The Future of Youth Sports: 6 Trends Every Operator Should Know

Running a youth sports organization is hard enough on its own. Add rising costs, new investors, NIL, social media, and changing school policies, and it can feel like the ground is shifting under your feet every season.

At NextUp 2026, LeagueApps President Jeremy Goldberg brought together four leaders who see that change from very different angles:

• Kerin Hempel, former CEO of New York Road Runners, who ran a foundation for the owner of several pro teams, and brings a strategy background from McKinsey
• Justin Kentor, Chief Strategy Officer at Varsity Brands, who previously worked at Nike and sees both the school and club sides of youth sports
• Adam Giesler, CEO of Youth Athletes United, a franchise platform with more than 200 operators running programs like Super Soccer Stars
• Zack Weiner, co-founder of Overtime, which reaches about 120 million people on social media and runs the Overtime Elite league

Here’s what they’re seeing, and what it means for how you run your program.

1. Meet families where they are

Adam’s business focuses on kids ages two to six, and right now the biggest force he’s dealing with is one most operators won’t notice: universal pre-K. As more families move out of paid preschools, Youth Athletes United has lost some of its usual ways to reach young kids. So for Adam, everything comes down to access.

He argues that this early stage matters for everyone in youth sports. If a young child has a fun class with a great coach, they’ll want to keep playing. If the class is boring or the coach is bad, they may quit before they ever get to your program.

His answer is to go where kids already are. Youth Athletes United runs classes at preschools and after-school programs, and it’s now running rec leagues inside elementary schools. Kids get four practices and two game days at their own school, representing their own first, second, or third grade class. Parents only need to commit to two game days. That way, kids can still specialize in another sport on weekends and play with their friends during the week.

Adam calls it socialized rec. Adults join clubs and leagues to meet people, so why not let kids do the same? And what about the kid who isn’t good enough to make the competitive team? Instead of cutting them, give them a co-ed, non-competitive way to play with their friends. Jeremy added that rec may need a rebrand, since the word can sound like “less than.”

Adam also pointed out that his programs have to be within 15 to 20 minutes of families. He doesn’t need full fields, just about 1,500 square feet of grass to run a class.

What to do:

• Look for places kids already spend time, like schools and after-school programs, where you could run classes.
• Offer short, low-commitment programs that fit around busy family schedules.
• Create a fun, non-competitive option for kids who don’t make competitive teams.
• Focus on great first experiences for your youngest players.

2. Kids look up to kids, online and off

Zack’s big insight is that young people are most influenced by other young people. At Overtime Elite games, famous NBA players have sat courtside, yet fans were more excited to meet the league’s own 16- and 17-year-old players. Some of those players may never reach the NBA, but they hit a sweet spot of being both relatable and aspirational.

When Jeremy raised the popular idea that sports should be a phone-free escape, Zack offered a different view. For today’s kids, digital and real life are blended. Overtime designs its content for phones first. Its arena only holds about 1,500 people, but it was built to look almost like a video game on screen. The in-person experience still has to be great, but Zack builds with the online audience in mind.

Adam made a related point. Kids are surrounded by phones and AI, so your job is to make real-life play just as fun as what they see on their screens.

What to do:

• Feature your own athletes in your social media and marketing, since kids relate to kids.
• Think about how your games and events look on a phone, not just in person.
• Make practices and games fun enough to compete with screens.

3. Expectations and costs are rising at the same time

Justin sees rising expectations from every direction. Parents are investing more time and energy in their athletes, often across several kids, and they expect faster delivery, better quality, and more customized products. Jeremy compared it to ordering coffee or Chipotle on an app and finding it ready when you walk in. Families want every part of life to work that easily, and youth sports is no exception.

Meeting those expectations takes real investment in technology and supply chains. Varsity Brands is learning that firsthand as it expands from schools into clubs. Justin pointed out a few key differences:

• Who pays. In schools, money comes from the school’s budget. In clubs, it usually comes from parents.
• Who buys. School athletic directors and coaches often oversee several sports, so they’re generalists. Club operators are usually experts obsessed with one sport, and they expect partners to know it just as well.
• When they order. Schools often order months ahead, while clubs may order just weeks in advance.

Meanwhile, costs keep climbing. Justin noted that inflation recently came in higher than expected, and it shows up everywhere, from gas for team travel to uniforms. Jeremy added that tariffs can even raise the price of a baseball bat. As Justin put it, if you’re paying more in the rest of your life, you’ll pay more in sports too. No one can stop that trend alone, so the industry has to work together to offset it.

What to do:

• Look at where families feel friction, like ordering gear or signing up, and make it as simple as possible.
• Ask your suppliers how quickly they can deliver and whether they truly know your sport.
• Plan purchases early to avoid rush costs and delays.
• Be upfront with families about how outside costs affect your prices.

4. Understand the money coming into youth sports

There’s been a lot of attention on money flowing into youth sports from private investors, philanthropists, and pro teams. Kerin believes there’s room for all of it, as long as each type of money is matched with the right use. Jeremy framed it this way: youth sports isn’t over-invested, it’s under-invested.

Kerin explained that each source has different goals:

• Philanthropic money usually focuses on access, scale, better systems, or general operating support.
• Private money usually looks for growth, repeat revenue streams, or building projects like facilities, where there’s a chance for a return.

The biggest barrier is how fragmented youth sports is. When Kerin ran a foundation for a pro team owner, she saw that most organizations serve anywhere from a few dozen to a few thousand kids. A funder who wants to give $5 million to $50 million can’t easily vet and support hundreds of small groups. Meanwhile, operators wonder why it’s so hard to get funding when the money is out there. Kerin sees promise in intermediaries, like the joint impact models some cities have created, that can pool funding and move it to local programs at scale.

Pro teams are also stepping up. Kerin said owners often see their teams as quasi-public assets that fans and communities feel they co-own. That’s leading teams to share facilities, run programs, fund local nonprofits, and connect with families beyond game day.

Adam described another model drawing investor interest: franchising. Each franchisee acts like the mayor of youth sports in their area, running programs close to home for a local population of around 400,000. They buy into proven systems, technology, and know-how, and they can see the full financials before they invest. For Adam, it’s a way to scale while keeping programs local.

What to do:

• Know which kind of funding fits your needs, and pitch to the right source.
• Look for local funding groups or city-wide youth sports initiatives you could join.
• Reach out to nearby pro teams about facilities, programs, or partnerships.
• Track and share your impact so funders can see your results.

5. NIL is changing how young athletes think

When Overtime launched 10 years ago, NIL didn’t exist. But kids who grew up with Instagram and TikTok were already placing a premium on exposure, not just to recruiters but to an audience of their own. NIL sped that up, because now athletes can earn money from that audience too.

Most NIL attention goes to colleges, but Zack stressed that athletes have value on their own. Even players who never make the NBA or NFL can build a following in high school or college that stays with them for life.

That’s changing behavior at younger ages. Kids know they can make money at 18 or 19, sometimes earlier, so many are starting to act like a business and carefully choose the people around them. And talent isn’t the only thing that counts. The top player in a class will get paid no matter what, but smart brands doing direct deals often care more about an athlete’s influence with their peers than their stats.

Jeremy noted what that means for coaches and operators: you may be leading kids who think about sports very differently, and some may even earn more than their coach.

What to do:

• Talk openly with athletes and families about NIL, social media, and building a personal brand.
• Teach older athletes how to carry themselves well online.
• Help families think carefully about who they let into their athlete’s circle.

6. Lead with a fixed mission and a flexible plan

To close, Jeremy asked each panelist how to lead when so much is changing at once. Their answers shared a common thread: hold tight to your purpose, and stay flexible about everything else.

Adam: Turn obstacles into opportunities. Right before the panel, his board had been discussing universal pre-K and the loss of access to kids in preschools. Their conclusion was that those kids aren’t going anywhere, so the team just needs new times, places, and activities to reach them. His focus is keeping franchisees centered on great experiences, so that by age six, kids are asking to keep playing.

Zack: Know your core beliefs, then adapt. When Overtime Elite launched, it paid athletes $100,000 salaries. The next year, players said they’d rather be paid through NIL so they could keep their college eligibility, and Overtime said yes. Its core belief was building something young athletes and fans would love, not doing it one specific way.

Justin: Listen to your core customer. For Varsity Brands, that’s the coach, whether a club owner, club director, or team coach. The goal is to give coaches more time with kids and less time on paperwork, and to adjust quickly based on what’s working.

Kerin: Be laser-focused on the mission and radically flexible on everything else. As CEO of New York Road Runners, she led the New York City Marathon’s return after COVID, when health rules, mask mandates, and vaccine requirements changed almost daily. The mission stayed clear: bring a mass sporting event back to New York and show the city was back. What made quick pivots possible was trust with key stakeholders, like her senior team and city and state officials. For smaller organizations, she said, that might mean local partners. When everyone already believes in the mission, you don’t have to win them over every time plans change.