In its third team sports acquisition so far in 2021, BSN Sports has acquired Dillard’s Sporting Goods, based in Anderson, SC. A third-generation family-owned business, Dillard’s has served the regional Anderson community team sports business since its founding in 1946.

Despite an economic recession in 2020, the U.S. sports and fitness market, including footwear, apparel and equipment, grew by 0.6 percent in 2020. The Sports & Fitness Industry Association (SFIA) released the 2021 Manufacturers’ Sales by Category Report last month, reporting major growth in...

Most team dealers not called BSN Sports will know the feeling of losing Nike as a vendor as the shoe brand continues its oft-stated strategy to rely more on its own direct-to-consumer efforts rather than the sporting goods stores and other retailers who have supported them through the years.

One year ago, the wonderful sounds of baseball such as the crack of the bat or the pop of a fastball into the catcher’s mitt were effectively silenced by COVID-19. Major League Baseball did not return to action until late July, youth and travel leagues had delayed starts...

After a year of pandemic-mandated virtual gatherings, the two major team sports buying groups plan to return to in-person shows in June in a welcome sign that the industry is returning to a sense of post-COVID normalcy. Sports Inc. will hold a physical show June 10-12...

Nike and the National Football League are committing $5 million in product to help grow flag football within high school athletics. This multi-year initiative will provide a one-time donation of up to $100,000 in product to state athletic associations that offer...

Hot new products as girls’ and women’s sports take center stage in a challenging year. There is no shortage of new products being designed specifically for the female athlete. New for 2021 are trend-right, high-performance and good-looking gear and apparel, with some of the best...

Team Insight has been the voice of America’s team dealers ever since our first issue 15 years ago. There have been some significant changes in the world of team sports since then – even before a pandemic changed the entire world – and we have always been there to document it in the words of...

It wasn’t ALL bad in 2020 for fast-pitch softball. Despite the nationwide shutdown of sports, there were a few states that actually conducted and completed a high school fast-pitch softball season.

Do fathers know what their daughters want and need for their team sports? Team Insight went to the source and asked five dads around the country how they feel about the products they buy for their young athletes — and if they even have a say in that purchase.

There’s a new player in the lacrosse training business as SKLZ has unveiled two lacrosse training products — the Quickster Lacrosse Goal and the Universal Shooting Targets.

In partnership with the Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA), Wilson Sporting Goods recently unveiled the league’s new official game ball before the start of the milestone 25th WNBA season.

In a move that both expands its reach into women’s lacrosse while solving an internal product conflict, Brine is rebranding itself exclusively as a women’s equipment manufacturer and will no longer make men’s lacrosse gear. Fittingly, it made the announcement on March 8, International Women’s Day.

In its second early 2021 acquisition, BSN Sports has acquired Sports Plus, based in Tullahoma, TN, and its owner Joe Barstad has joined the company. Barstad had owned and operated Sports Plus since founding the business in 1997 and he received the...

The Kren Bat Company, founded in 1913 and which sold an estimated five million bats from 1913 until 1953, has been purchased by the Red Eye Elephant Group. The new owner plans to relaunch the brand in Spring 2022, which some bats to preview this spring.

Nerf is coming to flag football through a unique partnership between Hasbro and the NFL to become the official supplier of footballs and flag belts for NFL Flag league play in the United States. The partnership represents a return to sports for the Nerf brand, which will put...

Team dealers and retailers interested in attending the rescheduled NSGA Management Conference and Team Dealer Summit in September should consider applying for a scholarship to the industry’s leading gathering.

The COVID-19 pandemic has claimed another team dealer casualty as Page’s Clarksville Sporting Goods, Clarksville, TN, will be going out of business on March 15. According to a report in the local Clarksville Now by writer Neil Rye, the local sporting goods store has been a staple in...

In a continuing sign of its financial challenges, Under Armour is reducing its much-ballyhooed sponsorship commitments by as much as 47 percent to $361.6 million in 2020 from $679.1 million in 2019, according to its recently released annual report.

Trigon Sports has acquired the assets, supply chain and customer base of Practice Partner, located in Wilmington, NC. The merged business will operate out of Memphis, TN. The combined entities will bring additional depth to the existing ProCage/Trigon Sports product line and expand its network of...

Industry veteran Matt Kaplan has been appointed as the first president at OrderMyGear (OMG), where he will lead OMG’s global sales organization, account management, brand partnerships and marketing in this newly created role. Under his leadership for the past three years...

BSN Sports last month acquired Shively Sporting Goods, based in Louisville, KY. Founded by Bob Flanders in 1968, Shively’s was the largest independent sporting goods dealer in Kentucky. Flanders’ children, Trisha Morrison and Mike Flanders, will join BSN Sports as part of this acquisition...

It may not impact youth baseball too much this year, but the recent move by Major League Baseball to change the makeup of its baseballs – basically making them softer so the home run rate doesn’t continue to skyrocket – certainly will have an impact on the game at the highest level.

In a significant partnership in youth baseball, Augusta Sportswear Brands has been named the Official Uniform Supplier for Babe Ruth Baseball and Cal Ripken Baseball. Augusta Sportswear Brands, whose brands include Russell Athletic, Holloway and Pacific Headwear...

According to an excellent report from the National Sporting Goods Association (NSGA) and initially reported in its NSGA Scoreboard newsletter this week, there are 15 states and Washington D.C., planning or still hoping to have a spring high school football season.