Key Takeaways
- JohnWallStreet is convening MLB, Unrivaled Sports, Youth Inc. and 154 Partners for a half-day, off-record youth sports summit.
- Founder and CEO Corey Leff sizes the industry at roughly $40 billion across fees, tournaments, training, facilities, gear, travel, technology and media.
- Leff says investors still lack answers on moats, pricing power and liquidity in a sector with few large exits to date.
- The debate Leff most wants: whether institutional backing can grow the game without pricing out families.
A Half-Day Built Around One Question
JohnWallStreet is hosting a Youth Sports Summit that brings a consumer brand, a professional league, an investment firm and a large-scale operator into one closed-door room. Confirmed speakers are Greg Olsen and Ryan Baise, co-founders of Youth Inc.; Tony Reagins, Chief Baseball Development Officer at Major League Baseball (MLB); Isaac Harrouche, co-founder and managing partner of 154 Partners; and Wade Martin, COO of Unrivaled Sports.
YSBR sat down with JohnWallStreet founder and CEO Corey Leff ahead of the event to talk through the thinking behind the lineup, the questions capital is still asking, and the debate he expects to dominate the room. Leff said the half-day, off-record structure is built for candid conversation and peer networking on participation, development and commercialization, not a public-stage version of the same talking points.
What’s Inside the $40 Billion Youth Sports Figure?
According to Leff, the $40 billion estimate covers registration and club fees, tournaments, coaching and training, facilities, equipment and apparel, travel and hospitality, technology and media.
He argues the number alone did not justify a standalone event. The pace of change did. Institutional capital is entering the space, leagues are funding participation and development programs, and operators are consolidating clubs and events, Leff said. What remains unsettled, in his view, is where the best risk-adjusted returns sit, who actually owns the customer relationship, and whether fragmented local businesses can be rolled up without damaging the coach-athlete-family bonds that made them work in the first place.
Four Vantage Points on the Same Families
Each speaker was chosen to cover a different layer of the ecosystem, per Leff. Youth Inc. is building a media and commerce brand for athletes and families. MLB is expanding participation, creating development pathways and cultivating fandom. 154 Partners is investing across facilities, tech, clubs and infrastructure. Unrivaled Sports operates tournaments, complexes and destination events at scale.
The agenda pairs those roles against one another. Leff said 154 Partners will explain how investors underwrite the category while Unrivaled shows what scale, operational improvement and differentiation look like in practice. He also expects the friction between league participation goals and private operators building businesses on the same households to surface during Reagins’ session. Leagues and operators share an interest in getting more kids into sports and keeping them longer, Leff said; the tension lives in cost and specialization.
The Investor Questions Still Open
Beyond returns and customer ownership, Leff listed four questions capital is still working through: which youth sports businesses have a genuine moat, where pricing power comes from and how much more families can realistically absorb, what will create liquidity in a sector that has drawn significant investment but produced relatively few large exits, and which strategic buyers will ultimately acquire these platforms.
Leff said all four attendee types benefit. Facility owners should leave with ideas for lifting utilization and ancillary spend. Club and tournament operators should pick up ways to improve the family experience. Brand marketers should better understand how to reach youth athletes and parents credibly. Investors should get a clearer read on where durable economics exist and which risks remain underappreciated.
Can Institutional Money Grow the Game Without Raising the Price?
Asked which debate he most wants to break out, Leff framed it as a single question:
“Can youth sports become a more sophisticated, institutionally backed industry without becoming prohibitively expensive or losing sight of the participant experience?”
Capital, consolidation and professional management can deliver better facilities, stronger programming and new pathways into the game, Leff said. They can also push specialization and encourage operators to extract more revenue from the same families. He said the summit will spend time on what responsible growth looks like, which leaves the industry’s most consequential question on the table for the people with the most capital riding on the answer.
If interested in attending on October 8, please RSVP here. Attendance is limited.
To discuss partnering with JohnWallStreet on this unique event, reach out to Jacie Brandes at Jacie@JohnWallStreet.com.
Source: JohnWallStreet x YSBR, Corey Leff, September 2026
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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.
Youth Sports Business Report resources
- Newsletter: Subscribe to Youth Sports HQ, the most-read newsletter on the business of youth sports, delivering curated youth sports industry news and analysis to thousands of industry leaders every week.
- Research: Read the Youth Sports TAM & Parent Spending Report, an exclusive YSBR and Kinetica Group analysis of market size, parent spending, and marketplace opportunities.
- 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.
- Services: Find vetted partners and solutions for your organization in the YSBR Services Hub, connecting youth sports operators, brands, and investors with verified providers across the industry.
- About: Learn more about Youth Sports Business Report and our editorial standards.
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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.
