Journey and Youth Sports Industry on the Precipice of Transformation in 2026

ATLANTA, February 5, 2026 (Newswire.com)
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As funding, participation and household engagement within the journey and youth sports activities {industry} continues to surge nationwide, LakePoint Sports, the premier journey and youth sports activities vacation spot within the nation, stays on the forefront of the {industry}’s transformation. Coming off a white-hot 2025, LakePoint enters 2026 because the chief shaping the following chapter of journey and youth sports activities offering best-in-industry sports activities competitors, Delivering Excellence within the Guest Experiences, leveraging new strategic partnerships, implementing progressive expertise, creating vertical integration of applications and occasions, and launching nationwide initiatives that exceed the evolving expectations of athletes, households, and types alike.

The journey and youth sports activities {industry} confirmed no indicators of slowing down in 2025 with 2026 anticipated to be a transformative yr. Team sport participation within the United States grew 5.7 p.c in comparison with the post-pandemic interval, in accordance with the 2025 SFIA Topline Participation Report, and greater than $1 billion in new and renovated youth sports activities services are anticipated to return on-line nationwide. As households proceed to prioritize sports activities journey, LakePoint stands out because the vacation spot for elite-level journey sports activities competitors whereas sustaining a relentless give attention to Delivering Excellence within the Guest Experience.

Families rated their general expertise on the LakePoint Sports campus a mean of 4.8 out of 5 in 2025, reflecting the group’s dedication to Delivering Excellence within the Guest Experience, highlighted by offering fixed cleanliness, friendliness, consolation, and comfort for each visitor. Investments and enhancements included new jumbo video boards in any respect eight premium baseball fields, expanded AI-powered streaming additional enhancing video-on-demand and reside streaming providers, cell communication and ordering instruments for elevated visitor providers, an elevated meals and beverage program with featured new merchandise and limited-time choices, and Guest Ambassador providers designed to raise the visitor expertise for the almost 3 million friends from all 50 states and all over the world that visited the LakePoint Sports campus in 2025.

“Our work goes far beyond guest amenities,” mentioned LaDonna Jordan, Senior Director of Business Operations at LakePoint Sports. “It’s about how people feel when they’re on the LakePoint Sports campus-from the first interaction to the last, consistent in delivering our LakePoint Mission, Vision, Purpose and Values,” acknowledged Jordan. “Our team and partners are aligned around collaboration, positivity, and service. We want families to leave remembering not just the competition, but how their campus experience made them feel and the desire to always return to compete and enjoy the campus amenities and our community year after year.”

Momentum at LakePoint Sports constructed steadily all through 2025, fueled by main bulletins, together with the opening of the NEW Element Hotel, eight sold-out Champions Weekends, two NEW Naming Rights companions, three NEW Presenting Partners, and 60 LakePoint campus companions together with 20 NEW companions driving a 24% enhance in partnerships yr over yr. LakePoint Sports’ partnership platform remained central to elevating the visitor expertise working with nationwide and native manufacturers together with Publix, Coca-Cola UNITED, Barnsley Resort, IHG Hotels, Aspen Hospitality, Academy Sports+Outdoors, Rawlings, Wilson, RYZE Hoops, NASA Tophat, Prep Baseball, Rally Volleyball, Varsity Spirit, and lots of extra. Youth sports activities captures an 81 p.c consideration price amongst dad and mom, in comparison with 54 p.c for professional sports activities sponsorship, in accordance with the Priority Partnerships Study-further reinforcing the distinctive worth and impression of the LakePoint partnership platform for manufacturers searching for significant household engagement.

The progress of LakePoint Partnerships was amplified by LakePoint’s increasing nationwide media footprint, with content material throughout digital, social, and broadcast platforms producing tens of thousands and thousands of impressions, thousands and thousands of engagements, and thousands and thousands of video views-driven largely by robust efficiency on social platforms and an aggressive multi-faceted content material technique augmented by 66 LakePoint produced broadcasts throughout baseball and basketball, showcasing elite competitors, recruiting moments, and behind-the-scenes entry for followers nationwide. LakePoint Media elevated athlete publicity and created significant alternatives for companions by built-in storytelling and branded content material.

“Delivering Excellence in the Guest Experience is our priority for every guest, engagement, and experience with the LakePoint brand, on or off campus,” mentioned Erika Wyant, Senior Director of Marketing at LakePoint Sports. “Our commitment to being the best destination in travel and youth sports remains steadfast, where families come together, moments are shared, and memories are made. Every investment we make, whether in technology, partnerships, or programming inside or outside the lines, is centered on creating meaningful, memorable experiences for both athletes and the people who support them,” added Wyant. “We truly want LakePoint to feel like a place where time together matters, where milestones are celebrated, and where the moments created here live on long after the competition ends.”

In 2025, LakePoint hosted the fifth annual National Youth Sports Summit, welcoming {industry} executives, leaders, manufacturers, and organizations from throughout the $40B+ journey and youth sports activities ecosystem. A spotlight of the Summit was the presentation of the 2025 Impact Award, offered by LakePoint Sports and Coca-Cola UNITED Bottling Company, to Arthur M. Blank, Owner of the Atlanta Falcons, Atlanta United, and AMB Group. Accepting on his behalf was Rich McKay, CEO of AMBSE and the Atlanta Falcons. Blank’s philanthropic leadership-including over $1 billion donated by The Arthur M. Blank Family Foundation-has remodeled communities nationwide, shaping youth sports activities, schooling, social justice, and environmental progress.

The Summit strengthened LakePoint’s position because the place the place the {industry} comes collectively to share concepts, construct relationships, and form the way forward for journey and youth sports activities. Details for the 2026 National Youth Sports Summit might be introduced in March.

Looking forward to 2026, the thriving journey and youth sports activities {industry} will proceed to develop as non-public fairness funding and consolidation additional “professionalize” the {industry} and scale back fragmentation as entry and prices are addressed by broader initiatives. At LakePoint Sports, sustained momentum will persist past its top-tier sports activities tournaments, showcases, camps, and clinics. LakePoint will launch numerous NEW visitor facilities and providers, together with digital and internet initiatives, an elevated meals and beverage menu, expanded media and content material platforms, and the introduction of an {industry} main LakePoint Soccer Initiative, a five-year nationwide platform designed to speed up the game’s progress as pleasure builds towards the 2026 FIFA World Cup. The transformation of the journey and youth sports activities {industry} may be skilled firsthand at LakePoint Sports, the premier journey and youth sports activities vacation spot within the nation.

Contact Information

Erika Wyant
724-825-7333
Erika.Wyant@lakepointsports.com

SOURCE: LakePoint Sports

Source: LakePoint Sports