Rick Abbott has over 25 years working for the most iconic brands in sports like ESPN, NBC, and Formula 1 and is a former CEO of Cooperstown All-Star Village with Unrivaled Sports. A certified stick and ball guy Rick tells us why he's bullish on softball and the impact of major networks like ESPN on youth sports. We also talk about the Savannah Bananas youth approach, the needs for major brands to reinvest in grassroot sports, and the gives his thoughts on the recently popular "Norway Model".

0:00 - Intro

3:38 - Why Rick is Bullish on Softball

13:34 - How ESPN can Make Softball a Valuable Property

14:32 - ESPN and LLWS Relationship

16:40 - Streamers Future in Youth Sports

21:16 - The Concerns Around Youth Gambling

24:16 - The Softball Facility Conundrum

25:50 - Banana Ball or Little League Ball?

37:34 - The Mental Toll on Youth Baseball Players

40:47 - How NIL is Transforming High School Recruiting

44:10 - Do Youth Sports Parents Get a Bad Rap?

47:47 - Can the Norway Model Work in the U.S.?

53:23 - The Importance of Major Brand Sponsorships

Get your tickets to our Youth Sports Business Conference in Philadelphia from April 14th-15th: https://events.buyingsandlot.com/summit-2026

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Kyle Pagan, Kyle Scott, and James Kratch discuss tech and businesses improving safety protocols following a tragic shooting at a youth hockey game, LiveBarn's complex case of video copyright, and USA Volleyball ending it's deal with SportsEngine, which brings out the Sale-O-Meter.

0:00 - Intro: Grab Tix to the Buying Sandlot Summit

1:59 - The Business Case for Improving Safety after a Youth Hockey Tragedy

12:20 - LiveBarn's Complex Video Copyright Case

26:35 - USA Volleyball Ends Deal with SportsEngine

28:32 - The SportsEngine Sale-O-Meter Update

29:45 - Who Will Replace SportsEngine at USA Volleyball?

33:00 ...breaking news about the breaking news

36:58 - The Future of Streaming

40:55 - We'll be at the Flag World Championships in Orlando

Get your tickets to our Youth Sports Business Conference in Philadelphia from April 14th-15th: https://events.buyingsandlot.com/summit-2026

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Norway is dominating the Winter Olympics again, which has people lamenting their youth sports model. Norway emphasizes participation, joy, and multi-sport play, compared to the US system that is focused on competition and elite athletes. Kyle and Kyle argue against the comp while agreeing the US could adopt some of its philosophies. They then shift to Adam Silver's comments on AI's potential to hyper-personalize the sports experiences and argue for live sports experiences piggy-backing off of Barack Obama's comments about sports reminding us about our common humanity.

0:00 - The Norway Model

1:48 - Should the US adopt the Norway Youth Sports Model?

17:55 - Adam Silver Thinks AI Will Hyper-Personalize Broadcasts

23:30 - Obama's Reminds Us How Big the Sports Opportunity Is

25:20 - The Future of AI Broadcasts

Get your tickets to our Youth Sports Business Conference in Philadelphia from April 14th-15th: https://events.buyingsandlot.com/summit-2026

Follow Us:

Subscribe to the Newsletter: https://www.buyingsandlot.com/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/buying-sandlot/

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TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@buyingsandlot