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Happy Wednesday,

If you played youth sports 20-30 years ago, the entire economy fit inside your hometown. You played on the closest field, against whoever lived nearby, and nobody’s parents thought twice about driving more than 20 minutes to a game.

Today, it’s basically the exact opposite.

Kids regularly fly to tournaments. Families spend thousands on weekends. Facilities look like resorts. And tournament directors operate like full-time event companies. Youth sports didn’t just grow; it transformed into a $40 billion industry.

And few people have had a better front-row seat to that shift than John D’Orsay, CEO of EventConnect. His company powers everything behind the scenes: hotel bookings, scheduling, registration, and the economic data that cities and organizers now rely on.

And as John told us, “Youth sports are becoming a business. There’s no way it was at this scale 25 years ago.”

Here’s how it happened, and where it’s all going next:

🎧 [Listen to our full episode with EventConnect CEO John D’Orsay]

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5 Takeaways From Our Conversation With John D’Orsay

1. Local Sports Became a National Marketplace

When John was growing up in Canada, youth sports were hyper-local: play at the park, ride your bike home. But as skill development, travel tournaments, and elite clubs expanded, the entire model shifted.

College and high school sports were already nationalized, and youth sports have started to catch up.

Families now view tournaments as mini-vacations:

• Water-slide complexes at baseball facilities

• Replica fields and multi-sport campuses

• 1,000-team national showcases

• Parents forming their own “travel friend groups”

As John put it, “These weekends used to be about games. Now they’re about experiences.”

With better fields, more competition, and more visibility, youth sports evolved into something closer to a hospitality product (and families embraced it).

2. The Parent Mindset Changed Everything

Parents today don’t just watch from the sidelines; they invest (literally).

• Parents now spend $1,000+ per year per child on average

• Some spend five figures to chase scholarships

• Remote work has made weekday travel more possible

• Families justify tournament spending as both sport and vacation

John summed it up well: “Our parents didn’t even show up to half of our games. Today’s parents go to everything. And they make a whole weekend out of it.”

The demand from parents is one of the biggest drivers of the industry’s rapid expansion.

3. COVID Didn’t Slow Youth Sports, It Accelerated Them

When the world shut down, youth sports vanished overnight. But the pause did something no one expected: it made the industry bigger.

Parents didn’t just miss sports; they missed the routine, the community, and the travel that came with it. When fields reopened:

• Demand surged past pre-COVID levels

• Families spent more per trip

• Organizations added more teams

• Facilities invested heavily in upgrades

And the industry matured almost instantly.

As John rationalized at the time, “If people were playing sports a hundred years ago, they’ll do it after a pandemic. The behavior doesn’t go away.”

COVID compressed a decade of professionalization into 18 months, and youth sports haven’t slowed down since.

4. Tournament Directors Became Full-On Operators

Running a tournament used to be a side gig, but not anymore.

Directors today function like small business owners:

• Digital marketing

• Data analytics

• Customer experience

• Sponsor relations

• Hospitality coordination

And competition between tournaments is fierce.

“You used to fill a tournament just by having the field rights,” John told us. “Now you need matchups, travel variety, and an experience families want to come back to.”

This shift explains why private equity is suddenly here: The operations are complex enough now to justify it.

5. The Next Decade Will Reshape Youth Sports Again

John’s long-term outlook is surprisingly optimistic.

A few predictions he shared:

• The industry will get more structured as professional operators and investment increase.

• Costs will level out as the top 10% of families subsidize new, lower-tier, lower-cost leagues.

• Transparency will become table stakes, from pricing to scheduling to data.

• Experiences will matter as much as wins. Families will choose events that feel like vacations.

• More kids will play overall as efficiency improves and barriers drop.

And one big unlock? Brands.

“There are massive companies that want to talk to parents,” John said. “If we can align incentives, we can actually drive costs down.”

Youth sports won’t get smaller. They’re about to get smarter.

Why It Matters

Youth sports aren’t just games anymore; they’re a fully formed economy driven by travel, tech, tournaments, and family expectations.

The industry is pricing, behaving, and professionalizing like any other growth market:

• Operators are becoming companies

• Events are turning into experiences

• Data is replacing guesswork

• Private equity is building national platforms

And at the center of it all is a simple truth John kept returning to:

“People have always played sports. The difference now is we finally understand the business behind it.”

🎧 [Listen to our full episode with John D’Orsay]

📩 And don’t forget: Bottom of the Ninth is back this Friday with the top three stories in sports and business from the week.

See you then,
Tyler & Jake