In a major acquisition in the team sports business, Rawlings Sporting Goods is acquiring Easton Diamond Sports, a merger of two of the leading softball and baseball sporting goods companies. Rawlings and Easton will remain separate companies and continue to operate independently.

With the weather turning cooler and its key hockey season right around the corner, Canadian sporting goods chain and team dealer Source for Sports, with more 150 stores in Canada and the U.S., has put in place a number of protocols to direct its business during the continued COVID-19 pandemic.

Major League Baseball Players, Inc. has entered into a partnership with 2nd Skull Inc., a protective headgear company, that makes the 2nd Skull brand officially licensed by MLB Players. As part of the arrangement, MLB Players also takes an ownership interest in 2nd Skull.

It may get a little uncomfortable when the uniforms get delivered, but apparently UCLA will continue to wear Under Armour this season despite filing a lawsuit over Under Armour’s move to terminate its contract. It comes down to the fact that there probably isn’t time to find another...

Soccer in the Streets, a non-profit organization based in Atlanta that promotes the sport for inner-city youth, has been selected as one of the 2020 winners of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) Sports Award. The winners receive a $25,000 cash award and were honored at...

It is happening to small retailers all over the country, but a recent terse letter from Nike to an iconic local sporting goods store in the Bronx is causing quite a stir in the New York metropolitan area.As an article in the New York Daily News this week put it, “Nike, with its...

There is some optimism among youth sports organizers as fall sports seasons have taken shape, but there is real concern as cooler weather and indoor sports approach in the age of COVID-19. But at least there has been some progress in late summer and early fall.

With the costs of purchasing a new baseball bat every season beyond the reach of many players, used bats now carry more weight. That’s because as part of the new Trade In and Trade Up Program, Easton will give players credit toward the purchase of a new Easton USSSA or...

In a not-unexpected series of decisions in light of COVID-19 mandated restrictions on travel and large gatherings, the two major team sports buying groups, along with BSN Sports, are all going virtual with their late-2020 meetings.Sports Inc. made the decision over the summer to go virtual again...

The National Sporting Goods Association (NSGA) is currently accepting nominations for the Class of 2022 of the Sporting Goods Industry Hall of Fame. The nomination period lasts through February 19, 2021. Nominees must have been involved in the industry for at least 20 years and made...

With the sport under pressure from many outside factors – ranging from COVID-19 restrictions to cancelled seasons to ongoing safety concerns – the National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS) and the National Football League (NFL) have entered into a unique partnership...

Markwort Sporting Goods was recently honored by the city of Creve Coeur, MO, for making sustainability a major part of its business practices. Markwort received the 2020 Green Business Award as part of the fifth annual Creve Coeur Business Awards at a luncheon on September 17.

Already a major player in the U.S. team sports market, Augusta Sportswear Brands is expanding its global footprint by opening a Canadian sales office, showroom and website to serve the Canadian market. Chad Currah is its director of sales.The company’s brands include Augusta Sportswear...

Just as health experts are urging universal mask-wearing in public places when social distancing is not possible, more athletes are making masks part of their uniform and workout gear as schools and other organizations struggle to return to play in the fall of 2020.

As schools prepared to open this fall and hoped to play a semblance of a fall sports season, team dealers turned to their key vendors for assistance in getting the right product to the right places at the right time during this school year unlike any other.

In a novel public/private partnership, team dealer and sporting goods retailer Burghardt Sporting Goods has partnered with the city of New Berlin in Wisconsin to acquire and re-use a former Walmart building for the construction of the New Berlin Recreation Center.The recreation center will...

Shock Doctor has unveiled three football lip guard designs that feature “Black Lives Matter,” with 100 percent of profits from sales of the special product being donated to the United Negro College Fund (UNCF). The UNCF has a history of supporting students with scholarships to...

BSN Sports and its parent company, Varsity Brands, along with fellow brands Varsity Spirit and Herff Jones, have released three episodes of season three of their “Believe in You” video series. Each episode includes a free downloadable lesson plan and activity guide for teachers and...

Augusta Sportswear has partnered with Perfect Game, one of the largest elite youth baseball and softball platforms and scouting services, in a multi-year apparel and uniform relationship.“We are thrilled to be partnering with Perfect Game on so many levels, we quickly realized...

Even though its signature event was not played in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Little League World Series apparently remains a hot property as ESPN announced recently that it will continue to air the Little League Baseball World Series as well as other events through 2030 as part of...

The Green Easton, which debuted in 1978 and gained legendary status with high school and college players, is back in a new version called the B5 Pro Big Barrel. The revamped bat debuts at a time when baseball in America is struggling due to the coronavirus, but Easton president Dan Jelinek tells...

As part of its ongoing efforts to support the team business during the COVID-19 pandemic, the National Sporting Goods Association (NSGA) has teamed up with the National Athletic Equipment Reconditioners Association (NAERA) on...

Regional sporting goods retailer Hibbett Sports has launched a unique school-related initiative that may have a significant impact on team dealers and this segment of the industry. Buried in a recent quarterly report was notice of something called the Sole School initiative involving more than...

Building an impressive retail footprint in Canada cemented Eric Bezanson’s selection to the Sporting Goods Industry Hall of Fame Class of 2021.Bezanson, the owner of Cleve’s Source for Sports stores in Canada’s Maritime provinces of Nova Scotia and New Brunswick, will join more than...

Once ballyhooed as a major collegiate sponsorship that brought it into the big time against rivals Nike and Adidas, the $280 million Under Armour deal with UCLA has fallen apart and the brand is now being sued for more than $200 million in compensation by the university.