Harris, Blitzer Add Flag Football Operator to Unrivaled Portfolio

Unrivaled Sports has acquired national youth league Under the Lights as the newly launched firm continues its rapid expansion following an investment from The Chernin Group.

Last month, Josh Harris and David Blitzer launched Unrivaled, including an investment from TCG. It rolled up the youth sports assets the longtime sports team owners had purchased during the previous two years. The private equity titans have aggressively acquired “diamond”  sports properties, including Cooperstown All Star Village, Ripken Baseball and Diamond Nation, but see a similar opportunity to build an ecosystem around flag football.

“One of our goals at Unrivaled is for the flag football vertical to stand alongside what we have built in baseball,” Amanda Shank, EVP of business development at Unrivaled, said in a video interview. “We think it has that potential.”

This is the second flag football buy for Unrivaled. In December, it made a $10 million investment for a majority stake in the ForeverLawn Sports Complex at the Hall of Fame Village in Canton, Ohio. Shank expects more investments in the sport over the next 12 months.

Unrivaled plans to hire someone to lead its football division, similar to the role that Wade Martin serves as CEO of its baseball assets.

Under the Lights operates 170 local flag football leagues with 35,000 boys and girls from first through eighth grades, with events for more than 5,000 teams in 27 states.

Terms of the purchase were not released.

Flag football’s popularity has surged over the past decade, as parents opt to send their kids into what is deemed a safer version of football. Roughly 2.4 million children participated in organized flag football last year, according to the International Federation of American Football. That includes nearly 500,000 girls, up 63% from 2019. Colleges are creating more flag football programs, and even offering some scholarships for girls at the NAIA level. Flag football will be an Olympic sport in 2028 in Los Angeles.

“With flag football’s inclusion at LA28, we have a unique opportunity to shape the future of the sport at the youth level over the next four years and beyond,” Andy Campion, Unrivaled chairman and member of the LA28 Board of Directors, said in a statement.

Under the Lights was founded in 2015 and was bought by OneTeam Partners six years later. OneTeam, which has licensing partnerships with multiple pro sports league unions, including the NFLPA, will retain a minority interest in Under the Lights.

“We think that that NFL player base really could be a differentiator for some of the leagues and programs,” Shank said.

Under Armour is the naming partner for the league and supplies all of the gear for athletes. The relationship will continue, as UA is also the exclusive apparel company for Unrivaled’s baseball division. Current Under the Lights executives, Matt Raab and Tyisha Smith, will join Unrivaled’s operating team.

Unrivaled now has 15 youth sports properties in its portfolio. The company expects to host 635,000 athletes and more than 1.4 million attendees annually at its sites.