KemperSports has announced a multi–year partnership with Perfect Game to bring youth baseball events to Fields at Station 63 in Mansfield, Texas.

Through a partnership between the city of Mansfield and KemperSports, Fields at Station 63 has undergone a multi-million-dollar renovation with upgraded playing fields. The park now features eight turf baseball diamonds, a renovated central plaza, improved concessions and family spaces.

The venue will re-open on September 6. Beginning in the fall, Perfect Game will host 35 weekends per year of youth baseball tournaments at the newly renovated venue.

“This isn’t just another tournament series,” said Steve Goris, senior vice president of KemperSports Venues. “We’re combining Perfect Game’s industry-leading tournament platform with KemperSports’ expertise in hospitality, facility management and event operations. Together, we’re creating an environment that delivers a best-in-class experience for players, families, and fans — from the moment they arrive at the park to the last out of the weekend.”

The partnership will combine Perfect Game’s network of players, coaches, scouts and media with KemperSports’ service, facility expertise and community engagement.

“We are excited for the future of Perfect Game in the Dallas-Fort Worth metro,” said Taylor McCollough, vice president, operations at Perfect Game. “We look forward to working with KemperSports to provide quality competition and the first-class experience that our teams expect at Perfect Game events now at Fields at Station 63.”

Ripken Baseball has signed a 10-year extension with the city of Pigeon Forge, Tennessee, to continue operating The Ripken Experience Pigeon Forge through 2035.

The Ripken Experience Pigeon Forge opened in March 2016 with six turf fields modeled after historic and modern Major League ballparks. In 2023, the complex expanded to include four additional renovated fields at Wear Farm City Park, bringing the total number of playable fields to 10. The venue is designed to replicate the journey from the Minor to Major Leagues, with field layouts inspired by iconic stadiums such as Oriole Park at Camden Yards (Baltimore), BB&T Ballpark (Winston-Salem) and Fluor Field (Greenville).

“Our partnership with the city of Pigeon Forge has created one of the greatest destinations in all of youth sports,” said Bill Ripken, co-founder of Ripken Baseball. “From the moment families arrive at the complex and see the backdrop of the Smoky Mountains, they know they’re somewhere special. We’re proud to keep building unforgettable baseball moments in Pigeon Forge.”

Since launching The Ripken Experience Pigeon Forge in the Smoky Mountains region, the facility has welcomed nearly 10,000 youth baseball and softball teams that played 30,000 games. Over 750,000 unique visitors have generated 480,000 room nights and driven an estimated $320 million in economic impact. Tournaments run nine months out of the year and attract teams from more than 30 states and several countries.

“Ripken Baseball has been a valuable partner for nearly a decade and this extension allows us to continue that momentum,” said Pigeon Forge Mayor Kevin McClure. “The Ripken Experience has delivered measurable economic results while also providing our residents with access to upgraded sports facilities and year-round opportunities.”

This webinar took place August 19, 2025, and is available on demand:

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Youth sports proved their sustainable power during the pandemic and their rise only continues. But what does your event and destination need to be aware of that to position your organization for further success? In this webinar, join the president of one of the nation’s largest youth sports organizations, an industry veteran of events large and small, and a destination leader who has found success attracting events in a roundtable discussion of where the youth sports industry is headed. And come prepared with your own questions to make sure you are staying on top of where the industry is going next.

Participants:

Glen Allen
Vice President of Sports and Entertainment
Visit Lauderdale

Glen Allen joined Visit Lauderdale in 2023 as the vice president of sports and entertainment. He has over 14 years of experience in sports tourism, having previously worked with the Palm Beach County Sports Commission and Central Florida Sports Commission (now Greater Orlando Sports Commission). In his current role, he oversees the sports and entertainment department, which features four teammates whose role is to recruit, develop and cultivate event opportunities for Broward County. He also leads Visit Lauderdale’s efforts with developing sports marketing partnerships with opportunities including the Florida Panthers, Wolverhampton Wanderers and Meyer Shank Racing among others.

Megan Ditchman
Business Development Senior Manager
Global Sports Experiences

Megan Ditchman has 14 years of experience in soccer event management, currently serving as business development senior manager for Global Sports Experiences. She previously worked 13 years for Elite Tournaments in a variety of roles including senior vice president of marketing and partnerships. Throughout her career she has worked on youth events and professional match promotion, organizing international events for world class brands and creating unforgettable experiences for teams and fans alike.
 

Jo Mirza
President
AAU

Jo Mirza, the 49th president of the Amateur Athletic Union (AAU), has dedicated more than five decades of service to the AAU at the local, national and international levels. Mirza got his start in AAU as an athlete in the sport of karate in 1972, competing in the Central AAU Association (now District), though he’s been a student of martial arts since 1967. His roles with the AAU have been many throughout the years, including AAU Karate National Chair, District AAU Governor (Central and Florida Gold Coast), and District Lieutenant Governor (Central) as well as instructor, official, and dedicated volunteer. In 1987, President Mirza was recognized for his many efforts on behalf of the AAU Karate program, winning election as AAU Karate National Chair and being named the AAU Junior Olympic Games Karate Chairman, positions he has held ever since. He has been a member of the AAU Board of Directors since 1994.

Moderator:
Matt Traub
Editor
SportsTravel

Matt Traub is the editor for SportsTravel, focusing on the magazine’s content, digital and social media strategies. Before joining SportsTravel in 2019, he worked in sports departments at several newspapers across the United States, most recently as the assistant sports editor at the Salt Lake Tribune. Under his leadership, the organization grew digital audience around the region’s most-loved topics: the Olympics, the Utah Jazz and college football. He also was in charge of sports departments at newspapers in New York, Pennsylvania and South Carolina that were repeatedly recognized by the Associated Press Sports Editors as a Top 10 section nationally with coverage of everything from the Little League World Series to Southeastern Conference football.
 

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A Venezuelan baseball team was denied visas into the United States and will miss this year’s Senior Baseball World Series near Greenville, South Carolina.

Venezuela is among a list of countries with restrictions for entering the Unites States or its territories. President Donald Trump has banned travel to the U.S. from 12 other countries, citing national security concerns. The Cacique Mara team, from Maracaibo, Venezuela, was scheduled to participate in the tournament after winning the Latin American championship in Mexico.

“The Cacique Mara Little League team from Venezuela was unfortunately unable to obtain the appropriate visas to travel to the Senior League Baseball World Series,” Little League International said in a statement, adding that it is “extremely disappointing, especially to these young athletes.”

The Senior League Baseball World Series is a tournament for players aged 13–16 played each year in Easley, South Carolina. The tournament organizers replaced the Venezuelans with the Santa Maria de Aguayo team from Tamaulipas, Mexico, the team that was a runner-up in the Latin American championship.

The Venezuelan team traveled to Colombia two weeks ago to apply for their visas at the U.S. embassy in Bogotá.

“They told us that Venezuela is on a list because Trump says Venezuelans are a threat to the security of his state, of his country,” said Kendrick Gutiérrez, the league’s president in Venezuela, according to The Associated Press. “It hasn’t been easy the situation; we earned the right to represent Latin America in the World Championship.”

“They’re going to replace us with another team because relations have been severed; it’s not fair,” Gutiérrez added. “I don’t understand why they put Mexico in at the last minute and left Venezuela out.”

The baseball team is not the first to have issues entering the country or U.S. territories for sports tournaments. Earlier in the month, the Cuban women’s volleyball team was denied visas to participate in a tournament in Puerto Rico.

At the time the travel ban was announced, the State Department said Trump’s executive order contained exemptions for nationals who would enter the U.S. as athletes for major sporting events, as well as support staff and immediate relatives of athletes. The FIFA World Cup next summer throughout North America and the 2028 Olympic and Paralympic Summer Games would fall under those categories. But is unclear what other sports events would warrant designation as a major event.

“There are certainly things that are happening at the national level, the international level,” said Philadelphia 2026 Host City Executive Meg Kane last month at a gathering of the World Cup’s U.S. host city leaders in New York. “There are going to be geopolitical issues that we don’t even know right now that are going affect the tournament next year, so we recognize that we’re planning within uncertainty.”

LA28 Chairman Casey Wasserman in early June had a similar sentiment after a visit from the International Olympic Committee: “It was very clear in the directive that the Olympics require special consideration and I actually want to thank the federal government for recognizing that. … It’s very clear that the federal government understands that that’s an environment that they will be accommodating and provide for. We have great confidence that that will only continue. It has been the case to date and it will certainly be the case going forward through the games.”

FIFA President Gianni Infantino visited Trump in the Oval Office in March after a White House Task Force for the World Cup was announced. Infantino was also at the first meeting of the group in May and said “America will welcome the world. Everyone who wants to come here to enjoy, to have fun to celebrate the game, will be able to do that.”

At the same meeting, however, there was reaction to multiple mentions about the potential of visitors overstaying their welcome: “We want them to come, we want them to celebrate, we want them to watch the game,” said Vice President JD Vance. “But when the time is up, they’ll have to go home.”

Elite youth soccer players have an opportunity to become “legends” with a new event coming to Walt Disney World Resort this year.

The inaugural Disney Young Legends Soccer Tournament will feature a 16-team Supergroup division for U17 and U19 boys teams (32 teams total) comprised of highly-ranked U.S. and international players competing at the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex, December 28–30, 2025.

The Disney Young Legends Soccer Tournament will also include an open tournament for boys and girls teams ages U9 through U15, giving players a chance to experience professional-level facilities, appearances from Disney characters and an opportunity to celebrate with teammates and family at Disney World.

The new event replaces the Disney Boys Soccer Showcase on the schedule. That slate begins with the Disney Season Kickoff Tournament, October 11–12, 2025, followed by the Disney Junior Soccer Showcase from November 28–30, 2025.

There are three events on the schedule for 2026, with the first being the Disney Girls Soccer Showcase from January 16–19. The Disney President’s Day Soccer Tournament takes place February 14–16, followed by the Disney Memorial Day Soccer Tournament from May 23–25.

About 16,000 athletes participate in Disney Soccer events each year from all over the United States, Canada, Mexico, the Caribbean and Central and South America.

Registration is now open for the Disney Young Legends Soccer Tournament as well as the five other premier events on the 2025–2026 Disney Soccer calendar.

Unrivaled Flag will host the inaugural Gold Jacket Classic in partnership with the Pro Football Hall of Fame on July 31 at Unrivaled Sports’ ForeverLawn Park in Canton, Ohio.

The one-day tournament will feature boys’ and girls’ flag football divisions from 6U through 17U featuring pool play, playoffs, and championship rounds. Top teams in each division will receive a half-paid bid to the 2026 Youth Flag Football World Championships and follows Unrivaled Flag’s High School Girls Nationals in June.

Timed to coincide with the Pro Football Hall of Fame’s Enshrinement Weekend and the official kickoff of the 2025 NFL preseason, each registered athlete will receive a ticket to the Los Angeles Chargers vs. Detroit Lions preseason game, admission to the Pro Football Hall of Fame, a seat at the 2025 Hall of Fame Enshrinement and a chance to earn a half-paid bid to the 2026 Youth Flag Football World Championships at Disney next February.

“The Pro Football Hall of Fame is proud to be teaming with Unrivaled to bring another premier flag football event to the region,” said Jim Porter, president and chief executive officer of the Hall of Fame. “And for it to coincide with the opening of the 106th NFL season will make it even more special to the young players who can see legends from today’s game and elite Hall of Fame members.”

Ray Allen played 18 seasons in the NBA and was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame as a player in 2018. Allen was a 10-time NBA All-Star and won an Olympic gold medal as a member of the 2000 United States men’s basketball team. In 2021, he was selected to the NBA 75th Anniversary Team, having won two NBA championships, one with the Boston Celtics and one with the Miami Heat.

Leroy Arrington is General Manager at ESPN Wide World Of Sports In Disney World and leads the operations, strategy and guest experience at one of the largest and most prestigious multi-sport venues in the world. They joined the Podcast for a recording over Memorial Day Weekend about being a sports dad, the youth sports scene, organizing events at the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex and much more.

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Unrivaled Sports will host its inaugural Unrivaled Flag High School Girls’ Nationals June 14–15 at ForeverLawn Park, adjacent to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio.

The event is a first-of-its-kind invitational that will feature two competitive divisions and capitalizes on the growth of girls’ flag football across the country.

This year’s nationals will feature the 5v5 Open Division on June 14, including round-robin play, playoffs and championships. The 7v7 Division will run across both days, with championships on June 15.

The top two teams in each division will earn bids to the 2026 Youth World Championships. The event will also have off-the-field experiences and an awards ceremony for the first- and second-place teams and tournament MVP for each division.

The tournament includes high school girls’ flag football teams from Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Nevada and New York. Each team was invited based on competitive performance and regional representation.

In 2025, 81,000 youth athletes will participate in Unrivaled Flag programming — a 25 percent increase from years prior. Unrivaled Sports hosts 39 flag tournaments and development experiences and operates 213 leagues across 21 states, with flag programming active in 33 states overall.

Ashlea Klam — member of the USNFT Women’s National Team and NFL Global Flag Ambassador (Houston Texans) — will also be on the sidelines as the event ambassador.

The 2025 US Youth Soccer Eastern Presidents Cup will take place in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania at Plymouth Whitemarsh High School in Plymouth Meeting and The Proving Grounds in Conshohocken.

The regional tournament will take place June 13–17. Eastern Pennsylvania Youth Soccer will host the event in partnership with Valley Forge Sports and the Valley Forge Tourism & Convention Board.

The five-day event is one of four regional competitions under the US Youth Soccer Presidents Cup, with group play taking place Friday through Sunday, semifinal matches on Monday and the finals on Tuesday.

The event will feature approximately 140 teams, more than 2,500 players and 60 referees from 15 state associations including Eastern Pennsylvania, Eastern New York, New Hampshire, Maryland, Virginia and more.

Eastern Pennsylvania Youth Soccer last hosted the US Youth Soccer Presidents Cup in 2023 and generated more than 4,000 hotel room nights and $5.5 million in estimated economic impact, making it the largest sporting event held in Montgomery County.

Eastern Pennsylvania Youth Soccer is the fourth-largest state association under US Youth Soccer with 375 member clubs and over 120,000 players.

Ed McCaffrey has long known success on the football field. From his college days in Stanford, where he met his wife who was an accomplished soccer player for the university as well, to his playing days with the New York Giants, San Francisco 49ers and Denver Broncos from 1991 through 2003, his career found him as teammates with other legends of the sport and in rare company. His Super Bowl win with the 49ers and two victories with the Broncos put him in the game’s elite — plus a fourth ring from the Broncos as a team broadcaster during their most recent victory at Super Bowl 50.

But it was Super Bowl XXXII in San Diego when the Broncos upset the favored Green Bay Packers — think John Elway helicoptering his way into the end zone — that put the Colorado franchise over the hump after several tough Super Bowl losses years earlier. After his playing days, McCaffrey stayed involved in the sport, coaching at the high school and college level in Colorado and raising four sons who played college football, with three now in the NFL as either players or coaches, including Christian McCaffrey, who was a Heisman runner-up at Stanford and remains one of the game’s elite players.

In this conversation we talk with Ed about his playing days and what it was like to travel the NFL circuit with his teammates, his approach to getting his kids involved in sports, his background running youth sports camps, the inclusion of flag football at the 2028 Olympic Games and his burgeoning food empire that once featured his own breakfast cereal and now focuses on mustards, horseradish products and protein snacks. It’s a revealing conversation with someone who remains a hero in the towns in which he played.

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