Comcast Cable Spinoff Versant Explores Sale of Youth Sports App
The Takeaway
- Comcast’s Versant spinoff explores selling youth sports app SportsEngine.
- SportsEngine’s value is estimated between $150 million and $200 million.
- Youth sports tech market has exploded to an estimated $12 billion.
Versant, Comcast’s planned spinoff of its cable channels, is exploring a sale of its youth sports management app, SportsEngine, people familiar with the matter said. It’s the latest indication that the market for youth sports technology is headed for consolidation.
SportsEngine is a platform that manages communications and scheduling for kids’ athletic activities across ice hockey, soccer, volleyball and other sports. Versant hasn’t assigned a valuation to SportsEngine, and there is no guarantee that a sale will take place, according to one of the people familiar with the matter. Another person familiar with SportsEngine’s financials estimated its value at between $150 million and $200 million.
SportsEngine, founded in 2008, was valued at $133 million following its Series D funding in 2014, according to PitchBook. Comcast-owned NBC Sports Group acquired the platform in 2016 for an undisclosed sum. Last November, Comcast announced its intention to spin off cable news networks including CNBC, MSNBC and USA, along with digital assets like SportsEngine and Rotten Tomatoes, into a new company, Versant. That transaction is expected to close in early 2026.
Since the pandemic, youth sports technology has exploded into an estimated $12 billion market, powered by the rapid commercialization of kids’ sports and the corresponding financial interests of private equity and venture capital. Software for managing youth sports—which manages tasks such as scheduling games, communicating between parents and coaches, and administering field permits—represents the overwhelming majority of the marketplace, with Boston Consulting Group estimating it at worth $10 billion this year.
Competitors to SportsEngine are scaling rapidly as the fragmented industry has yet to produce a clear market leader. Last week, one of them, Fastbreak.ai, closed a $40 million Series A funding round led by VC firms Greycroft and GTMfund, as well as investments from the NBA and NHL. Other youth sports startups like Hudl that began as platforms for player highlights and game streaming are now expanding into scheduling and communications.
SportsEngine offers management software to 45,000 sports organizations across ice hockey, volleyball, baseball, lacrosse and other sports, according to its website, and has partnerships with U.S. governing bodies like USA Swimming.
Versant is currently only exploring a sale for SportsEngine and is not shopping its other digital assets, two of the people familiar with the matter said.