🤫The $170B Sports Industry Secret: How Fans Made By Age 14 Drive Revenue Growth

Hey ,

Welcome to edition 14! I’m really pleased with the impact and feedback that The Sports Stack has received since we started at the beginning of the year, so thank you, everyone! This week, our focus leans slightly more towards sports business, with a touch of technology rather than a pure technology focus, but it’s packed with interesting analysis and incredible stories. We’ll cover:

• The $170 Billion Race for Tomorrow's Super Fans

• From College Golfer to Garage Innovator: Meet Jared Doerfler of Hanna Golf

• Quick hits and updates

🎁 Look out for our downloadable Youth Fandom playbook, which you can access by sharing The Sports Stack with a friend or colleague. 

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🏅 The $170 Billion Race for Tomorrow's Super Fans

I’m sure that by now, many of you have read the recent Two Circles Sports Revenue League report, so I don’t want to rehash it here. However, I wanted to share a few key statistics from the report before concentrating on one area that particularly caught my attention.

• The global sports industry generated a record-breaking $170 billion in revenue in 2024, up from $159 billion in 2023.

• The Top 20 Sports Intellectual Property (IP) Owners accounted for 44% of the total industry revenue in 2024, up from 35% a decade ago, showing increasing concentration of revenue among major players.

• The NFL was the highest-grossing sports property in 2024, generating nearly $14 billion, an 8% increase over 2023. 

• The Paris 2024 Olympic Games sold 12 million tickets over 19 days, surpassing the entire Taylor Swift Eras Tour’s 10 million tickets sold over 149 days, and generated nearly $3.8 billion in revenue. 

• 182 sports IP owners achieved “Super Accelerator” status, meaning they grew revenues at a 10% compound annual growth rate (CAGR) over the past decade, compared to the industry average of 4.5%.

You can read the full report here. 

Whilst reading through the numbers, there was a stat that I couldn’t stop thinking about; on average, the most popular sports have +31% of fans ‘made by 14’ versus other sports.

Since sports IP owners collectively generate $170 billion annually, the early fan-creation window is potentially worth tens of billions in lifetime value, so it felt wrong not to explore this further.

The Economics of Early Fandom

Looking at the numbers, it's clear why the Top 20 sports IP owners (who now control 44% of market revenue, up from 35% a decade ago) have an unfair advantage through creating fandom at a young age. 

• The compounding effect of early exposure creates habitual engagement.

• Algorithm-driven media platforms reinforce these early preferences, building long-lasting affiliations. Whether you like it or not, algorithms are ruling our lives. 

• The 92% higher daily consumption drives premium media value.

• The 88% higher spending translates directly to merchandise, tickets, and subscriptions.

So, how do you create fandom by age 14? 

I was thinking about this question, and also thinking back to when I was 14 and what sports I loved to watch and consume. 14 is young, and at that age, I was more focused on playing sports and running around, not really watching them or ‘engaging’ too much but as you’ll see I believe in those times that participation was the gateway for many young sports fans. I recognise it was a different time 16 years ago, but my fandom was mainly driven by the sports I played or watched with my dad, and if I were to write down the factors that I think are most important in creating fandom at a young age, it would be: 

• Participation and access (access meaning the ability to participate but also to watch): playing your favourite sport with your friends on the street or at school. 

• Family (e.g., watching sports with your parents), friends, and social proof: watching sports with your parents or going to a game with your friends. 

• Personalities and celebrities/star athletes. The allure of Ronaldo, Messi, Clark, etc. 

• Tradition, heritage and tribalism (e.g. your local team). Your parents bringing you to their favourite local team's games. 

• Technology. Social media, streaming, YouTube. 

I want to recognise that participation has many important impacts, primarily the positive effects it has on the health of kids and their futures. Large and influential Sports IP owners like the NFL, NBA, and MLB should invest in greater access and participation at youth levels (and they do), without solely considering the return on their bottom line. However, when large sports IP owners are thinking about building long-lasting audiences, it is clear that this should start at the grassroots level, engaging young fans in the right way and attempting to create genuine connections. 

Much has changed in recent years, and technological advancements mean that participation may no longer be the main way to create fandom. 

• Immersive gaming has become a primary entry point: The FIFA/EA Sports FC gaming franchise introduces millions of kids to football's rules, stars, and teams before they ever kick a real ball. NBA2K creates basketball literacy in regions with limited court access.

• Social media platforms are creating personality-first fan journeys: Formula 1 grew its under-25 audience by 90% in three years, mainly through personality-driven content that made drivers relatable before viewers fully understood the sport.

• Content is designed for discovery, not just consumption: The NFL's partnership with Nickelodeon creates kid-friendly broadcasts that explain rules and celebrate fun moments over technical analysis.

• Short-form video democratises access and removes paywalls that inhibit younger fans: The NBA's league and team TikTok accounts generated over 18 billion views last season, allowing young fans to connect with basketball culture through highlight loops rather than full games.

• Second-screen experiences complement traditional viewing: Premier League's Fantasy Football engages over 11 million players, many starting before age 14, teaching club knowledge through gamification.

Which of the Two Circles Sport IP leaders are connecting with younger audiences?

✅ Leading the way:

• NBA (37 avg. age): The NBA dominates the youth space, with 56% of fans under 44 and the strongest social media presence among major leagues. Their player-first marketing approach and digital-native content strategy have created an engagement ecosystem that resonates deeply with Gen Z in the form of short-form clips and highlights. 

• F1 (32 avg. age): A remarkable turnaround story, dropping average fan age from 36 to 32 in just five years. "Drive to Survive" transformed F1's youth appeal, but their STEM tie-ins and behind-the-scenes content have sustained momentum, now outpacing football's youth growth in Europe. F1 completely bucks the trend of participation = fandom; one to dig into another day. 

• Premier League: Uniquely balanced across age demographics, with 21% of UK 18-29s citing it as a top interest, matching older age brackets in a market where youth sports interest is otherwise declining. Their dual approach of traditional matchday experiences and digital innovation has created a blueprint for cross-generational appeal, especially their market-leading fantasy game. 

🤔 Could do better:

• MLB (57 avg. age): The paradox case, 70% of MLB fans became fans before 17 (the highest conversion rate among US leagues), yet they have the oldest median viewer age at 57. Despite strong youth entry points through Little League, MLB struggles most with retention as fans age, with just 12% of their audience in the 18-24 bracket. That’s another interesting case study for another day. 

• NCAA: Despite campus engagement success, only 8% of 18-24 year-olds rank March Madness as a top interest. The college sports model excels at creating intense but localised fandom rather than broad youth engagement.

👇️ Unlock our exclusive Youth Sports Engagement playbook with proven strategies for building lifetime fan value by sharing The Sports Stack with just one colleague or friend.

⛳️ From College Golfer to Garage Innovator: Meet Jared Doerfler of Hanna Golf

This week's entrepreneur/business spotlight features Jared Doerfler, who transformed his Division 1 golf experience at Northern Iowa into a boutique putter company called Hanna Golf.

While major sports IP owners invest millions in capturing young fans, individual entrepreneurs like Jared take a different approach. The Hanna Golf story demonstrates how authentic craftsmanship can build passionate followings even in a market dominated by established players who excel at early fan acquisition. 

After years in medical sales and growing his "Perfect Putt" newsletter to 11,000 subscribers, Jared took the plunge in 2023. With no prior experience, Jared emptied his bank account, installed a CNC mill in his garage, taught himself CAD/CAM design, and launched Hanna Golf in July 2024. I hope you enjoy this short Q&A, where I focused on the technology and consumer side of his business. 

Q. Before Hanna Golf, you ran a very successful newsletter called Perfect Putt (and I see you’re still posting occasionally). Have you leveraged your Perfect Putt audience to help you grow demand for Hanna Golf? 

Sort of - I can do a much better job at this. I just don’t love the idea of talking about Hanna Golf in Perfect Putt. I have been fortunate to meet many people in the golf space through the newsletter who have helped me along my Hanna Golf journey. So it has undoubtedly helped, indirectly. I know people who have read the newsletter and have purchased a putter because we earned the trust of our audience. 

Q. You taught yourself CNC machining through YouTube in 8 months. What manufacturing technologies are you leveraging that give Hanna Golf an edge over established putter brands? 

What I really enjoy is the ability to take an idea from CAD to a finished prototype in just one day. I love that we control our manufacturing process rather than outsourcing it. This autonomy allows us to move more quickly when needed. 

Q. You're producing 60 putters monthly with plans to scale. What's your vision for using technology to maintain boutique quality while increasing production efficiency?

We took delivery last month of a new CNC mill. Our capacity is a little over 100 putters per month. Scaling is tricky in our space because it relies heavily on equipment which ties up quite a bit of capital. There are some exciting developments in the CAM side utilising AI for toolpaths. When you get into the nitty gritty of a new putter, toolpath efficiency is crucial for increasing capacity. You can easily spend a significant part of the day trying to achieve the most efficient and time-effective toolpath. The beauty of creating a more efficient toolpath is that it doesn’t cost you anything. And AI has the ability to reduce the time needed to create those toolpaths in CAM quite significantly. 

Q. Given your insights into golf industry economics (from your newsletter), how are you positioning Hanna Golf to capture the value in the million-dollar putter market?

Putters is a really unique market. Golfers really fall into two buckets. They either purchase five new putters per year or purchase one putter every 20 years. Around 2.5 million putters are sold each year around the world. We are really happy with our product and have a couple of different features that we believe make our putters great. Our mill pattern is a little deeper than a traditional putter to allow for a softer feel off the face. Our putters are milled out one piece of 303 stainless steel - there are no welds, no bolts, no screws. 

Golf is a game of relationships. A couple of decades ago, you went to your local clubmaker in town to get new golf clubs. That has changed significantly today. We want to bring that feel back. I enjoy talking to customers about what got them into golf and why they play. I love talking on the phone or trading emails with customers about their experiences with our putters.

Q. What’s the future for Hanna Golf? 

I’ve just been trying to keep this thing alive for the last year. Everything seems reactive - I want to get more strategic so we can continue to grow. Since we are self-funding this thing, growth is tricky; it is like threading the needle. 

Our immediate future includes new designs, increased shop efficiency, more limited releases, and additional collaborations. 

In the long term, we’d love to have more mills spinning in our shop with added capabilities. I like where we are; I am proud of how far we have come, but I recognise how far we still need to go to make this actually work. 

🗞️ Quick hits and updates: 

🤑 Harbinger Sports Partners announced this week the official launch of a $750 million private equity fund - Harbinger Sports Partners Fund I, LP, is focused on acquiring minority stakes, typically between 1% and 5%, in major U.S. professional sports franchises across the NBA, NFL, and MLB. The fund is led by a high-profile team: Mark Cuban (longtime NBA owner and investor) will serve as general partner, Steve Cannon (former CEO of AMB Sports and Entertainment, parent of the Atlanta Falcons) as co-founder and managing partner, and Rashaun Williams (venture investor and limited partner of the Atlanta Falcons) as founder and managing partner.

Key details of the announcement include:

• Fund Size and Structure: The fund targets $750 million in capital, with plans to invest $50–$150 million per transaction, aiming for a portfolio of 5–15 minority stakes in a defined universe of 92 eligible franchises

• Investment Focus: Harbinger will exclusively acquire minority positions (not controlling stakes) in U.S.-based teams with strong long-term growth potential and durable economics

🏋️ Whoop launch 5.0, but not without some controversy. 

• WHOOP unveiled two new devices: the streamlined WHOOP 5.0 and the WHOOP MG (Medical Grade) with advanced health monitoring capabilities

• Hardware improvements include a 7% smaller design, 14+ days of battery life, improved sensors, and haptic feedback.

• New AI Assistant delivers personalised insights and recommendations based on your health data.

• WHOOP MG introduces on-demand ECG and blood pressure monitoring, a rare feature in consumer wearables.

• The launch, however, was overshadowed by subscription controversy when WHOOP suddenly changed its long-standing upgrade policy, requiring members to either extend subscriptions or pay upgrade fees.

• After significant customer backlash, WHOOP partially reversed course, offering free upgrades to members with 12+ months remaining on their subscription.

🏈 The NFL is using predictive modelling to help with its scheduling. We’ve discussed in the past that scheduling is becoming one of the most challenging parts of any sports strategy and planning due to sports' globalisation and expansion. According to SBJ, the NFL is leaning heavily on AI and analytics to help. 

• Data-Driven Approach: The NFL’s predictive models utilise data from around 1,200 sources. These sources include TV schedules, ticket and merchandise sales, economic indicators, real estate trends, restaurant prices, and more. Additionally, the models take into account player popularity, fantasy football interest, playoff implications, and external events that could impact game demand. 

• Viewership Prediction: Predictive analytics, particularly from Recentive Analytics, estimate the expected TV ratings for each potential game slot. These predictions are highly accurate. Recentive’s models achieved within 3% of actual viewership numbers in 2024.

• Optimisation Process: The NFL uses specialised scheduling software (Optimal Planning Solutions), predictive analytics (Recentive), optimisation platforms (Gurobi), and massive cloud computing resources (AWS) to analyse over 100,000 plausible schedule options. 

📺️ YouTube is set to make NFL history by exclusively streaming the Friday night Week 1 game of the 2025 NFL season from São Paulo, Brazil, for FREE to a global audience. This appears to be a pure reach strategy from the NFL, allowing them to broadcast the event to millions of YouTube viewers around the world. 

❓️ Perplexity’s sports march continues as they secure their first sports sponsorship with Lewis Hamilton. 

💵 The San Francisco 49ers are selling a 6% stake at a world record valuation.

✍️ John Wall's analysis of ESPN's much-anticipated DTC launch is worth reading and provides details about pricing and offerings. 

Thanks for reading,
Mark