BASEBALL YOUTH NOW POWERED BY ATHLETX SPORTS GROUP, TOGETHER BECOMING THE NATIONAL LEADER IN YOUTH BASEBALL!
Two great youth baseball brands are coming together to form the sport’s preeminent youth baseball event and media company. Athletx Sports Group, parent of week-long tournament leader Youth Nationals, has acquired Baseball Youth, the Nation’s Largest Youth Baseball Network, which produces Baseball Youth, the Nation’s Baseball Magazine for Kids. The company will operate out of Louisville, Kentucky under the newly formed entity, 24-7 Baseball.
Together, Baseball Youth and Youth Nationals will produce a series of team and individual player events across the U.S. Baseball Youth will communicate with hundreds of thousands of players, coaches and families through its print and digital media platforms, which feature national rankings, tournament recaps, team profiles, players to watch, posters, MLB player interviews, games and more. In recent years, Baseball Youth has partnered with brands such as Louisville Slugger, Wilson, Rawlings, Easton, Evoshield, Mizuno, DeMarini, Majestic and New Era, as well as Disney, Activision, Jack Links, Topps, Airheads, Big League Chew and more. Baseball Youth is an industry leader with a social media presence of over 350,000 followers between Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Snapchat and its web presence with its powerful baseballyouth.com.
Baseball Youth’s leading events include Baseball Youth MAJORS and Baseball Youth National Championships. Baseball Youth has also been a trendsetter, hosting individual player showcase events like the Baseball Youth All American Games, Future Games and Best of the Best.
Youth Nationals currently hosts twelve week-long events, the Youth Baseball and Youth Softball Nationals, held in 6 different venues across the country. The Youth Nationals is known industry-wide as the leader in this space and has hosted thousands of baseball and softball teams from 46 different states and 7 different countries in the 9U through 15U age groups.
Scott Hacker, Founder of Baseball Youth and also former collegiate and professional baseball player, will be a key piece of 24-7 Baseball and will remain part of the ownership group. “In just a short time, Athletx has grown from a small tournament business to be known as the nation’s leader in week-long youth baseball events. Their true professionalism and attention to detail is top-notch. By coming together, it allows Baseball Youth to focus more on the individual player while expanding our publishing and media network. We are truly excited about the future of Baseball Youth and the youth baseball industry as a whole,” says Hacker.
Baseball Youth will be led by Aaron Flaker, one of the co-owners of Athletx. Flaker comes to the baseball industry as an executive and entrepreneur with over twenty-two years of youth sports event experience. Flaker and his former partners built a powerhouse cheer and dance company, The JAM Brands. JAM rocketed to become the 2nd largest cheer and dance event company in the world, producing 125+ events annually across the U.S. and internationally. After selling the company in 2015 to Varsity Brands, Flaker shortly thereafter joined Athletx Co-Founders, Jim Haddaway and John Ruby, as a partner. Flaker is a former collegiate player and has coached numerous rec and travel baseball teams over the last twenty five years. He founded the Louisville STING travel baseball club in 2010 and still serves as its Program Director.
“We are ecstatic to have the Baseball Youth brand in our Athletx family. We have a really big vision of how to make youth baseball even better than it is today, and the Baseball Youth brand will only further enhance our ability to offer quality information, products and services to the teams, players, coaches and families it serves,” says Flaker. “Youth baseball could use a strong national voice when it comes to its future growth and evolution. We believe that Baseball Youth is THE vehicle to assist with ensuring the short and long-term success of this great sport!“
