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Looking inward can prevent becoming the ‘crazy sports parents’

Ben Shelton on his relationship with Trinity Rodman American tennis star Ben Shelton talks about the launch of his new relationship with USA soccer’s Trinity Rodman. Sports Seriously The “crazy sports parents,” Skye Eddy says, have ruined the experience for everyone. You know them. They live vicariously through their child. They have unrealistic expectations for […]

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25 minutes ago

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May 6, 2025

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Your Sports Nation

The “crazy sports parents,” Skye Eddy says, have ruined the experience for everyone.

You know them. They live vicariously through their child. They have unrealistic expectations for him or her as an athlete. Or they are simply so unreasonable that there’s little we can do to help them understand us better.

“As a coach, I’ve had an irrational parent on my team, and it has made my season miserable,” says Eddy, a former USWNT hopeful turned sports parent advocate. “They’ve been taking way too much of my time and energy from the children by asking too many questions. And so as coaches, when we’ve been in those experiences, we say, ‘OK, well, we’re just gonna avoid all parents, because that was a really difficult season.’ ”

Even Eddy, a one-time defensive MVP of the NCAA women’s soccer Final Four for George Mason who later coached on the staff at the University of Richmond, found herself labeled as one of them.

She saw a veil come over the organization’s executive director when she wanted to chat. To him, she was “a crazy parent, complaining about my daughter … I’m like, ‘Oh no, no, no, I’m just here to help,'” she says.

Then the door shut. It was the ignition that launched her passion project, soccerparenting.com, which today has about 43,000 members nationwide. It offers advice, training and encouragement for coaches and parents and youth sports leaders with a goal of helping us understand each other a little better.

From Eddy’s experience and research, the vast majority of parents are not “crazy,” but level-headed folks who just stressed.

“Parenting is stressful these days, like society’s stressful,” says Eddy, 53, a mother of two kids put through the athletic wringer. “You add on a sports experience, and there is a lot.”

Eddy spoke with us about how our soccer parenting, and sports parenting, can improve when we take a more introspective look at ourselves. From the discussion, USA TODAY Sports came with ways we can soothe our stress around our kids’ games and improve the environment in which they are playing.

Your child’s sports journey is unique from your own. Maybe you need to care less about it.

Eddy, a former goalie, reached as high as U.S. women’s soccer player could go in the 1990s, barring making the national team. She played professionally in Italy. She pushes back at the notion that she was living out her own athletic experiences when her daughter, Cali, also became an elite soccer player in high school.

“I loved my athletic career,” Eddy says. “I just didn’t know what to say to her to help her, because our mindsets are so different.

“She was like, ‘I want to play D-I, I want to play D-1,’ and she was getting D-1 interest, but she wasn’t pursuing it. She would not pick up a phone and call the coach. She was struggling with her self-esteem, her confidence around herself as an athlete, and so she really needed coaches calling her. She needed to be built up like that.”

Eddy was seeing things from her own point of view, and what she would have done. In more recent years, she came across a term (“Decoupling”) that would have helped her.

It is associated with a romantic relationship, where two people pull back from their emotional connection but remain friends. It can also apply to teenagers growing into their own identities as athletes.

“It’s sort of like not feeling things so deeply, letting our children dictate the path and us really being OK with it,” she says. “That is the learning, the making the mistakes: Not calling the coach, not eating the right food, or going to the sleepover the night before and playing really badly.

“And I think that because as parents, it’s so easy to feel like the stakes are so high, we try to interject too much.”

But how do we redirect ourselves? The process can start with our actions on the sidelines, and often when our kids are very young.

Your sideline behavior may be relieving your stress but stunting your child’s progress

You may not admit you’re stressed at your kids’ games. But perhaps unintentionally, you are projecting it onto them.

You cheer loudly. You jump up and down on the bleachers. You call to them. You interfere.

“That’s stress,” Eddy says.

Soccer Parenting’s Sideline Project, which helps condition parents on game day, identifies three types of sideline behaviors:

We’re “supportive” when we sit in attentive silence, cheer after positive outcomes for our child and his or her teammates, and perhaps even a good play from the other team.

We’re “hostile” when we yell at referees, yell at our child, or even other players. (Keep reading.)

We may not realize when we’re being “distracting.” This means we’re offering specific instructions to a child. Go to the ball! Get rid of it! Run!

“Distracting behavior serves one primary purpose: To alleviate our stress as parents and coaches,” Eddy says in her Sideline Project online course. “Players should be hearing their teammates and reasonable information from their coach, not their parents.”

In the video, she demonstrates the Stroop Effect, named after an American psychologist who measured selective attention, processing speed and how interference affects performance.

She has an interactive exercise using colors to illustrate how your children feel when they are concentrating in a game and adults interrupt them. I hitched when I did it.

“There’s a lag,” Eddy says. “This moment of interruption. That is how your child feels when they are playing, concentrating on the technical skill and what their decision is going to be, and they hear your voice telling them to shoot or pass.”

Instead, a good youth coach won’t distract, but give a subtle cue – a nod, a whistle, a finger point or a closed fist – to trigger something they worked on in practice.

“Whatever it is that we’re screaming, we’re taking away their learning opportunity,” Eddy says.

‘Do you realize I’m 13?’ If we focus on being less distracting, the truly hostile parents stand out

Cali was a tough defender. So tough, apparently, that she once came home from road club soccer tournament and reported: “Another parent from the other team was sitting on the sideline, flicking me off. She just sat there, giving me the finger, staring right at me.

“I said, ‘You do realize I’m 13 and you’re a grown adult, right?'” she told her mom.

Eddy estimates that 2% of the youth sports ecosystem, perhaps one parent per team, are these hostile ones. Many of us are merely distracting, a quality we can correct.

U.S. soccer recently updated a referee abuse prevention policy for youth and amateur soccer. Suspensions from two games to lifetime bans are now issued if you belittle, berate, insult, harass, touch or physically assault sports officials.Report the abusers and get them thrown out. They are not part of our experience.

I like to sit with the opposing team’s fans when my sons are pitching in their baseball games. While I get a different video angle, I meet new people and feel and hear their emotions. Sometimes I just listen to them. It helps remind me why we are all in this.

“We care so much about sport because of the connection,” Eddy says.

We can communicate easier with coaches if both sides respect boundaries

Cali quit soccer for short time when she was eight. She was bored.

Players were standing in lines. They did the same warmup at every practice. They weren’t even given adequate instruction, Eddy thought. It was labeled as an advanced development program.

When she asked other parents what they thought of the environment, they were fine with it.

“It struck me that until parents understand what a good learning environment looks like, to lead to player inspiration and joy and really giving kids a connection to sport, then we’re really going to be missing a big part of the solution when it comes to improving youth sports,” she says.

“The last thing we want to do is be perceived as one of these irrational parents, so we’re not curious, we don’t ask questions, we don’t listen to our instincts, we don’t follow up when we when we probably should, because we don’t want to be perceived to care too much when there’s a big difference between being irrational and caring.”

When she tried to speak up and was rebuffed, she became a youth coach. And soccerparenting.com was born.

One of its foundational principles is to encourage coach and parent interaction, with clear and appropriate boundaries.

Some suggested parameters a coach can use:

The door is open to chat … When your kid comes home from practice in a bad mood or doesn’t want to go the next day; if he or she is having trouble playing a particular position; if you don’t fully understand the scoring system or rules of the sport.

The door is closed to chat … If you have a complaint about another player that doesn’t involve a safety issue; if you’re wondering why the coach made a tactical decision; if you don’t respect a coach’s time and want to have a long conversation after practice. (You can schedule one instead.)

“We see the correlation between parents having more understanding and the children’s experience getting better, and then therefore clubs and coaches having to get better,” Eddy says.

Coach Steve: Three steps to dealing with a ‘bad’ coach

Be proactive, and intentional, about the way you handle stress

Even when we feel we have things under control during games, sometimes we don’t. Eddy laughs about once walking across the field with a plan in her head of what she would say to Cali. It didn’t involve the game. Instead, in the heat of the moment, she said: “You really need to work on your left foot.”

“Where did that come from?” she says. “I had zero intention of saying that. It just poured right out of me.”

When I posed a question on social media about how we can be better soccer parents, Palmer Neill, of Dallas, told me: “Basically, when you feel like doing something at a game or practice other than cheer or clap … just don’t do it. Let the coach be the coach and let the ref, ref. You don’t have (a) role. Life gets a lot easier when you realize this.”

But we can also recognize that sometimes we slip, too, and take precautions. When Neill barks to his 10-year-old son to get onsides, or about an opponent’s hand ball, he sits back in his chair and doesn’t get up. He tries to stay seated during the game.

“It seems to give me one extra second to think before I sit up (or stand-up) and yell,” he says.

Our own education and reflection, Eddy says, can relieve stress.

Know the rules (and recent modifications to them). Know your kid’s goals in sports. Be curious, not upset, when other kids have more skills than yours.

Perhaps it’s the Relative Age Effect, where young athletes born earliest among their age grouping are faster and stronger. Or that those kids move better because they play other sports or have more free play outside with friends and have better functional movement skills.

We can put our own sports paths into better context, too.

Coach Steve: MLS NEXT youth soccer rankings emphasize development over wins

Remember they are still kids, even when they’re creeping toward adulthood. There is satisfaction in watching who they are becoming.

What did you do when you were eight? Twelve? Sixteen?

When Eddy thinks about it, she liked to socialize at the local skating rink.

She only trained twice a week with her soccer team. On off days, she rode to a local park and kicked the ball into a piece of plywood against a fence. She would dive at the rebounds.

She used to wonder if Cali, who came back to soccer on her own terms, was getting enough reps on her own.

“What would I have been doing if I was in intense practices for an hour and a half four days a week, plus traveling to a lot in the games?” Eddy says. “Would I still have been doing that? Likely not.”

In today’s world, it feels like kids sports matter a lot more. Maybe they do when we have more opportunities to play in front of college coaches. Maybe they don’t when we play rec soccer, like Eddy’s son, Davis, did, and parents screamed when he missed a shot.

Davis, now a junior in college, had a better experience playing at a small high school.

“Having that outlet for sport was really important to his development, just as a person, and getting some space and, kind of way to blow off some steam as a student,” she says.

Cali decided to work at a sleepaway camp in Maine during the summer before her junior year, a crucial one for college recruiting. She became a Division III All-American and now works for the Columbus Crew.

“I remember thinking, ‘Oh my gosh, it’s so hard for you,’ but not saying that out loud,” Eddy says. “That was a really important capstone to a really important thing in our life. Yet, she really missed a lot of opportunities, and there were consequences of that. We just need to make sure that it’s our child’s voice that we’re hearing.”

We are when we let them lead the way, to choose friends over sports when they wish, and to have those sleepovers. Well, maybe not the sleepovers.

Steve Borelli, aka Coach Steve, has been an editor and writer with USA TODAY since 1999. He spent 10 years coaching his two sons’ baseball and basketball teams. He and his wife, Colleen, are now sports parents for two high schoolers. His column is posted weekly. For his past columns, click here.

Got a question for Coach Steve you want answered in a column? Email him at sborelli@usatoday.com

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DICK’S Sporting Goods Leads $120M Investment in Youth Sports Platform

DICK’S led the $120M round of investment, obtaining a minority stake alongside other new investors Dynasty Equity, LionTree, Miller Sports & Entertainment and existing investor The Chernin Group (TCG) NEW YORK, May 6, 2025 /PRNewswire/ — Unrivaled Sports, the nation’s leader in youth sports experiences, today announced a strategic investment by DICK’S Sporting Goods (NYSE: […]

Published

41 minutes ago

on

May 6, 2025

By

Your Sports Nation

DICK’S led the $120M round of investment, obtaining a minority stake alongside other new investors Dynasty Equity, LionTree, Miller Sports & Entertainment and existing investor The Chernin Group (TCG)

NEW YORK, May 6, 2025 /PRNewswire/ — Unrivaled Sports, the nation’s leader in youth sports experiences, today announced a strategic investment by DICK’S Sporting Goods (NYSE: DKS), which led the company’s latest funding round. The strategic investment will help fuel Unrivaled Sports’ mission — to create unrivaled sport experiences for young athletes everywhere — by continuing to deliver and expand best-in-class experiences, programs and destinations for young athletes across the nation.

Unrivaled Sports, the nation’s leader in youth sports experiences, delivers best-in-class experiences for
young athletes, their families and communities through a diverse set of brands across youth sports venues, properties and programming.

“DICK’S Sporting Goods has become the undisputed leader in serving young athletes as they gear up to play the sports they love. Their mission-driven approach to youth sports has been at the center of their ecosystem, from their early days as a small family business to their growth into the nation’s leading sporting goods retailer to the grants they provide to youth programs through the Sports Matter initiative, and now, their partnership with us at Unrivaled Sports,” said Unrivaled Sports Chairman & CEO Andy Campion. “We are thrilled to build the future of youth sports together with DICK’S Sporting Goods, and with the support of our other new strategic partners.”

Unrivaled Sports and DICK’S Sporting Goods coming together marks the powerful alignment of two organizations committed to creating experiences and environments that unlock the magic of youth sports and create lifelong memories for girls and boys of all ages and their families. The investment comes from DSG Ventures, the corporate venture capital fund of DICK’S.

“We’re incredibly excited to invest in and partner with Unrivaled Sports,” said Michael Stack, Vice President of Strategy and Corporate Development at DICK’S Sporting Goods. “They share our core belief that sports have the power to change lives, and the impact they’ve made in just one year has been incredibly impressive. We are fully aligned to their vision for transforming youth sports for the better by investing in the fields, spaces and events where memories are made, friendships are formed and life lessons are instilled. We look forward to working together to create more sports experiences that build fun, excitement and community in the moment, and that have lasting impact over a lifetime.”

Unrivaled Sports will leverage this new partnership and investments to:

Expand access to more young athletes and their families across the country by further acquiring, building and diversifying destinations and programming that deliver unrivaled experiences to girls and boys of all ages.
Elevate experiences by further investing in upgrading the fields of play, programming and athlete experiences from quality officiating to facilities and services that support the athlete and their fans.
Increase amenities across all Unrivaled Sports properties such as lodging, food and beverage, and retail to better serve guests and foster community.

Unrivaled Sports operates a growing portfolio of iconic youth sports destinations and programming — including Cooperstown All Star Village, Ripken Baseball Experiences, Rocker B Ranch, Diamond Nation, Unrivaled Flag, and Under the Lights Flag Football, among others.

Over the past year, Unrivaled Sports has invested significantly in growing and elevating its experiences including:

Building a national footprint across 30 states through acquisition, now hosting over 600,000 young athletes and nearly 2 million family members and fans.
Meaningfully enhancing capacity and experiences at owned properties, including:
- Expanding bunk lodging in the Players Village and upgrading fields at Cooperstown All Star Village to increase weekly team capacity, while also upgrading the design and amenities across the entire property. Cooperstown All Star Village will set another consecutive record high in annual attendance in 2025.
- Re-turfing and building new fields across flagship properties and regional facilities including Rocker B Ranch (TX), Diamond Nation (NJ), and more.
- Investing in a multi-million dollar renovation and enhancement of West Coast properties, Big League Dreams Las Vegas and Big League Dreams Manteca.
Growing flag football by significantly increasing participation — over 30% in the last year alone — for both girls and boys through the national flag football league Under the Lights. Unrivaled Sports also hosted the Youth Flag World Championship at Disney which featured 715 teams, including 220 girls’ teams and 100+ international teams. This summer, Unrivaled Sports will host two major national flag football events: the Unrivaled Flag High School Girls Nationals and the NFL Flag Championship at the Unrivaled Sports’ ForeverLawn Complex in Canton, Ohio.

Additionally, Unrivaled Sports is committed to continuing to grow sports participation and expand access for underserved young athletes. With much more to come, Unrivaled Sports is proud of the impact Ripken Baseball has made to-date, from hosting free clinics nationwide to providing scholarships and free tournament access to young athletes and teams in underserved communities across the country.

David Blitzer and Josh Harris who co-founded and maintain majority ownership of Unrivaled Sports along with existing investor, TCG, welcome new minority investors DSG Ventures, Dynasty Equity, LionTree and Miller Sports & Entertainment — partners who believe in helping Unrivaled Sports deliver on its long-term vision for youth sports.

About Unrivaled Sports
Unrivaled Sports, the nation’s leader in youth sports experiences, delivers best-in-class experiences for young athletes, their families and communities through a diverse set of brands across youth sports venues, properties and programming. Unrivaled Sports has welcomed some of the most iconic names in youth sports into its growing family of brands including Cooperstown All Star Village, Ripken Baseball Experiences, Rocker B Ranch, Diamond Nation, Unrivaled Flag, We Are Camp action sports camp and more. From hosting destination tournaments to powering hometown leagues, Unrivaled Sports is committed to delivering formative, memory-making experiences to hundreds of thousands of young athletes and their families across the country. Learn more at unrivaledsports.com @unrivaled.sports.

About DICK’S Sporting Goods
DICK’S Sporting Goods (NYSE: DKS) creates confidence and excitement by inspiring, supporting and personally equipping all athletes to achieve their dreams. Founded in 1948 and headquartered in Pittsburgh, the leading omnichannel retailer serves athletes and outdoor enthusiasts in more than 850 DICK’S Sporting Goods, Golf Galaxy, Public Lands and Going Going Gone! stores, online, and through the DICK’S mobile app. DICK’S also owns and operates DICK’S House of Sport and Golf Galaxy Performance Center, as well as GameChanger, a youth sports mobile platform for live streaming, scheduling, communications and scorekeeping.

Driven by its belief that sports have the power to change lives, DICK’S has been a longtime champion for youth sports and, together with its Foundation, has donated millions of dollars to support under-resourced teams and athletes through the Sports Matter program and other community-based initiatives. Additional information about DICK’S business, corporate giving and employment opportunities can be found on dicks.com, investors.dicks.com, sportsmatter.org, dickssportinggoods.jobs and on Instagram, TikTok, Facebook and X.

About Dynasty Equity
Dynasty Equity is a global sports investment firm, co-founded and led by Jonathan M. Nelson and K. Don Cornwell, focused on strategic investments across the sports ecosystem in assets that are resilient, compelling, and differentiated. Dynasty’s founders have deep expertise in sector specific private equity and long histories in the business of sports, media, and entertainment. Integral to Dynasty’s investment approach is a commitment to enduring partnerships. For more information, visit www.DynastyEquity.com or follow the firm on LinkedIn.

About LionTree
LionTree is a global investment and merchant banking firm focused on the media, technology, telecom and consumer sectors. Founded in 2012, LionTree works across offices in New York, San Francisco, and London to serve our clients and community through strategic M&A, capital raising, and investments across the globe that capture opportunity and provide best-in-class execution. Since its formation, the Firm has advised on over $850 billion in transactions by bringing capital together with ideas, investing in and alongside our relationships to accelerate growth and innovation. LionTree invests minority, non-controlling capital in partnership with leading, long-term investors and provides additional value through our relationships, sector and thematic expertise and transaction capabilities. LionTree and its affiliates have active principal investments in early venture, growth, and mature companies across key sectors of the digital economy.

About TCG
The Chernin Group (TCG) is a preeminent growth equity firm investing in sports, media and passion-driven businesses. TCG partners with exceptional founders and management teams to grow and optimize market-leading brands in specific consumer categories with passionate followings. The firm leverages decades of operating experience and deep connectivity to the media, sports and technology ecosystems in service of its portfolio companies.

View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/unrivaled-sports-announces-dicks-sporting-goods-as-new-strategic-investor-in-growing-and-elevating-youth-sports-experiences-302447074.html

SOURCE Unrivaled Sports

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Rec Sports

Unrivaled Sports Announces DICK’S Sporting Goods as New Strategic Investor in Growing and Elevating Youth Sports Experiences |

DICK’S led the $120M round of investment, obtaining a minority stake alongside other new investors Dynasty Equity, LionTree, Miller Sports & Entertainment and existing investor The Chernin Group (TCG) NEW YORK, May 6, 2025 /PRNewswire/ — Unrivaled Sports, the nation’s leader in youth sports experiences, today announced a strategic investment by DICK’S Sporting Goods (NYSE: […]

Published

50 minutes ago

on

May 6, 2025

By

Your Sports Nation

DICK’S led the $120M round of investment, obtaining a minority stake alongside other new investors Dynasty Equity, LionTree, Miller Sports & Entertainment and existing investor The Chernin Group (TCG)

NEW YORK, May 6, 2025 /PRNewswire/ — Unrivaled Sports, the nation’s leader in youth sports experiences, today announced a strategic investment by DICK’S Sporting Goods (NYSE: DKS), which led the company’s latest funding round. The strategic investment will help fuel Unrivaled Sports’ mission — to create unrivaled sport experiences for young athletes everywhere — by continuing to deliver and expand best-in-class experiences, programs and destinations for young athletes across the nation.

“DICK’S Sporting Goods has become the undisputed leader in serving young athletes as they gear up to play the sports they love. Their mission-driven approach to youth sports has been at the center of their ecosystem, from their early days as a small family business to their growth into the nation’s leading sporting goods retailer to the grants they provide to youth programs through the Sports Matter initiative, and now, their partnership with us at Unrivaled Sports,” said Unrivaled Sports Chairman & CEO Andy Campion. “We are thrilled to build the future of youth sports together with DICK’S Sporting Goods, and with the support of our other new strategic partners.”

Unrivaled Sports and DICK’S Sporting Goods coming together marks the powerful alignment of two organizations committed to creating experiences and environments that unlock the magic of youth sports and create lifelong memories for girls and boys of all ages and their families. The investment comes from DSG Ventures, the corporate venture capital fund of DICK’S.

“We’re incredibly excited to invest in and partner with Unrivaled Sports,” said Michael Stack, Vice President of Strategy and Corporate Development at DICK’S Sporting Goods. “They share our core belief that sports have the power to change lives, and the impact they’ve made in just one year has been incredibly impressive. We are fully aligned to their vision for transforming youth sports for the better by investing in the fields, spaces and events where memories are made, friendships are formed and life lessons are instilled. We look forward to working together to create more sports experiences that build fun, excitement and community in the moment, and that have lasting impact over a lifetime.”

Unrivaled Sports will leverage this new partnership and investments to:

Expand access to more young athletes and their families across the country by further acquiring, building and diversifying destinations and programming that deliver unrivaled experiences to girls and boys of all ages.
Elevate experiences by further investing in upgrading the fields of play, programming and athlete experiences from quality officiating to facilities and services that support the athlete and their fans.
Increase amenities across all Unrivaled Sports properties such as lodging, food and beverage, and retail to better serve guests and foster community.

Unrivaled Sports operates a growing portfolio of iconic youth sports destinations and programming — including Cooperstown All Star Village, Ripken Baseball Experiences, Rocker B Ranch, Diamond Nation, Unrivaled Flag, and Under the Lights Flag Football, among others.

Over the past year, Unrivaled Sports has invested significantly in growing and elevating its experiences including:

Building a national footprint across 30 states through acquisition, now hosting over 600,000 young athletes and nearly 2 million family members and fans.
Meaningfully enhancing capacity and experiences at owned properties, including:
- Expanding bunk lodging in the Players Village and upgrading fields at Cooperstown All Star Village to increase weekly team capacity, while also upgrading the design and amenities across the entire property. Cooperstown All Star Village will set another consecutive record high in annual attendance in 2025.
- Re-turfing and building new fields across flagship properties and regional facilities including Rocker B Ranch (TX), Diamond Nation (NJ), and more.
- Investing in a multi-million dollar renovation and enhancement of West Coast properties, Big League Dreams Las Vegas and Big League Dreams Manteca.
Growing flag football by significantly increasing participation — over 30% in the last year alone — for both girls and boys through the national flag football league Under the Lights. Unrivaled Sports also hosted the Youth Flag World Championship at Disney which featured 715 teams, including 220 girls’ teams and 100+ international teams. This summer, Unrivaled Sports will host two major national flag football events: the Unrivaled Flag High School Girls Nationals and the NFL Flag Championship at the Unrivaled Sports’ ForeverLawn Complex in Canton, Ohio.

Additionally, Unrivaled Sports is committed to continuing to grow sports participation and expand access for underserved young athletes. With much more to come, Unrivaled Sports is proud of the impact Ripken Baseball has made to-date, from hosting free clinics nationwide to providing scholarships and free tournament access to young athletes and teams in underserved communities across the country.

David Blitzer and Josh Harris who co-founded and maintain majority ownership of Unrivaled Sports along with existing investor, TCG, welcome new minority investors DSG Ventures, Dynasty Equity, LionTree and Miller Sports & Entertainment — partners who believe in helping Unrivaled Sports deliver on its long-term vision for youth sports.

About Unrivaled Sports

Unrivaled Sports, the nation’s leader in youth sports experiences, delivers best-in-class experiences for young athletes, their families and communities through a diverse set of brands across youth sports venues, properties and programming. Unrivaled Sports has welcomed some of the most iconic names in youth sports into its growing family of brands including Cooperstown All Star Village, Ripken Baseball Experiences, Rocker B Ranch, Diamond Nation, Unrivaled Flag, We Are Camp action sports camp and more. From hosting destination tournaments to powering hometown leagues, Unrivaled Sports is committed to delivering formative, memory-making experiences to hundreds of thousands of young athletes and their families across the country. Learn more at unrivaledsports.com @unrivaled.sports.

About DICK’S Sporting Goods

DICK’S Sporting Goods (NYSE: DKS) creates confidence and excitement by inspiring, supporting and personally equipping all athletes to achieve their dreams. Founded in 1948 and headquartered in Pittsburgh, the leading omnichannel retailer serves athletes and outdoor enthusiasts in more than 850 DICK’S Sporting Goods, Golf Galaxy, Public Lands and Going Going Gone! stores, online, and through the DICK’S mobile app. DICK’S also owns and operates DICK’S House of Sport and Golf Galaxy Performance Center, as well as GameChanger, a youth sports mobile platform for live streaming, scheduling, communications and scorekeeping.

Driven by its belief that sports have the power to change lives, DICK’S has been a longtime champion for youth sports and, together with its Foundation, has donated millions of dollars to support under-resourced teams and athletes through the Sports Matter program and other community-based initiatives. Additional information about DICK’S business, corporate giving and employment opportunities can be found on dicks.com, investors.dicks.com, sportsmatter.org, dickssportinggoods.jobs and on Instagram, TikTok, Facebook and X.

About Dynasty Equity

Dynasty Equity is a global sports investment firm, co-founded and led by Jonathan M. Nelson and K. Don Cornwell, focused on strategic investments across the sports ecosystem in assets that are resilient, compelling, and differentiated. Dynasty’s founders have deep expertise in sector specific private equity and long histories in the business of sports, media, and entertainment. Integral to Dynasty’s investment approach is a commitment to enduring partnerships. For more information, visit www.DynastyEquity.com or follow the firm on LinkedIn.

About LionTree

LionTree is a global investment and merchant banking firm focused on the media, technology, telecom and consumer sectors. Founded in 2012, LionTree works across offices in New York, San Francisco, and London to serve our clients and community through strategic M&A, capital raising, and investments across the globe that capture opportunity and provide best-in-class execution. Since its formation, the Firm has advised on over $850 billion in transactions by bringing capital together with ideas, investing in and alongside our relationships to accelerate growth and innovation. LionTree invests minority, non-controlling capital in partnership with leading, long-term investors and provides additional value through our relationships, sector and thematic expertise and transaction capabilities. LionTree and its affiliates have active principal investments in early venture, growth, and mature companies across key sectors of the digital economy.

About TCG

The Chernin Group (TCG) is a preeminent growth equity firm investing in sports, media and passion-driven businesses. TCG partners with exceptional founders and management teams to grow and optimize market-leading brands in specific consumer categories with passionate followings. The firm leverages decades of operating experience and deep connectivity to the media, sports and technology ecosystems in service of its portfolio companies.

View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/unrivaled-sports-announces-dicks-sporting-goods-as-new-strategic-investor-in-growing-and-elevating-youth-sports-experiences-302447074.html

SOURCE Unrivaled Sports

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Rec Sports

SPORTSENGINE PLAY EXPANDS COMMITMENT TO SHOWCASING ELITE YOUTH BASKETBALL TALENT, SIGNING FIVE-YEAR EXTENSION WITH NXTPRO SPORTS’ PUMA NXT AND PRO16 CIRCUITS

New Partnership Extension Includes Live Streaming Coverage of More Than 10,000 Games on SportsEngine Play, with Select Games Streaming Live on Peacock MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. (May 6, 2025) – The five-year extension of SportsEngine Play’s official streaming partnership with the Puma NXT and Puma Pro16 youth basketball circuits announced today will deliver live coverage of more […]

Published

1 hour ago

on

May 6, 2025

By

Your Sports Nation

New Partnership Extension Includes Live Streaming Coverage of More Than 10,000 Games on SportsEngine Play, with Select Games Streaming Live on Peacock

MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. (May 6, 2025) – The five-year extension of SportsEngine Play’s official streaming partnership with the Puma NXT and Puma Pro16 youth basketball circuits announced today will deliver live coverage of more than 10,000 games during the current 2025 season and includes a selection of top games to be streamed on Peacock.

Operated by NXTPRO Sports, the Puma NXT and Pro16 circuits showcase some of the highest-ranked college basketball prospects in the U.S. During the 2025 season, which began on March 29, more than 44 of the nation’s top recruits expected to advance to the highest levels of Division I basketball will compete. Some of the more notable prospects over the first two years of the PRO16 circuit and their college choices include:Asa Newell (Georgia), Isaiah Brown (Florida), L.J. Cason (Michigan), Chris Cenac (Houston), Nikolas Khamenia (Duke), Eric Reibe (UConn), Xavion Staton (BYU). Brown, Cenac and Khamenia either play on or are committed to three of the Final Four teams in the 2025 NCAA Championship.

In just two short years, NXTPRO/PRO16 League has emerged as the largest grassroots basketball circuit in the U.S., hosting more than 500 programs across its boys’ and girls’ divisions. The circuit also has quickly become a global hub for elite talent and diverse teams from countries, including Australia, China, Japan, Europe, Mexico, Philippines, and Canada.

Many of the 50-plus facilities hosting NXTPRO Sports tournaments this season are pre-equipped with intelligent cameras installed by SportsEngine Play through existing partnerships, with more facilities to follow throughout the season. The latest AI camera technology incorporated by SportsEngine Play follows game competition seamlessly to deliver a more immersive experience for viewers.

Additionally, the extended agreement will feature 10 select games each season streamed live on Peacock, which also features premier basketball from the Big Ten and BIG EAST, the NBA – returning to NBCUniversal platforms this fall – the Olympics, and more.

“The growth of NXTPRO Sports and the Puma circuit continues to set the standard in high-level youth basketball competition. We’re extremely excited to stream the new season on SportsEngine Play for families, fans and the athletes, themselves,” said Nick Busto, SportsEngine’s Vice President of Video Operations. “Connecting a premier partner like NXTPRO with our growing list of partner facilities to stream thousands of games is fantastic, but also having the relationship with an industry leading platform like Peacock to showcase select games is why this deal sets the stage for the future of youth sports broadcasting.”

As the Official Streaming and Video Partner of the Puma NXT and PRO16 leagues since 2023, SportsEngine Play provides coverage of every tournament game, which will total 53 tournaments comprising more than 10,000 games in 2025. NXTPRO Sports utilizes SportsEngine’s best-in-class video technology to enhance their members’ overall experience through an online viewing destination for both circuits, offering live and on-demand video streaming via internet-connected devices. The SportsEngine Play website also includes a tournament portal, featuring game highlights and video-on-demand tools for parents to create and compile highlight reels for their athletes.

“We are very thrilled to be growing our relationship with SportsEngine Play, Peacock, and the NBC family,” said Matt Reynolds, President of NXTPRO. “This opportunity gives our athletes the chance to be on a grand stage.”

As part of SportsEngine’s leading youth sports technology brands, SportsEngine Play launched in October 2023 as the first-of-its-kind subscription streaming service for amateur sports, connecting millions of families and fans with events, games and tournaments featuring young athletes. The platform serves a constantly growing list of more than 10,000 facilities, including preeminent competition venues like LakePoint Sports, Arizona Athletic Grounds, Homefield, and Emerald Acres Sports Connection. Also serving sports organizations, tournaments and teams, the platform gives these organizations and individuals, including sports families, the ability to capture and stream video of sports events on just about any device – from sophisticated AI cameras mounted at sporting venues to personal smartphones, and features editing tools for reel and highlight creation. SportsEngine Play also is constantly adding new competitive content through the acquisition of streaming rights to elite amateur sports that will entertain and inspire.

In addition to live and on-demand event streaming, SportsEngine Play’s All Access subscription tier offers a growing library of video that provides a comprehensive look at individual sports, from rules and equipment to training and skills to mental health, fitness and more. The plan features exclusive instructional videos from world-class athletes like Michael Phelps, Larry Fitzgerald, Shaun White, Kerri Walsh Jennings, and others, who offer video collections featuring tips and techniques highlighting their training regimens, as well insight on leadership and mental health.

SportsEngine technology serves more than 27,000 small and medium-sized youth sports organizations, tournaments, the Governing Body community, professional sports leagues, and over 1,000 municipalities with its cutting-edge suite of technology solutions to dramatically reduce the time they spend on administration and communication, allowing them to focus more time on developing their athletes.

About SportsEngine

SportsEngine creates powerful technology and services to simplify and grow youth sports, making it easier for organizations to connect with coaches, families, athletes and fans. SportsEngine technology serves more than 45,000 youth sports organizations, clubs, studios, franchises, tournaments, teams, National Governing Bodies, professional sports leagues and thousands of municipalities; and equips more than 30 million coaches, families, athletes and fans with technology products that help simplify their sporting lives. The SportsEngine family of brands includes SportsEngine HQ, an industry leader in youth sports club, league and team management technology; SportsEngine Play, a first-of-its-kind subscription streaming service for capturing and viewing live and on-demand video of youth and amateur sporting events, and offering the industry’s most comprehensive collection of player development and training content; SportsEngine Motion, an all-inclusive management software specifically developed for studio and class-based sports, as well as sports that conduct camps and clinics; SportsEngine Tourney, a youth sports tournament management software; SportsEngine AES, a competition management software designed specifically for volleyball. Many of these offerings also provide technical integrations, making the youth sports experience more connected and simpler than ever before. SportsEngine also owns and operates the National Center for Safety Initiatives (NCSI), which provides youth sports background screenings to nearly 1 million coaches and volunteers to help keep youth sports experiences for young athletes safe and positive.

-SportsEngine-

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College Sports

Prime Video Unveils Teaser Trailer for "We Were Liars" Adaptation

Prime Video Unveils Teaser Trailer for “We Were Liars” Adaptation All Eight Episodes of the Mystery Thriller Will Debut June 18, exclusively on Prime Video [embedded content] CULVER CITY, California – May 6, 2025 – Today, Prime Video released the teaser trailer from the mystery thriller based on the best-selling novel by E. Lockhart, We […]

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Prime Video Unveils Teaser Trailer for “We Were Liars” Adaptation

All Eight Episodes of the Mystery Thriller Will Debut June 18, exclusively on Prime Video

CULVER CITY, California – May 6, 2025 – Today, Prime Video released the teaser trailer from the mystery thriller based on the best-selling novel by E. Lockhart, We Were Liars. All eight episodes will be available on June 18, 2025, exclusively on Prime Video in more than 240 countries and territories worldwide.

We Were Liars follows Cadence Sinclair Eastman and her tight-knit inner circle, nicknamed the Liars, during their summer escapades on her grandfather’s New England private island. The Sinclairs are American royalty – known for their good looks, old money, and enviable bond – but after a mysterious accident changes Cadence’s life forever, everyone, including her beloved Liars, seems to have something to hide.

Starring “the Liars”: Emily Alyn Lind as Cadence Sinclair Eastman, Shubham Maheshwari as Gat Patil, Esther McGregor as Mirren Sinclair Sheffield, Joseph Zada as Johnny Sinclair Dennis; alongside Caitlin FitzGerald as Penny Sinclair, Mamie Gummer as Carrie Sinclair, Candice King as Bess Sinclair, Rahul Kohli as Ed Patil, and David Morse as Harris Sinclair.

The series is written and executive produced by co-showrunners Julie Plec (The Vampire Diaries, Legacies) and Carina Adly MacKenzie (Roswell, New Mexico, The Originals). Also executive producing are Emily Cummins (The Endgame, Vampire Academy) for My So-Called Company, Brett Matthews (Legacies), Pascal Verschooris (The Vampire Diaries), and the novel’s author, E. Lockhart. Universal Television, a division of Universal Studio Group, and Amazon MGM Studios are behind the project. The novel is published by Delacorte Press, an imprint of Random House Children’s Books.

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About Prime Video

Prime Video is a first-stop entertainment destination offering customers a vast collection of premium programming in one app available across thousands of devices. On Prime Video, customers can customize their viewing experience and find their favorite movies, series, documentaries, and live sports – including Amazon MGM Studios-produced series and movies Red One, Road House, The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power, Fallout, Reacher, The Boys, Cross, and The Idea of You; licensed fan favorites; Prime member exclusive access to coverage of live sports including Thursday Night Football, WNBA, and NWSL, and acclaimed sports documentaries including Bye Bye Barry and Kelce; and programming from Apple TV+, Max, Crunchyroll and MGM+ via Prime Video add-on subscriptions, as well as more than 500 free ad-supported (FAST) Channels. Prime members in the U.S. can share a variety of benefits, including Prime Video, by using Amazon Household. Prime Video is one benefit among many that provides savings, convenience, and entertainment as part of the Prime membership. All customers, regardless of whether they have a Prime membership or not, can rent or buy titles via the Prime Video Store, and can enjoy even more content for free with ads. Customers can also go behind the scenes of their favorite movies and series with exclusive X-Ray access. For more info visit www.amazon.com/primevideo.

SOCIAL MEDIA HANDLES:
Instagram: @wewereliarsonprime, @PrimeVideo, @AmazonMGMStudios
X: @PrimeVideo, @AmazonMGMStudio
TikTok: @wewereliarsonprime, @PrimeVideo
Facebook: @PrimeVideo

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Rec Sports

Unrivaled Gets $120 Million Investment From Dick’s for Youth Sports

Youth sports platform Unrivaled Sports has received a $120 million investment led by Dick’s Sporting Goods and featuring participation from Miller Sports + Entertainment, Dynasty Equity, LionTree and The Chernin Group. Unrivaled, formed by billionaire team owners David Blitzer and Josh Harris, said in a press release Tuesday that the funds will be used for […]

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May 6, 2025

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Youth sports platform Unrivaled Sports has received a $120 million investment led by Dick’s Sporting Goods and featuring participation from Miller Sports + Entertainment, Dynasty Equity, LionTree and The Chernin Group.

Unrivaled, formed by billionaire team owners David Blitzer and Josh Harris, said in a press release Tuesday that the funds will be used for “further acquiring, building and diversifying destinations and programming that deliver unrivaled experiences to girls and boys of all ages.” The investment also will go to boosting experiences and amenities, including upgrades to fields, improving officiating, and elevating food and beverage.

Unrivaled Sports was formed just over a year ago by Harris, Blitzer and The Chernin Group, rolling up a series of youth sports assets the co-owners of the 76ers and Devils had previously spent two years accumulating, including a majority interest in Ripken Baseball and Cooperstown All Star Village. Unrivaled also owns luxury baseball host facility Rocker B Ranch and flag football venture Unrivaled Flag among other assets. The initial investment in Unrivaled by Chernin isn’t publicly disclosed.

The Dick’s-led investment is the sporting goods retailer’s first in Unrivaled. The company already has a sizable youth sports presence through its Gamechanger app, a $100 million revenue business line Dick’s acquired for roughly $50 million in 2016. Outside The Chernin Group, the other participants are also new investors. Miller Sports + Entertainment is an investing arm of the family of Larry Miller, longtime owners of the Utah Jazz, which they sold in 2020, and current holders of the Salt Lake Bees minor league baseball team. The venture recently purchased soccer clubs Real Salt Lake and the Utah Royals from Blitzer at a valuation around $600 million.

Dynasty is the Don Cornwell-led sports focused private equity venture started in 2023 that reported $343 million in assets in August. LionTree is a merchant bank that has participated in other sports-related deals, including joining Harris Blitzer in sports real estate-focused Seregh last month. Founded in 2010, The Chernin Group has a number of sports investments, including in the Premier Lacrosse League, Barstool Sports and Action Sports.

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Moorhead learning center seeks camera donations for youth photography camp

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