Key Takeaways
- Falfurrias Capital Partners takes a growth stake in Youth Athletes United, franchisor of Soccer Stars, Amazing Athletes and TGA across more than 400 territories.
- Amazing Athletes is YAU’s largest brand by franchise count and serves children ages 1 to 7, the youngest entry point in the portfolio.
- TGA runs junior golf, tennis and pickleball programming in more than 20 states for children ages 6 and up.
- Co-founders Adam Geisler and John Erlandson remain CEO and president, with the founding management team staying in place.
- Capital is directed at franchisee infrastructure, territory and marketing support rather than new brand launches.
A Multi-Brand Franchisor Adds Institutional Capital
Youth Athletes United announced on August 11 that it has secured a growth investment from Falfurrias Capital Partners. Terms were not disclosed.
The company franchises three youth sports and enrichment brands: Soccer Stars, Amazing Athletes and TGA, which covers tennis, golf and pickleball. YAU was founded in 2018 and assembled around brands that each carry more than 20 years of individual operating history. The current network spans more than 400 franchise territories delivered through schools, early childhood education centers, parks and community spaces.
Leadership continuity was part of the announcement. Co-founders Adam Geisler and John Erlandson continue as CEO and president alongside the founding management team.
Boxwood Partners acted as exclusive financial advisor to YAU. Einbinder, Dunn, Dimitri & Bayer LLP served as franchise and mergers and acquisitions counsel.
Where the Capital Is Pointed
The stated use of proceeds is franchisee-facing rather than consumer-facing. YAU says the investment will strengthen the tools, training and operational support available to local owners.
“These incremental resources will be invested into the infrastructure, territory, and marketing support that current and future franchise owners will directly benefit from,” said Geisler.
That distinction matters in franchised youth sports. The unit economics sit with the operator, and franchisor capital typically shows up as systems, curriculum, lead generation and territory mapping rather than as facilities or fields.
Three Brands, Three Positions in the Age Curve
Each brand occupies a different slot in the portfolio.
Soccer Stars is one of the nation’s leading educational soccer franchises and one of YAU’s largest brands by territory count. It runs on a low-overhead, non-brick-and-mortar model, with programming delivered out of parks, schools and community facilities.
Amazing Athletes is the largest brand by franchise count and operates as a multi-sport enrichment program for children ages 1 to 7. Its service menu spans sports, fitness and character-building curricula.
TGA sits at the older end, serving children ages 6 and up in junior golf, junior tennis and youth pickleball across territories in more than 20 states. YAU positions it as an incremental revenue stream for owners who already hold a Soccer Stars or Amazing Athletes territory.
The result is a ladder. A family that starts with Amazing Athletes at age 3 has a path into Soccer Stars and then TGA, all inside the same franchise system.
Multi-Territory Ownership as the Stated Growth Path
Erlandson framed expansion around existing owners scaling up rather than only recruiting new ones.
“We are excited to accelerate what has already made YAU one of the fastest-growing franchisors in youth sports, a scalable, multi-brand model that lets a local franchise owner start with one territory and, if interested, grow into several,” he said.
That approach reduces the cost of adding units, since an experienced operator adding a second or third territory requires less onboarding than a first-time franchisee.
The Franchisee Sits at the Center of This Transaction
Most institutional capital entering youth sports over the past several years has gone toward facilities, tournament operators and platform roll-ups. This deal is structured around a different asset: a distributed network of small local businesses that operate in space they do not own.
That model is asset-light and geographically flexible, which makes territory density and operator support the primary levers for growth. Watch whether the added resources translate into higher revenue per territory or simply a larger territory count, because those two outcomes point toward very different valuations at the next transaction.
Source: Youth Athletes United, Press Release, August 11, 2026
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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.
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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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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.
