be drawn later rather than immediately. He also said other conference deals will be done in the not too distant future. He did not say which conferences.
- Source: Front Office Sports, McKenna Crilley, September 8, 2026, https://frontofficesports.com/videos/drew-weatherfords-bet-on-the-youth-sports-economy/
- Source: CBS Sports, May 12, 2026, https://www.cbssports.com/college-football/news/big-12-private-equity-nil-revenue/
- Source: WUSF (Associated Press), May 1, 2026, https://www.wusf.org/economy-business/2026-05-01/big-12-strikes-private-capital-deal-tied-to-weatherford-firm-in-hopes-of-growing-revenue
- Source: United Soccer League, February 25, 2026, https://www.uslsoccer.com/news_article/show/1356409
- Source: Weatherford Capital, February 6, 2026, https://www.weatherfordcapital.com/press-releases/curve-sports-launches-as-a-unified-platform-to-strengthen-the-future-of-youth-baseball
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About Youth Sports Business Report
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.
What does YSBR cover?
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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- Jobs: Browse the YSBR Youth Sports Job Board, the most comprehensive destination for careers in youth sports, with hundreds of active listings across facility management, league operations, coaching, sports technology, and marketing.
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Check out Jr. Sports Marketing on YouTube or Spotify
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.
