3StepSports, the largest youth sports operator, just hired Goldman Sachs

[615dawg]

2 million athletes, 1,500 events, $40 million in annual profit - they hired Goldman to find a buyer. If you have never heard of them, they operate a ton of tournaments in multiple sports. They are the reason it costs $50 to watch your kid play.

I have a theory - the game is over and the smart guys like 3Step know it. Once you have schools following Arkansas' lead and dropping these money-losing sports to club level, the chase for the scholarship ends and there is no pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.

 

[ETK99]

Or, someone is trying to get rich by selling a business they've built up.

 

[thedoubledeuce]

Arkansas' lead?

 

[615dawg]

Arkansas' lead?

Arkansas cut men's and women's tennis last week. North Dakota did the same yesterday, but an SEC school doing it is a bigger deal. North Carolina's AD came out this week and said they will be cutting sports.

 

[Jeffreauxdawg]

2 million athletes, 1,500 events, $40 million in annual profit - they hired Goldman to find a buyer. If you have never heard of them, they operate a ton of tournaments in multiple sports. They are the reason it costs $50 to watch your kid play.

I have a theory - the game is over and the smart guys like 3Step know it. Once you have schools following Arkansas' lead and dropping these money-losing sports to club level, the chase for the scholarship ends and there is no pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.

I think it's peaking for sure.

People are starting to figure out that the American model is broken. The European/Dominican model is better. Train a lot and play a little. Academies are popping up everywhere in all kinds of sports. They have been around longest in things like tennis and skiing, but baseball and hockey academies are everywhere now.

A former MLB guy is opening one next year in my area. 7th-12th grade. Remote learning, 30+ hours a week of baseball. No high school games. Just mini tournaments against other academies in other states.

It's the bigger money grab. They all reference IMG as their model. So $55k a year at Bubba's Baseball Academy seems like a steal compared to $110k at IMG.

 

[HailStout]

I think it's peaking for sure.

People are starting to figure out that the American model is broken. The European/Dominican model is better. Train a lot and play a little. Academies are popping up everywhere in all kinds of sports. They have been around longest in things like tennis and skiing, but baseball and hockey academies are everywhere now.

A former MLB guy is opening one next year in my area. 7th-12th grade. Remote learning, 30+ hours a week of baseball. No high school games. Just mini tournaments against other academies in other states.

It's the bigger money grab. They all reference IMG as their model. So $55k a year at Bubba's Baseball Academy seems like a steal compared to $110k at IMG.

The amount of parents who are bound and determined their kid is the next MLB (and every other sport) superstar is astounding.

 

[615dawg]

Saw this quote from UNC AD Bubba Cunningham

UNC AD Bubba Cunningham was asked a question that should terrify every non-revenue sport in America: "Is a starting WR who costs $2.5M more valuable [to an athletics department] than your men's and women's tennis programs?" The uncomfortable answer — YES.

 

[615dawg]

Wichita State just announced they are dropping men's and women's golf.

 

[HailStout]

I hate everything about this. I understand it’s a mutli-billion dollar industry, but this sucks.

 

[HotMop]

Title IX started the downfall, NIL will finish it.

 

[dorndawg]

Yall have fun!

 

[OG Goat Holder]

People are starting to figure out that the American model is broken. The European/Dominican model is better. Train a lot and play a little.

I agree. However, I wish I could be as idealistic about it and say it's about development and good of the game, but.......

They all reference IMG as their model.

.......deep down, we all know IMG was founded as a way to stockpile the high school talent Saban-style to kick everyone's asss. Secondary to ensure relationships to make money off the alumni's future earnings.

 

[Jeffreauxdawg]

I agree and wish I could as idealistic about it, but.......


.......deep down, we all know IMG was founded as a way to stockpile the high school talent Saban-style and kick everyone's asss, and make money off their players' future earnings.

Yep. I think IMG is the best of the best for sure. These academies are trading off that name/model, but what they are really doing is suckering parents into believing their kid is at the IMG level and taking as much money as the can from them. Look into Grind Academy in Las Vegas... It's an Indian Couple that owned a bunch of Gyms and they are putting out serious Benny Hinn vibes.


We actually have a "charter school of sport" opening nearby in the fall. It's K-7 to start and will add a grade each year. It's in an old Yellow Freight warehouse off the interstate. Each grade will have 60-65 kids and 1 certified teacher. The teacher will have an assistant. Only have the class comes each day so they are promoting a 15-1 student to teacher ratio. On the days they are not in class they can either homeschool or come into warehouse and work from the cafeteria lol. Sounds like a good plan for a 2nd grader.

I still haven't figured out what makes it a school of sport. I think they will have PE for a class everyday. The guy who's running it has run (and lost) for state Senate, State superintendent, and county commissioner in the last 2 years and somehow in that time got hired and fired as a rinky dink school district superintendent because he didn't meet the requirements to be a superintendent.

Anyhow, it's a train wreck waiting to happen and a giant waste of public funds. Yet they filled up enrollment faster than any charter school in history. Thousands apparently applied for the "Free IMG."

 

[DerHntr]

Stephen F Austin and Cleveland State also cut golf like WSU.

 

[615dawg]

Pitt's swimming coach resigned. That's an ACC Top 25 program. Rumor is that he resigned because he was informed next season will be the last for Pitt Swimming.

 

[greenbean.sixpack]

They are the reason it costs $50 to watch your kid play.

Wrong, in this situation and about every other, consumers hold all the power. All they have to do is stop consuming, or find lower priced options, and prices will come down. It’s a very simple and easy solution.

 

[DoggieDaddy13]

If your programs ain't making money, they are a drain on the system.

The government is no longer propping up your institution of higher learning and damn sure ain't underwriting your money losing sports programs.

It's a dog-eat-dog world. Eat or be EATEN!

That's baseball -- better yet: that's IT, baseball.

 

[Bulldog45]

A few years old but was a good watch
BS High

 

[Lucifer Morningstar]

A few years old but was a good watch
BS High

It actually is a great watch. It gives a sense as to how few rules there can be depending on how you set up the "school". I mean it is infuriating to find out that the guy did not break very many laws because he set it up as a religious school. Not knocking all religious schools, but it was shocking to me.

 

[POTUS]

Not knocking all religious schools, but it was shocking to me.

 

[Lucifer Morningstar]

Just saying it is worth the watch. I am in no way indicting all religiously affiliated schools. This guy just took advantage of a system that was ripe for it.

 

[SoJxnVol]

View attachment 1283179

Stephen F Austin and Cleveland State also cut golf like WSU.

Kinda weird a Tx school is cutting golf. Regarding the list containing the schools who cut the whole AD- by those names what are they doing with a AD anyways?

 

[Jeffreauxdawg]

Kinda weird a Tx school is cutting golf. Regarding the list containing the schools who cut the whole AD- by those names what are they doing with a AD anyways?

I think one of the benefits of all this shakeout could be the growth of club sports. So many kids that are marginal high school go to silly d3 colleges for sports. I'd much rather my kid go to a real school and play a club sport than play at Kansas Polytechnic - Stubbville where the best majors are People Train Conducting and Sideways Midwifery.

 

[DerHntr]

What sports will most likely be axed first? I’d say:

Tennis
Golf
Volleyball
Gymnastics
Swimming / Diving
Cross country
Soccer

 

[POTUS]

Just saying it is worth the watch. I am in no way indicting all religiously affiliated schools. This guy just took advantage of a system that was ripe for it.

It's a joke bro. You're the devil remember?

 

[Bulldog45]

Seems like cross country would be

What sports will most likely be axed first?
Cross country

Seems like cross country would be about the cheapest sport you could field though? Training = everybody meet up and take off running and then take a van to a meet?

 

[DesotoCountyDawg]

If your programs ain't making money, they are a drain on the system.

The government is no longer propping up your institution of higher learning and damn sure ain't underwriting your money losing sports programs.

It's a dog-eat-dog world. Eat or be EATEN!

That's baseball -- better yet: that's IT, baseball.

None of those minor sports have ever made money at any school ever. It’s just under a magnifying glass because of NIL and revenue sharing which is pretty 17ing sad honestly.

 

[DoggieDaddy13]

None of those minor sports have ever made money at any school ever. It’s just under a magnifying glass because of NIL and revenue sharing which is pretty 17ing sad honestly.

Give consumers what they clearly demand. It's the American way.

Not like we're going to quit watching or paying for what we value.

It's great that we have big crowds for baseball games, but there are going to be schools that fold up their baseball programs. And we may have to do it sooner than most.

The important thing to note is that NOBODY is going to ride in an fix this -- Not Congress or the courts and certainly not the Universities or television networks. Fans will have to lose interest for it to implode. That's not happening anytime soon.

And it will have to implode before it gets fixed.

 

[johnson86-1]

I think one of the benefits of all this shakeout could be the growth of club sports. So many kids that are marginal high school go to silly d3 colleges for sports. I'd much rather my kid go to a real school and play a club sport than play at Kansas Polytechnic - Stubbville where the best majors are People Train Conducting and Sideways Midwifery.

I would like this. I thought Vanderbilt had a good idea if it wasn't actually realistic for an SEC school, but technically their athletic department is under the department for student services or something like that. Obviously it wsan't student services pushing for Pavia to have 13 years of eligibility, so it hasn't changed anything in practice, but to me everything but football and men's basketball should be treated like a student club. Make some money available to it, but it's largely like any other student clubs. You can get a little bit of help, but you're basically required to fund yourself. They can be led by students or occasionally by a staffer if soembody puts up money to endow a position or if there is a staffer that just likes the sport and wants to be involved. If ESPN decides that semi-professional women's basketball makes sense for them to fund, then they can fund some coaching or whatever else they want to do to make the product watchable.

You'd have some schools that decide to treat women's basketball or baseball or wrestling or gymnastics or whatever as a major sport and not a club sport, but they'll mostly be dominating club teams, with only a few similarly situated schools really competing.

 

[Chesusdog]

Wrong, in this situation and about every other, consumers hold all the power. All they have to do is stop consuming, or find lower priced options, and prices will come down. It’s a very simple and easy solution.

I don't support any of them. State gets a weekend or two a year for football/baseball, and I no longer pay for the streaming services.

 

[dorndawg]

Wrong, in this situation and about every other, consumers hold all the power. All they have to do is stop consuming, or find lower priced options, and prices will come down. It’s a very simple and easy solution.

It's forever wild to me how wedded people are to continuing to spend money. I stopped trading with Amazon a little under 2 years ago for a variety of reasons. I don't really mention it unless it's pertinent, but when I do many folks look at me like I have my head sewed to the carpet. It's almost like consumption is a major religion or something.

You can just... not give money to people/companies if you don't want to, for whatever reason. I bailed on Youtubetv several months ago and think about it less and less. It's a little aggravating when there's a Bulldog game I want to watch, but I've manged to make do mostly (not that I've missed a helluva lot of excellence lately there either). Netflix is probably next - the price keeps going up and the quality keeps going down.

 

[thedoubledeuce]

Does the SEC still require each school to field teams in a minimum number of sports for the school to remain a member?

 

[Jeffreauxdawg]

I bailed on Youtubetv several months ago and think about it less and less. It's a little aggravating when there's a Bulldog game I want to watch, but I've manged to make do mostly (not that I've missed a helluva lot of excellence lately there either). Netflix is probably next - the price keeps going up and the quality keeps going down.

Keeping with the travel ball theme...


Just let me know if you are in need of some baseball to watch and we'll get you added as a family member on GameChanger for my kids baseball games. I mean it's pretty dang entertaining at times... We have had 3 innings go for 20 runs against us. I accused one of our pitchers of throwing a knuckleball, but it turns out he's shot putting the ball so bad it doesn't rotate. Our one handed first baseman recently dropped a ball hit to him and tried to corral it with his nub and ended up jumping on first base like a grenade in the foxhole... Dämn near killed the runner.



The circled base runner is parallel to the ground 2-1/2' high and 8' past the bag after getting chop blocked by our 12 year old 165lb first baseman... I think he's going fetal in this frame.

 

[dawgstudent]

Yep. I think IMG is the best of the best for sure. These academies are trading off that name/model, but what they are really doing is suckering parents into believing their kid is at the IMG level and taking as much money as the can from them. Look into Grind Academy in Las Vegas... It's an Indian Couple that owned a bunch of Gyms and they are putting out serious Benny Hinn vibes.


We actually have a "charter school of sport" opening nearby in the fall. It's K-7 to start and will add a grade each year. It's in an old Yellow Freight warehouse off the interstate. Each grade will have 60-65 kids and 1 certified teacher. The teacher will have an assistant. Only have the class comes each day so they are promoting a 15-1 student to teacher ratio. On the days they are not in class they can either homeschool or come into warehouse and work from the cafeteria lol. Sounds like a good plan for a 2nd grader.

I still haven't figured out what makes it a school of sport. I think they will have PE for a class everyday. The guy who's running it has run (and lost) for state Senate, State superintendent, and county commissioner in the last 2 years and somehow in that time got hired and fired as a rinky dink school district superintendent because he didn't meet the requirements to be a superintendent.

Anyhow, it's a train wreck waiting to happen and a giant waste of public funds. Yet they filled up enrollment faster than any charter school in history. Thousands apparently applied for the "Free IMG."

I was on a flight a month or 2 ago. Lady from Michigan had a 6th and 8th grader at IMG. 8th grade girl plays volleyball and a 6th grade son plays baseball. She moved down to Florida and her husband lives in Michigan. He comes to Florida on weekends or something like that. She was talking about all this great instruction little Johnny is getting at IMG for baseball. He's playing intrasquad because they have about 40 kids who play baseball in the 6th grade. Googled the tuition and it's about 80k/kid. I now see how they offer scholarships to others who are more talented.

 

[Lucifer Morningstar]

It's a joke bro. You're the devil remember?

I missed the joke, my fault. Actually when you watch the documentary you will find out I am no where near as evil as the coach.

 

[greenbean.sixpack]

It's forever wild to me how wedded people are to continuing to spend money. I stopped trading with Amazon a little under 2 years ago for a variety of reasons. I don't really mention it unless it's pertinent, but when I do many folks look at me like I have my head sewed to the carpet. It's almost like consumption is a major religion or something.

You can just... not give money to people/companies if you don't want to, for whatever reason. I bailed on Youtubetv several months ago and think about it less and less. It's a little aggravating when there's a Bulldog game I want to watch, but I've manged to make do mostly (not that I've missed a helluva lot of excellence lately there either). Netflix is probably next - the price keeps going up and the quality keeps going down.

Even in broke a-- central MS, every restaurant is full, folks are lined up around 7 brew like they are giving away money. I thought the economy is, and has been, bad? No one has slowed down spending money. I just don't get it.