The Rise of Youth Baseball Empire

Ripken Baseball, led by Cal Ripken, Jr., is at the forefront of the booming youth sports industry, aiming to provide a major league experience and sustainable business while addressing the challenges of youth sports.

### Cal Ripken, Jr.'s Vision for Youth Baseball and the Business of Sports
* ⚾️  While overall team sports participation is declining, the youth sports industry is booming, with an estimated market value of **$37.5 billion in 2022** and projected to **double by 2030**.
* ⚖️  The rise of youth sports brings challenges such as **early sport specialization, burnout, and financial barriers**, with parents spending **billions annually**.
* 🏟️  Cal Ripken, Jr. and his brother Bill have built a youth sports empire centered around Ripken Baseball, providing **Major League-like experiences** to young ball players.
* 💰  Private equity firms like Harris Blitzer Sports and Entertainment are increasingly investing in youth sports, with the latter acquiring a **controlling interest in Ripken Baseball in 2023**.
* 👨‍👩‍👦‍👦  Ripken emphasizes the importance of **balancing kids' love for the game** with the **pressures of competition and parental expectations**.
* 🔄  Diversifying the sports portfolio, such as through the acquisition of a flag football league, is seen as a strategy for **sustainable growth**.
* 🩹  The trend of early sport specialization has raised concerns about **burnout and injuries**, with **over 50% of parents** encouraging their children to specialize in a single sport.
* 🏗️  Ripken sees the business of building and running sports facilities for communities as a **high-growth opportunity**, aiming for **smart and sustainable growth** while protecting the Ripken brand.

Sometimes they say baseball is dying in a way. From a youth standpoint,
less people are playing, but of the less people that are playing, more of 'em are playing more baseball. It's a strange but true
fact about youth sports. While overall participation in team sports has been declining over the last decade, the youth sports industry has actually been growing massively, reaching an estimated market
value of $37.5 billion in 2022. And forecasters believe that
number can double by 2030. More money to be made means more money is chasing the dream and the profits, and right at the center of the action is one of the best known
names in all of sports. He's taken his trademark grinding approach to building a youth sports empire. The Hammer team, all right. Is it hot on that turf today? [Players] Yeah. Talking about the Iron Man himself, Cal Ripken, Jr. I feel like the potential is
greater than it's ever been.

We looked at it as sort of a small business that we're trying to give kids a chance, and now the potential is limitless. Cal has teamed up with his brother Bill to bring their shared love of the game to young ball players across the country, those with aspirations to take their skills to the next level. We wanted these kids to be able to feel like what we felt like. But the meteoric rise of youth sports is not without controversy. Kids are now being asked to specialize in one sport at a super young age. One in 10 youth athletes experience burnout. There is research showing that the more they spend on their kids' sports, the less the kid likes it and the more pressure they feel, which stands to reason because the parents want a return on investment. The Ripkens' goal, look after both the players' and the parents' interests and keep them coming back by providing a major league experience and in the process, create both a sustainable business.

and deepen a lasting love of baseball. This is Power Players. So tucked in here in Maryland just off one of the busiest highways in America, I-95, is Ripken Baseball. It's Cal Ripken, Jr., the Iron Man, one of the most celebrated
players in the game, and he has built this massive complex. Youth baseball lives here, and it's about to get even bigger. Welcome to Cal, Sr.'s Yard
here at the Ripken experience. Mr. Ripken! [Cal] Yeah. [Player] Hi, guys!
[Cal] Hello. Hello. [Player] Hi! Do you feel like you
run faster on the turf? Yeah.
Yeah. Like, I wasn't known for my speed, but I thought I was faster on turf too. Good, you guys got any questions for me? Yeah. How many years were you in the front? 21 years with the Orioles. Whoa.
Oh, wow.

I'm gonna read stats
that you know very well. 3,184 hits, 431 home
runs, two Golden Gloves, Rookie of the Year, Most
Valuable Player times two, World Series champion, and of course the most famous out there: it's 2,632 consecutive games played. Unmatched career. Why are you doing this? You wanna give me a hug? Is that what you want?
Yeah. I didn't look at it as a
moneymaking entity at first. It seemed like it was more philanthropic, and then you realize that
if you're gonna do this, it's gotta wash its own face. No matter how well you did or how much money you put
aside, the model has to work. For Cal and his brother Bill Ripken, the origins of that motto
go back to the example set by their father and
manager, Cal Ripken, Sr. He laid the foundation for the brothers to grow up not only playing

but also teaching the game
to the next generation. Dad ended up leaving baseball, and Dad had a baseball school. And I always had the vision when I stopped is that we were looking for places to bring Dad's baseball school
into Aberdeen or to fields. During the '95 season, the Players Association gave me a gift to go put a field of dreams
back in the town of Aberdeen. And that, I think, was the start of, how can we do a complex here? Today the Ripken experience at Aberdeen offers 15 batting cages, 16 bullpens, and nine ballparks, all of them designed to
mimic Major League stadiums. The main stadium, named for their dad, is equipped with seating for 2,500, and it's designed to give both fans and players the feeling of being at the Orioles' home, Camden Yards, complete with two Marriott hotels designed to look like the famous B&O Warehouse. So did you and Billy choose
like the fields that you wanted

to build in terms of replicating them? [Cal] Yeah.
[Jason] Like Yankee and- Well, Fenway and Wrigley,
with less resources. We had to finally figure out
how do you theme the fields. [Jason] Right.
[Cal] Without breaking the bank. Yeah. Billy actually built
the faux-brick backstop. No way. So... He built it himself? It might not be real brick or real ivy, but the Ripkens believe even small touches can make big-league impressions. We know what it was like
to go into Fenway Park. We know what it was like
to go into Yankee Stadium. We also realized that this amount of kids are gonna know what we knew. Why can't they feel that
maybe when they're 12? We wanted these kids to be able to feel like what we felt like. Fenway is always an interesting one because it plays different than, you know, any other ballpark.

[Jason] Right.
[Cal] There were times in Fenway as a professional, the ball would be hit up to left field. I'm the shortstop, and the
ball bounced off the wall. I might be the first one to it. Right, right. So what other ballparks
can the shortstop be- Right, playing a ball off the wall? Playing a ball off the wall because the guy will try to make a catch. The ball will carry him off of it. Yeah. And if you're alert, then you
might be the first one there to stop the guy from getting a double. And it's funny to hear you talk like that because I feel like you would, even though these are
obviously replicas, as it were, like, they're like memories embedded in all of these for you.
[Cal] Oh, for sure. For sure. And the uniqueness of playing in the different venues
is part of the dream.

'Cause this is a volume business at the end of the day,
to some extent, right? [Cal] For sure.
[Jason] Yeah. You gotta have people
playing on the fields and playing on the fields all day. Yeah. The challenge for this particular complex is what do you do Monday through Thursday? And so we filled the Monday through Thursday through our camps. The Aberdeen facility primarily focuses on weekend tournaments. Teams from around the
country pay between $2 and $3,000 for a weekend's worth of games. They have also created
week-long experiences that range from between $450 to $700 per participant. Worth noting, these costs are often coming on top of what parents are already paying for their kids to play baseball locally. And while more and more are buying in, it does have the effect
of pricing many out. I say this as a parent of some athletes. Like, it's really expensive,
takes a lot of time. Time is, you know, what it is.

Money is something different altogether. How do you square that in
the for-profit business to ensure that there is access to baseball for kids who, you know,
may come from lesser means? Well, I mean, there's plenty
of things that cross over, but it does get confusing. You have the Cal Ripken, Sr. Foundation. Is that we target kids and use baseball in which
to get in front of them. Yeah. And now that's expanded, you
know, all across the country. We call 'em youth development parks. We've built, you know, over
115, 120 of those by now, which cost a million, a million
and a half dollars a pop. And it's all to give them a safe place. In 2023 alone, more than 1.4 million kids were served by the Cal, Sr. Foundation. It's the answer to one of the
business's biggest criticisms. But for Cal Ripken, Jr., it
also helps grow the game.

and it comes at a critical time for growth for Ripken Baseball. Aberdeen was founded in 2003, followed by a location in Myrtle Beach, and one in Pigeon Forge. But in the last few years, Ripken has been on a more vigorous expansion through partnerships and acquisitions, doubling their locations in 2023 alone. Fueling this expansion is one of the most well-known groups in sports business, and they believe sports' biggest opportunity may lie in its smallest players. The Ripkens' growth in youth baseball despite an overall decline in participation comes down to some pretty simple economics. Parents are paying for it and paying more than ever before. Estimates vary. The Aspen Institute suggests that parents spend 30 to $40 billion a year. So it kind of depends on how you define it. It's a little murky what you include and what you don't include, but it is a giant industry that's growing.

This is Linda Flanagan,
a sports journalist and former coach who's
charted the emergence of the youth sports business. Business has invested in youth sports, in part because public
funding has declined on behalf of parks and any kind of public
facilities where kids might play. That has dropped off. Following the 2008 financial crisis, parks and recreation budgets
around the US saw massive cuts. The National Recreation
and Park Association released a study in 2018 showing that capital expenditures
had fallen nearly 50% from 2008 to 2013. In 2013, parks and rec
spending represented 1.9% of local government expenditures. So it's a very small amount of money that towns devote to
these public play spaces. And with the shrinking
of public investment, private entities stepped in and, you know, offered
something to parents that they, you know,
quickly decided they wanted. With a reduced amount of both fields

and recreational youth
sports programs being offered by local governments, some parents would turn
to private travel leagues that would often have newer facilities and put a stronger focus on
competition and development. Costs vary between different sports, and while many are priced out altogether, higher income households
are spending more and more. One survey of parents with one or more children playing
highly competitive club teams showed 7% were spending upwards of $12,000 each year per child. This kind of spending
has now caught the eye of private equity companies. Enter David Blitzer of Harris Blitzer Sports
and Entertainment, owner of the Philadelphia
76ers and New Jersey Devils, who quickly recognized the
opportunity in youth sports. But I became enamored
with the overall business and the idea of youth sports
broadly, youth baseball, getting kids off the street into something healthy,
playing with teammates. We invested 20% of the business in Cooperstown All Star Village.

I started really thinking about how to create a broader
business in youth sports. I immediately came back to, Wow, I'm in the youth
baseball business now. Who do I want to be partnered with in the youth baseball business? Blitzer and Harris purchased
a controlling interest in Ripken baseball in early 2023, and in March 2024, formed Unrivaled Sports, the new parent company for
their growing portfolio of youth sports properties. At first blush, you know, cynical business journalist that I am, I see the announcement, and
I'm like, Oh, that's cool. Like, you know, Cal and Billy
had built their business, and now they're selling out. Then you look at it, and you're like, Oh no, no, no, no, no. They're like selling in in a lot of ways. We had private equity take a run at us a number of times over the years, and I had one of the private
equity persons saying,

We can monetize your brand way better than you are, and I took that a little bit personal, thinking, Well, you probably could, but it's our name. It's hard to find a more sterling sports brand than Ripken. They're seen widely as the first family of baseball. David and Josh loved the brand. They wanted to expand the brand in the same way that we were thinking about expanding. Now, of course, we can accelerate it a little faster and grow a little faster because of the partnership. But I was convinced and comforted that we were all on the same page. The deal allowed for Ripken baseball to grow to six separate facilities, including youth clinics and tournaments. The All-Star Village and Ripken Baseball together hosted more than 15,000 teams and more than 750,000 visitors last year. Like all good business deals, it was mutually beneficial and laid the groundwork for them to play the long game.

I think about the lifecycle in youth baseball as being one. It's just pure recreational fun, but you want really quality instruction, quality facilities, quality tournaments. There's a whole lifecycle of these kids from pick your age, but call it seven or eight to 18. Why do we not want to help them on their entire journey? We recently merged with a business called Baseball Factory, which is really more about training and about grading the kids, and a lot of it has to do with, you know, can we get them to college? Can we get them scholarships? Getting into better schools and finding scholarships to college for many parents can become a way to rationalize the cost. But managing those aspirations are some of youth sports' biggest challenges. There's this study done by TD Ameritrade, and I think it's 20% of parents who were in this survey expected their children to get a, you know, full ride in college, and we know that's not gonna happen.

The report also showed how this mindset has been shifting. Three years earlier, parents surveyed had more realistic expectations on scholarship potential. If you wanna talk about numbers for a minute, and I think really all parents need to bear in mind the raw data on who gets into college, it's 6 to 7% of high school athletes go on to play in college, at all. 2% get any money, and 0.3% get a so-called full ride. Sometimes it's crazy 'cause the parents are probably the ones that you have to worry about the most 'cause everybody feels that they have their star athlete, and they're gonna put everything, all their resources into getting that person to college and getting into pro ball. They're telling Cal Ripken that their son is the next Cal Ripken. Right, so let's try to take pressure off the kids. You know, it seems like the way that you're playing more games, there's more travel.

There's more at stake. There's pressure that's
being applied to 'em. And I tell parents just on the side. I go, you know, Try to think of ways where you can alleviate
some of that pressure. You don't wanna kill that joy and love. And by playing so much baseball
and making it more serious and professional at an earlier time, you run the risk of doing that. There is research showing that the more they spend
on their kids' sports, the less the kid likes it and the more pressure they
feel, which stands to reason because parents want a
return on investment. So the effect of it is to
undermine their interest and enthusiasm for the sport. We're in a business, right? So one of the questions I get
a lot from the coaches is, How many games should
a 10-year-old play? And I go, I don't have that answer. And I'm kind of at a catch-22
because we need 10-year-olds.

that wanna play a lot of baseball, but I'd rather have the
10-year-old that wants to play 80 games instead
of the 10-year-old's father that wants him to play 80 games. There's a difference in that scenario. If the kid's beating you out of the door, the kid wants to play. If the dad's got a leash around the kid and is pulling him out the door, maybe we're gonna lose that kid. Beyond the mental pressures of highly competitive youth sports, there's also a growing physical concern. Recent studies have shown that over 50% of parents encourage their children to specialize in a single sport. While specialization can help develop a young person's
skills at an accelerated rate, so too can it compound the risks, not just of burnout but of injury as well. I cannot tell you how
unanimous the agreement is that this is a bad idea,
among sports medicine people, organizations that are devoted
to improving youth sports.

college coaches. This is a bad idea because kids burn out. They get hurt. And also those kids who
specialize early in age are less apt to be playing
sports later in life. Young athletes with higher levels of specialization were at
about a 50% greater risk of getting injured. For gymnasts, it's typically
wrist and elbow injuries. For hockey, it's hips. And in baseball,
repetitive throwing motion takes a toll on shoulders and elbows, even leading in some cases to Tommy John surgeries for teenagers. 44% of kids who play
sports got hurt last year. This is from an Aspen Institute study. One in 20 tore a knee ligament. One in 12 got a concussion. So, you know, these are
potentially significant injuries that can have a lasting effect
on your life, like ACL tears. Kids who have that, 50% of
them after they get surgery are going to have arthritis in 10 years.

How much do you worry about... I mean, I think about this
all the time as a parent. I think you and I have
talked about this before, this, you know,
hyper-specialization at a young age. I mean, if I have it right, like, you played soccer when
you were in high school. Like, that was sort of normal
when we were growing up, that you would play a
bunch of different sports. Are you seeing any indication that people are maybe moving away from this hyper-specialization? Or are we still in that moment where we need to be worried about it? When I'm advising parents on what to do, it's more of a case by case. It's not a broad right or wrong. If a kid really loves baseball,
and that's all he loves, then stoke that, keep that going. My personal belief is that
you build your athleticism, and your athleticism is
challenged differently

by the different activities in sport. Soccer was just starting up,
and my dad played soccer. You're building lower strength. You're building endurance. You know, you're not using your hands so that you're moving in
a fast-paced environment. And so you're challenging your balance at every interaction with the ball. Basketball is fast twitch. It's quick movements. You're jumping fast. I love how it made my
legs feel for baseball. We're in the business of
playing a lot of baseball. [Jason] Yeah.
[Cal] A lot of tournaments. In one way, you could say, well,
you're part of the problem, is that, you know, you're
creating more pressure in the tournaments and
all that kind of stuff. Or you're creating a
need to specialize more because the travel teams
have these requirements that if you're gonna commit to this team, you've gotta commit to all
these other things too, fall ball and your training.

preseason training and all that kind of stuff. But I think if the kid is crazy about it, I mean, let the kid kind of help you decide. You can guide the child, but if they're crazy about baseball, let 'em love baseball, yeah. One solution to the problem, diversify the portfolio. In April 2024, Unrivaled Sports purchased a flag football league. Ripken Baseball's pretty much diamond sports. There's another shape out there in the sport world called a rectangle. Ripken Baseball, yeah, everybody gets it. Now, if we went out there and said Ripken Lacrosse or Ripken Field Hockey or Ripken Soccer, somebody's gonna raise an eye. But the bottom line and the truth about this is what we do extremely well is run tournaments. That's the same throughout all the other sports. And I think being able to have a little bit of extra muscle behind us,

that will now open the door for those rectangles to come into play, and I think we're gonna
be able to do this. I feel like the potential is
greater than it's ever been. You know, you have these
dreams and your thoughts, and you think that you
can do it, you know, just by, you know, putting your effort in. But it's a little more
complicated than that. There is a growing need
and a growing value, and it can be a much bigger business. We looked at it as sort
of a small business that we're trying to give kids a chance, and now, you know, the
potential is limitless. What does growth look like from here? It's gotta be smart growth. I mean, you can't just go buy
a complex or buy a business. That doesn't work. It doesn't fit. Providing not only athletic opportunities and experience for youth, but also opportunities for
the surrounding communities.

that's a question front and center for the Ripkens and their partners. I believe big-picture that building and running facilities of sports, broadly, for communities is something that's gonna be a high-growth business. So in other words, if you're a city, if you're a town, if you're a municipality, et cetera, the desire to have excellent programming and excellent facilities, and again having opportunities for kids on the afterschool hours to do something incredibly productive, that's a massive win if you're a town or community, et cetera. So as you grow the business, you know, you hear Roger Goodell talk about, you know, don't tarnish the shield. You hear, you know, the Dallas Cowboys, don't tarnish the star. Like, how do you ensure that you don't tarnish Ripken? When you start to think about essentially building a brand and all that kind of stuff.

I think people now in sports are thinking about building the brand before the brand is built. To me, it's not artificially built. It's built, you know, over time. And so we value that, and we wanna protect that. Watching baseball with Cal Ripken, given both his history and his ambition, it's hard not to be a little optimistic about where baseball could go from here, and that his approach could be an antidote to youth sports gone wild. He's practically the embodiment of playing the long game. When you look out, these kids playing, this is literally the future of baseball. And what do you think when you're sitting here watching a game like this? I think the game's in pretty good shape. It reminds me of the enthusiasm you had as a kid, sort of the honest purity of playing the game. You know, there's no other things going on, but you like the game, and you wanna play and do well.

Yeah. There's something timeless about this too. As times change, as we all get older, kind of look at back and say, Well, this is happening in my day. But truly, when you have a bunch of kids going out and playing the baseball field, it's the same. Our success, our numbers are growing, our growth and trying to have more kids enjoy and experience, you know, the game of baseball the way that we envisioned it.

How Youth Sports Became a $38 Billion Play | Power Players

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Bloomberg Originals

Youth sports participation is declining overall, but the youth sports industry, particularly baseball, is rapidly growing and is projected to double in value by 2030.

, a celebrated baseball player, has built a massive complex to provide a major league experience for young players and parents, aiming to create a sustainable business and a love of baseball.

Despite the industry's growth, there is controversy over the pressure on kids to specialize in one sport at a young age and the risk of burnout.

The Ripken Experience: Building a Baseball Complex

and his brother, Billy, created a baseball complex in Aberdeen with replica Major League stadiums to give kids the experience of playing in iconic venues.

The complex focuses on weekend tournaments and week-long experiences, charging high fees that are adding to the already expensive cost of youth baseball.

This initiative aims to provide a unique and memorable experience for young players, but the high costs involved may be prohibitive for many families.

Foundation has built over 115 youth development parks, serving more than 1.

4 million kids in 2023, aiming to provide a safe place for children to play baseball.

Despite a decline in overall youth baseball participation, the foundation's growth is fueled by increasing parental spending, filling the gap left by declining public funding for youth play spaces.

Private entities have stepped in to offer youth sports opportunities as public investment in parks and recreational facilities has significantly decreased.

Private travel leagues are becoming more popular due to better facilities and a focus on competition and development, leading to increased costs for parents, especially in highly competitive club teams.

David Blitzer and Harris Blitzer Sports and Entertainment have invested in youth sports, acquiring Ripken baseball and forming Unrivaled Sports to expand their youth sports properties.

The partnership allowed Ripken baseball to grow to six facilities and host over 15,000 teams and 750,000 visitors, providing mutual benefits for the businesses and the expansion of youth sports opportunities.

The Pressures of Youth Baseball and College Scholarships

Youth baseball has evolved into a highly competitive and pressure-filled journey from a young age, with a focus on training and securing college scholarships.

However, the unrealistic expectations of parents, with only a small percentage of high school athletes actually obtaining scholarships, are adding to the pressure on young players.

The intense focus on professionalization and the financial investment in youth sports by parents are leading to a decrease in the kids' enjoyment and interest in the sport.

Encouraging children to specialize in a single sport is a growing concern among sports medicine professionals and organizations.

This early specialization not only increases the risk of burnout and injury but also reduces the likelihood of continued sports participation in the future.

Studies have shown that young athletes with higher levels of specialization have a much greater risk of getting injured, with specific sports leading to various types of injuries, such as wrist and elbow injuries for gymnasts, hip injuries for hockey players, and shoulder and elbow injuries for baseball players, including the need for surgeries.

The Impact of Different Sports on Youth and Business

Participating in soccer builds lower strength, endurance, and balance, while basketball focuses on quick movements and fast twitch muscles.

The pressure to specialize in baseball is increasing due to tournament requirements, but there is a call to diversify the sports portfolio for youth.

Unrivaled Sports' acquisition of a flag football league shows the potential for smart business growth and providing athletic opportunities for youth and communities in various sports.

The Ripkens' Vision for Youth Sports Business Growth

The Ripkens aim to build and run sports facilities for community youth, seeing it as a high-growth business.

They are focused on protecting and building the Ripken brand while prioritizing the long-term development of baseball.

Cal Ripken's approach is seen as an antidote to the excessive pressure in youth sports, with a focus on the honest purity and enthusiasm of the game.