Key Takeaways
- LakePoint Sports retained over 85% of its partners in 2025, with more than 60% increasing their investment year over year
- The organization welcomed 20 new partners, producing a 24% increase in community partnerships across its Georgia campus
- A five-year Soccer Initiative launches in 2026 with 20+ weekends of programming, timed to the FIFA World Cup arriving in the U.S.
- LakePoint’s media operation now includes 60+ live broadcasts, AI-powered cameras, and a youth NIL content program built around three inaugural athletes
- Guests rated the LakePoint experience 4.8 out of 5 in 2025 surveys, with the organization hosting visitors from all 50 states
The Campus at a Glance
LakePoint Sports is a 1,300-acre travel and youth sports destination located in Emerson, Georgia, roughly 40 miles north of Atlanta. The campus includes the Champions Center, a 170,000-square-foot indoor venue for basketball, volleyball, and cheer, alongside the Baseball Village, featuring eight Major League-sized fields. Publix Fields adds 11 outdoor multi-sport fields and 12 indoor futsal courts, supporting soccer, flag football, lacrosse, and rugby programming year-round.
The facility hosts thousands of teams annually, draws visitors from all 50 states and multiple countries, and reports approximately 2.5 million guests per year. LakePoint also operates a media and broadcast division, a local community programming arm spanning nine Georgia counties, and an expanding portfolio of brand partnerships.
YSBR sat down with LakePoint President and CEO Mark O’Brien to discuss what drove a breakout 2025 and what’s ahead as the organization enters a pivotal 2026.
Why Brands Keep Coming Back to LakePoint
For most youth sports facilities, partnerships mean signage and a sponsor logo on the website. O’Brien describes a different model, and the retention numbers suggest it’s working.
In 2025, LakePoint collaborated with more than 60 campus partners, including Coca-Cola, Rawlings, Wilson, and Publix. Over 85% of existing partners renewed, and more than 60% increased their spend. Twenty new partners joined, driving a 24% increase in community partnerships.
“Our partners know they’re more to us than logos on a banner,” O’Brien said. “LakePoint has a vested interest in their success.”
O’Brien pointed to the platform the organization has built around its guest base. Partners can activate through more than 60 broadcasts, curated branded content, proprietary Champions Weekend programming, product sampling, retail promotions, and community programs through the nine-county LakePoint Local initiative.
“Whether it’s driving brand awareness, consumer engagement, direct sales, or digital growth, LakePoint has intentionally evolved beyond being a campus of world-class venues to being a year-round destination where families, athletes, businesses, and community leaders connect,” O’Brien said.
A Five-Year Soccer Commitment Timed to the World Cup
LakePoint’s most visible 2026 move is its Soccer Initiative, a five-year strategic plan anchored by more than 20 weekends of soccer programming in its first year. The infrastructure is already in place: 11 outdoor fields and 12 indoor futsal courts. The initiative expands tournaments, camps, clinics, and showcases while adding coaching education, club partnerships, player appearances, and product testing for emerging soccer technology.
O’Brien framed the timing around the 2026 FIFA World Cup, which brings matches to venues across North America, including Atlanta, roughly 40 miles south of the LakePoint campus.
“The U.S. is entering a generational growth moment for the sport,” O’Brien said. “Participation is rising, media coverage is expanding, and the pathway from youth development to the professional game for men and women is at a fever pitch.”
Rather than building new infrastructure, LakePoint is applying its existing playbook to a new sport vertical. Soccer programming plugs into the same media, streaming, and brand partnership ecosystem that already supports baseball and basketball on campus.
Scaling Media, AI Cameras, and Youth NIL
LakePoint’s media operation has quietly become one of the more developed setups in youth sports. The organization produced more than 60 live broadcasts in 2025, expanded its Pixellot AI camera system to 28 units across the Champions Center, and integrated performance platforms including TrackMan, NBN23, and SWISH alongside its SportsEngine streaming partnership.
O’Brien frames these investments as serving athletes, not just producing content.
“Streaming allows anyone from across the world to watch a championship game, match, meet, or competition in real time,” he said. “Our NIL education and athlete-first media initiatives are helping young athletes learn how to responsibly build their personal brand and navigate the business side of sports earlier than ever before.”
In 2025, LakePoint launched its Athlete Program, an NIL-inspired initiative that placed three elite youth baseball players at the center of branded storytelling. The athletes collaborated with Rawlings, Academy Sports + Outdoors, and the Harlem Globetrotters on gear reviews and content pieces, connecting brands with the next generation of talent through LakePoint’s network of 60+ national partners.
The Culture Behind the Campus
When asked what outsiders underestimate about running a platform like LakePoint, O’Brien didn’t point to logistics or infrastructure. He pointed to culture.
“What they often underestimate is how intentional the internal culture has to be to sustain something like LakePoint,” he said. “We cultivate a culture of success every single day.”
O’Brien described a structured internal framework that includes seven Strategic Priorities, 10 Operating Principles, guest-focused “7 S’s,” and annual mantras that rotate each year. Past themes have included “Progress Every Day,” “Details Matter,” “Be Extraordinary,” and “Accountability.”
“Before we can deliver excellence in the guest experience, we have to deliver excellence in the team member experience,” O’Brien said. “We believe financial results and organizational success are ultimately derivatives of being a values-based organization and the culture we create.”
What 2026 Looks Like From Emerson, Georgia
LakePoint enters 2026 with a full pipeline. The Soccer Initiative adds a new sport vertical to a campus already running at high volume across baseball, basketball, volleyball, cheer, and flag football. The media platform continues to scale. And the partnership model, built on retention rates most B2B companies would envy, gives the organization a commercial engine that funds the guest experience improvements O’Brien returns to throughout the conversation.
For an industry that crossed $40 billion and shows no signs of cooling, LakePoint is operating as both a case study and a proving ground for what a modern youth sports destination can look like when the business model extends well beyond field rentals and tournament fees.
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