This weekRULES & CONDUCTA pickup truck drove onto a youth soccer field in Wichita on Saturday, killing a 6-year-old boy and a 35-year-old man and injuring 10MONEY & DEALSCapacity Sports Group bought 78 acres at LakePoint Sports outside Atlanta and leased its 170,000-square-foot Champions CenterFIELDS & FACILITIESSpringboro, Ohio, broke ground on a $10.6 million, 1,500-seat athletics complexTECH & PARTNERSHIPSESPN launched ESPN JV, a YouTube channel for kidsON THE FIELDMinnesota Hockey answered USA Hockey's new Development League with four in-state 15U and 17U teamsINTERNATIONALIndia put ₹7,386.74 crore, about $880 million, behind its national sports federations through 2030-31RULES & CONDUCTThe crash halted Kansas's first girls flag football state championship on the next fieldMONEY & DEALSChobani named the 500 youth soccer clubs getting $10,000 eachFIELDS & FACILITIESMarion County, Fla., put a $140 million parks bond on the Nov. 3 ballotTECH & PARTNERSHIPSThe DICK'S Sporting Goods Foundation renewed Angel City Sports, L.A.'s free adaptive-sports nonprofitON THE FIELDSpiro, Okla., ended its football season at 0-6 with four games leftINTERNATIONALBank of America brought its "Sports with Us" program to the U.K. with the Youth Sport TrustRULES & CONDUCTFormer youth gymnastics coach Sean Gardner got the maximum 90 years for a hidden camera that recorded at least 10 minorsMONEY & DEALSCarvana extended its front-of-kit deal with Rush Soccer and launched a $200,000 scholarship fundFIELDS & FACILITIESSan Marcos, Calif., approved $2.5 million in state-grant money to convert six sports parks to LEDTECH & PARTNERSHIPSPerfect Game extended Turtlebox as its official speakerON THE FIELDBakersfield's Foothill High forfeited its 7-0 startINTERNATIONALU.K. sports parents spend about £1,216 a year on fuel and 3 hours 22 minutes a week driving to training and matchesRULES & CONDUCTA pickup truck drove onto a youth soccer field in Wichita on Saturday, killing a 6-year-old boy and a 35-year-old man and injuring 10MONEY & DEALSCapacity Sports Group bought 78 acres at LakePoint Sports outside Atlanta and leased its 170,000-square-foot Champions CenterFIELDS & FACILITIESSpringboro, Ohio, broke ground on a $10.6 million, 1,500-seat athletics complexTECH & PARTNERSHIPSESPN launched ESPN JV, a YouTube channel for kidsON THE FIELDMinnesota Hockey answered USA Hockey's new Development League with four in-state 15U and 17U teamsINTERNATIONALIndia put ₹7,386.74 crore, about $880 million, behind its national sports federations through 2030-31RULES & CONDUCTThe crash halted Kansas's first girls flag football state championship on the next fieldMONEY & DEALSChobani named the 500 youth soccer clubs getting $10,000 eachFIELDS & FACILITIESMarion County, Fla., put a $140 million parks bond on the Nov. 3 ballotTECH & PARTNERSHIPSThe DICK'S Sporting Goods Foundation renewed Angel City Sports, L.A.'s free adaptive-sports nonprofitON THE FIELDSpiro, Okla., ended its football season at 0-6 with four games leftINTERNATIONALBank of America brought its "Sports with Us" program to the U.K. with the Youth Sport TrustRULES & CONDUCTFormer youth gymnastics coach Sean Gardner got the maximum 90 years for a hidden camera that recorded at least 10 minorsMONEY & DEALSCarvana extended its front-of-kit deal with Rush Soccer and launched a $200,000 scholarship fundFIELDS & FACILITIESSan Marcos, Calif., approved $2.5 million in state-grant money to convert six sports parks to LEDTECH & PARTNERSHIPSPerfect Game extended Turtlebox as its official speakerON THE FIELDBakersfield's Foothill High forfeited its 7-0 startINTERNATIONALU.K. sports parents spend about £1,216 a year on fuel and 3 hours 22 minutes a week driving to training and matches

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The Faceoff Podcast · October 29, 2026

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Episode 6: Alex Laird & Sporting Founders — Five Stakeholders, Five Conversations

Alex Laird is based in London and spent the last year building his own company in sport. A university accelerator and a grant took him to conferences in New York, Europe and London, where he kept meeting founders with nowhere to meet each other, so he built the room himself: Sporting Founders, a private, free network of 150 founders across 43 countries, building everything from data analytics and sponsorships to broadcasting and youth sports.

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A Truck Through the Soccer Fields ⚽️🚨

October 19, 2026

A pickup truck drove from a parking space onto a youth soccer field in Wichita on Saturday, killing a 6-year-old boy and a 35-year-old man and halting Kansas's first girls flag football championship on the next field. Plus: a 90-year sentence and the coaches who didn't report ⚖️, Oregon's flag coaches count the cost of sanctioning 🏈, Chobani names its 500 clubs 💰 and what we brought back from NextUp '26 🎟️.

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Episode 6: Alex Laird & Sporting Founders — Five Stakeholders, Five Conversations

October 29, 2026

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Eight sessions from LeagueApps' NextUp '26, Oct. 14 at Civic Hall in New York: the state of the youth sports organization, what investors actually want, how to lead parents, and what it means for the people running programs.

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Ten sessions and a photo essay from Sports Business Journal's 14th Game Changers Conference, Oct. 1 in New York, and what they mean for youth sports.

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Paul Variano

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Paul Variano founded The Coach's Board and hosts The Faceoff Podcast. He spent the past decade at Morgan Stanley and J.P. Morgan, where he advised on executive and board-level talent and ran cross-functional programs. He coaches two youth travel hockey teams and played club hockey at Cornell.

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