Cost Is Now Reason No. 1 💸🚪

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GAME PLAN

This week cost became the No. 1 reason parents pull kids out of sports💸, New Jersey found out it has ten days to keep its referees from becoming employees🦓, a thousand girls told the Girl Scouts they play for fun while their parents think they play to win 🏆, and Ndamukong Suh called private equity in youth sports "inevitable"💼.

THE SCOREBOARD 🏆

Everything that moved across youth sports last week, in one line each.

RULES & CONDUCT 🧑‍⚖️

• Girls play for fun; their parents think they play to win — 83% of 1,000 girls ages 5 to 13 put fun first while 77% of parents think winning is the key to enjoying it, and 32% of the girls have wanted to quit because an adult made them feel inadequate (PR Newswire).

• A bill in Congress would cap international athletes at 20% of every college roster — teams under 10 players get one, which on a nine-player golf roster is a recruiting overhaul; compliance rides on federal student aid, effective July 1, 2029 (Golfweek).

• The NFHS wants college football off Friday nights — more than 65 major-college games are on Fridays this season, and Texas Tech drew 60,229 to its first Friday home game since 1941, on a Texas high school football night (Athletic Business · Sports Illustrated).

• New Jersey has until October 1 to keep its referees from becoming employees — a Labor Department contractor rule takes effect that day, nearly half the Senate has signed onto an exemption bill, and the Senate doesn't meet again until late October; one AD says the cost of officials "could more than double" (NJ.com · New Jersey Monitor).

• California put CIF officials' registration and certification into law — Newsom signed AB 1572, plus AB 2241 on inclusive school playgrounds; AB 1626, the coach mental-health training bill from last week's issue, was not on the list, and his deadline is September 30 (Office of the Governor).

• A Michigan freshman gym syllabus asked parents for their daughter's menstrual cycle length — that note is how Lakeview High in St. Clair Shores lets girls make up missed swim days; one father is weighing a Title IX lawyer, and the district's answer so far is that nobody has to comply (Athletic Business).

• An Alabama parks department stopped coaches from making youth softball players recite the Lord's Prayer — the complaint said games ended in forced hand-holding prayer and one coach told kids to go home and learn it; Prattville now says it "does not and will not" direct prayer (Freedom From Religion Foundation).

• SafeSport suspended a Missouri swim coach for a year over sexual harassment findings — Mike Ballard of Northland United in Parkville, through September 8, 2027, with probation and no-contact directives; a state family-services inquiry had closed with no findings (Hoodline).

• An Alabama coach sued after an anonymous letter got him, an assistant and 10 players suspended — Robertsdale's Justin Jones says the AHSAA never showed him the allegations or interviewed him; a judge's restraining order put them all back on the field Friday night (FootballScoop).

• The defending Alabama 1A champion self-reported an ineligible player and vacated two wins — Maplesville goes from 3-0 to 1-2, and the state's longest winning streak ends at 18 (Sports Illustrated).

• Illinois' No. 1-ranked 5A team fired its head coach at 4-0 — Providence Catholic dismissed Tyler Plantz, who took the Celtics to last year's title game and went 35-19 over parts of five seasons; the AD's statement thanked him "for his time and service" (FootballScoop).

• A Florida coach lost his job after three games and a combined score of 166-0 — Lely's Dan Nieboer, in his first season, after the quarterback and running back transferred out before the opener (Athletic Business).

• A California school suspended its whole varsity football team and staff for a week — Victor Valley forfeited its next game over Bell Game conduct after video showed the mascot making an offensive gesture at the crowd during a 20-7 win (Victor Valley News).

• An Ohio district banned bags and re-entry at football games after a gun rumor — police found no credible threat at Madison's September 4 game, but backpacks and duffels are out and students who leave can't come back (cleveland.com).

• A Tennessee booster treasurer was indicted over $5,612.44 routed through her personal Venmo — the comptroller's line for every club: no single person controls collections, deposits, payments and the books (Tennessee Comptroller).

MONEY & DEALS 💰

• Cost is now the No. 1 reason parents pull kids from sports — 26% in Good Sports' Harris Poll, up from 21% two years ago and ahead of injuries and not having fun; 68% have seriously considered pulling a child, and 77% say private clubs and travel teams price kids out (USA Today).

• Ndamukong Suh doesn't "necessarily agree" with private equity in youth sports, and thinks it's coming anyway — "It's inevitable at the end of the day," he said at Front Office Sports' Asset Class, while Jay Williams said his kids' bills keep rising and the skill training doesn't (Front Office Sports).

• Black Bear Sports Group bought Glacier Pointe Ice Complex in Port Huron, Mich. — the rink operator four parents sued over stay-to-play last week says it has put more than $20 million back into its rinks in three years; price and seller undisclosed (Black Bear Sports Group).

• Nasdaq-listed Nomadar is buying a majority of Fox Soccer Academy — the youth club Premier League champion Christian Fuchs co-founded, about 2,100 players across the U.S., U.K. and Austria; closing in the coming weeks (PR Newswire).

• Colorado Youth Sports Giving Day raised a record $7.2 million — 38% above last year, 4,400 donations to 349 nonprofits, with a $1 million Daniels Fund match; $16.1 million since it started in 2024 (PR Newswire).

• Boys & Girls Clubs of San Antonio is closing two more clubhouses — Rayburn for good on September 25 and Eastside for the school year on September 30, leaving one open where there were six in 2020; the organization lost about $1 million last year (San Antonio Report).

• Barre, Vt. voters rejected a school budget for the third time, and winter sports are on the table — $57.1 million failed 52.6% to 47.3%; every month without a budget costs up to $22,000 in interest (VTDigger).

• Windsor, Conn. starts charging admission to volleyball, soccer, track and lacrosse today — $5 to $10 for adults, $3 for students, the district's alternative to raising pay-to-play fees that already run past $100 (WFSB).

• Orange County, Fla. schools may charge travel and rec teams to use their ballfields — a board workshop floated $92 an hour for baseball and softball fields; the superintendent says likely nothing this fall (WDBO).

• Utica, N.Y. wants to make city pools, courts and youth sports free for everyone — a rewrite of a fee code last touched in 1964 that would raise adult ski passes to $110 to help pay for it (WKTV).

• Durham, N.C. built a sports-tourism business on the sports nobody else was chasing — the Carolina Blaze sold out most of 13 home games and generated nearly $6 million, and a privately funded youth fund has made 42 grants since 2023 (INDY Week).

FIELDS & FACILITIES 🏢

• Tulsa parents want a timeline on five turf-and-lights ballfields promised in April's $609 million bond — more than $40 million is earmarked for athletics; the district says there is no firm timeline and updates come "later this fall" (KTUL).

• A consultant priced Portage, Mich.'s options: $20 to $30 million for an eight-diamond complex, about $40 million for ice — the ice could pay for itself year-round, the diamonds couldn't; the 250-page report is due this month (WKZO).

• Keystone FC opened a $10.5 million, 10-field complex on 63-plus acres in South Middleton Township, Pa. — seven grass fields, three turf, one lit stadium field with a scoreboard and bleachers (Athletic Business).

• Tuscaloosa Academy is building a $7 million, 23,000-square-foot athletic center, and Batavia, N.Y. opened a voter-approved one — $5.1 million of Tuscaloosa's is committed, including a $1 million Mayers family gift; Batavia's adds JV soccer, JV baseball and varsity softball fields (Athletic Business).

• Hermitage, Pa. opened a $1.4 million Little League building — concessions, restrooms, a pavilion and storage, paid for with a state grant plus local businesses, the school district and Penn State (WFMJ).

• Menifee, Calif. approved $422,500 for sports lighting at two parks — more than 30 extra field hours a week once the lights come on around February; off at 9 p.m. (Menifee 24/7).

• A Pennsylvania county is steering $38,000 in gas-drilling impact fees to a Little League fence — Valley East's award is one of seven from Luzerne County's Act 13 pot, its first outside awards since 2018; 23 groups applied for $240,000 (Times Leader).

• North Schuylkill, Pa. approved a $46,358.90 baseball scoreboard — donations cover all but about $10,000 of it (Skook News).

• Pittsburgh is turning a cracked court at Ormsby Park into a World Cup legacy mini-pitch — one of 26 Pennsylvania projects in the U.S. Soccer Foundation's $2 million "26 for 26" campaign (Hoodline).

• Line-marking robots and stadium lights are going subscription — 95% of Turf Tank's U.S. clients rent instead of buy, TinyMobileRobots charges $1,995 down and $350 a month, and NGU sells 10-year lighting contracts against fields that cost "a couple hundred thousand" to relight (Athletic Business).

TECH & PARTNERSHIPS 📲

• Softball fans watched one billion minutes of the Little League Softball World Series — up 48%, 15.5 million viewers, a 1.3 million average for the final on ABC, all 22 games on linear TV for the first time; Tee Ball Softball is up 9% (Little League).

• US Youth Soccer named COO Joel Dragan its CEO — 2.7 million players, 54 state associations and 10,000 clubs, weeks after the U.S. Soccer alignment he helped negotiate; Tom Condone moves to the federation (US Youth Soccer).

• SAY Soccer picked PlayMetrics as its membership platform — 100,000-plus players, 400 organizations and 37 states moving registration, rosters and scheduling onto one system (ACCESS Newswire).

• TeamSnap and Mazda are giving five youth coaches a new CX-90 — "Coaches Who Move Us," announced on Good Morning America; nominate a coach through October 18 for a sixth (TeamSnap).

• Damar Hamlin's foundation and Schutt outfitted his hometown youth league with about 100 F7 helmets and 60 sets of shoulder pads — the Sto-Rox Little Vikings in McKees Rocks, Pa., through USA Football's grant program (Business Wire).

• The Panthers and Bank of America launched 3rd & Goal for 10,000 third-graders across the Carolinas — reading, Play 60 and well-being, with 15 kids per Title I school recognized each year (PR Newswire).

• Little League promoted Sam Ranck to Senior Executive, Strategy — 25 years in, he built the Challenger Division and the Diamond Leader coach-training program (Little League).

ON THE FIELD 🏟️

• High school sports hit an all-time high and football teams are still running out of players — girls flag football grew nearly 49% in a year and volleyball passed 500,000, while Cheboygan, Mich. canceled its varsity season with 13 healthy players (Sports Illustrated).

• Small-school football around Rochester is merging to survive — two- and three-school co-ops are routine in Section V, 8-man sits dormant, and rivals Red Jacket and Midlakes unite in 2027; "either you merge, or you lose your program" (Democrat and Chronicle).

• West Virginia is weighing eight-man football — the WVSSAC says six to nine schools would benefit; the obstacle is travel across a spread-out state, not the rulebook (WCHS).

• Rachel Worsham became the first woman to head-coach varsity football in Virginia — Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology lost 36-0 in her debut; "what is more important to me is that I'm not the last" (On3 · Athletic Business).

• Baltimore runs its youth leagues in-house and mostly free; Milwaukee County hands them to outside operators — 15,000-plus competitions across 350 facilities last year, and 32% of Athletic Business readers want to expand team sports (Athletic Business).

• A Sports Medicine perspective says youth systems can chase podiums and participation at the same time — if governance is local, evaluation is continuous, and well-being and intrinsic motivation come before the pathway (Sports Medicine).

INTERNATIONAL 🌍

• Romania gave youth referees a black card for abusive parents — at U7 to U16 matches: a warning, a 10-minute stoppage, and if it continues the referee ends the game (Pulse).

• Ill-fitting sports bras are pushing girls out of sport, Australian researchers found — up to 88% wear the wrong size, under 1% of organisations provide any education, and one high school saw a 35% jump in athletics participation after free fittings (The Conversation).

• Ottawa put $76 million into a new home for Canadian basketball at Humber Polytechnic — six gyms, a high-performance centre and 32,000 community hours a year; Canada Basketball's 2026-27 funding reaches $81.3 million (Government of Canada).

• The U.K. is spending £22.5 million on sport and enrichment at 400-plus disadvantaged secondary schools — delivered by the Youth Sport Trust, toward halving the enrichment gap by 2035 (GOV.UK).

• Tokyo's Leifras, which runs kids' sports schools in all 47 Japanese prefectures, is buying a children's soccer school in Victoria, B.C. — its first North American base, closing January 1, 2027 (PR Newswire).

COACH'S FAVORITES ⭐️

One thing we'd actually use, and why it earns the pick.

COACH'S FAVORITES runs Tuesdays now. Last week's pick: CUGGO Crisp Apple hydration sticks: electrolytes, B vitamins, vitamin C, zinc and a day's vitamin D in 12 to 16 ounces of water; five calories, zero sugar, monk fruit only; $29.99 for 15. Founder Diyana G. is in the podcast chair this fall. Read it here: COACH'S FAVORITES — A Zero-Sugar Hydration Stick for the Cooler. The next pick lands tomorrow morning.

COACH'S CLIPBOARD 📋

The Clipboard runs Wednesdays now: one drill, diagrammed, ready to run that night. Last week: basketball.

Two Dribbles, Two Feet: three players, one ball, no defense, ten minutes. Two dribbles into the paint, land on both feet, kick it short to the wing, swing, shoot. The landing is the drill: a ten-year-old who passes off one foot is still moving when the ball leaves his hand. Diagram and video: COACH'S CLIPBOARD — Two Dribbles, Two Feet. Wednesday's drill is next.

THE LOCKER ROOM

Friday's Locker Room went from The Hanger, the Colorado Thunderbirds' home rink, to the northernmost football team in America: Barrow High in Utqiagvik, Alaska, 3-1 and outscoring opponents 124-58 with no dome and no turf room, then a Calgary skills session that costs nothing. Facilities help. They don't play the games. Watch them here: THE LOCKER ROOM — Facilities Help. They Don't Play the Games. Friday's is next.

WHAT WE'RE WATCHING 📺

WHAT WE'RE WATCHING runs Saturdays now. On the Board's calendar this week: the NAHL Showcase, Wednesday through Saturday in Blaine, Minn., every team playing three games in front of NCAA and pro scouts; four national volleyball windows, starting Wednesday on SEC Network and ACC Network; Notre Dame at Duke women's soccer Thursday at 7:00 p.m. ET on ACC Network; and the WNBA regular season ending Thursday, playoffs open the 27th. The full list: WHAT WE'RE WATCHING — Hockey's Back, Volleyball's on ABC.

THE FACEOFF 🤼

Next Thursday: Gayle Jones — four Emmys, 25 years producing the NBA, the Olympics and the NFL — on why she left television to sell game-day fuel to youth programs.

THE HIRING HUDDLE 🕵️🕵️‍♂️

THE HIRING HUDDLE lands Sunday evenings now, giving you the week's best openings before Monday's kickoff 🏈. Sunday's edition ran 61 open roles across 37 employers, every one of them posted in the last seven days, led by Chicago Fire FC's Manager, Player Development Programs. It goes to subscribers only and isn't posted anywhere else; if you missed it, it's in Sunday's inbox.

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The Coach's Board by Paul Variano
The weekly executive roundup for youth sports leaders.

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