Team Insight

Schutt Sold To Innovatus With plans to consolidate hard goods suppliers to the team business under one corporate umbrella, Innovatus Capital Partners recently acquired Kranos Corporation's assets, IP and brands, which include Schutt, ProGear Shoulder Pads, Tucci Bats, Hollywood Bases and Adams USA. To facilitate this goal, Innovatus Capital has formed a subsidiary called Certor Sports to consolidate sporting goods brands faced with chal- lenges due to COVID. It took its first step earlier in 2020 with the acquisition of football helmet manufacturer Vicis. "We believe the sports equipment space is ripe for consolidation. The number of independent operators is shrinking. Those that can weather the storm will emerge stronger and leaner once team sports return in the second half of next year," said Innovatus founding part- ner David Schiff. "Certor Sports will lever- age the strengths of Vicis, Schutt and its other brands to offer a broad scope of sporting goods in the marketplace," added Ravi Bhagavatula, partner and head of the Lower Middle Market Distressed Strategy at Innovatus, in a statement announcing the most recent acquisition. "All brands in the portfolio, including Schutt, will continue under the new ownership, with the same insurance and product design warranties, sold through its sales organization." BSN Acquires Arizona's Best Sports BSN Sports acquired Best Sports Inc., based in Rogers, AR, a family-owned and oper- ated team dealer since its founding in 1972 by owner Guy Davis. The company also has an office in the greater Fayetteville area. Davis will join BSN Sports along with Best Sports co- owners, daughter Teresa Black and son-in-law Byron Black. Rawlings Partners With Blast Motion Rawlings has entered a partnership with perfor- mance insights company Blast Motion. This part- nership will be centered around Rawlings' non-wood bat category and enable the brand to engineer its Mantra softball bat to exclu- sively feature Blast Motion's sensor technology. "Rawlings remains focused on product innovation and player advancement via the uti- lization of cutting-edge technology as seen with Blast Motion's strong lineup of performance analysis tools," says Kyle Murphy, business unit lead for Rawlings bats. Riddell's Arment Re-Elected SFIA Chair Dan Arment, president & CEO of Riddell & BRG Sports, has been re-elected as the Sports & Fitness Industry Association (SFIA) chairman of the board for a second one-year term. In addition, two new directors were elected, and four members were re-elected, to the SFIA Board of Directors for three- year terms. New additions to the board include Jake Griffith (GM for sports, fitness and outdoors, Walmart) and April Lane (director/GM of sports and outdoor, Amazon). UA Counting on Steph The recent Under Armour launch of the Curry Brand with NBA star Stephen Curry – a move being compared to Nike's launch of the Jordan brand in 1997 – could have an impact on Under Armour's fragile position in the youth team sports business. Curry, who plays for the Golden State Warriors, signed with Under Armour in 2013. The product line debuted on CurryBrand. com late last year. It fea- tures footwear and apparel for a number of sports, including basketball and golf. UA says that the brand will eventually be expanded to include running, women's and other categories. Markwort Acquires Two Markwort Sporting Goods recently completed the acquisition of two equip- ment suppliers. Most recently it pur- chased the HQ4 Baseball Aluminum 18" One Hand Training Bat from Al Dahlgren, owner of HQ4Baseball.com Training Facility in Charlotte, NC, for baseball and softball players. Markwort has sourced and marketed this training bat since 2013 under a license agreement. This bat will become the newest Markwort PowerSwing label training product. Earlier Markwort had acquired Arm Strong Baseball from David and Connie Higgins, the owners of DH Sports, Inc. Mizuno Renews NFCA Partnership Mizuno USA has entered into a multi-year official sponsorship renewal with the National Fastpitch Coaches Association (NFCA). Mizuno will have a prominent pres- ence on NFCA websites – NFCA.org and NFCAevents. com – in publications and at all NFCA events. The partner- ship will be a combined effort to promote the sport of fast- pitch softball. n NCAA Reclassifies Lacrosse As 'Intermediate' COVID Risk In a move that could go a long way to playing a collegiate season this year, the NCAA recently reclassified men's and women's lacrosse as sports with intermediate risk for COVID-19 transmission in its return-to-play guidelines, encouraging news as US Lacrosse lobbies the NFHS, state and local authorities to do the same for boys' lacrosse. The NCAA originally had classified lacrosse among sports with a high risk of COVID-19 transmission when it published the first edition in July. Field hockey, rowing, soccer and volleyball (with face masks) were also reclassified as posing intermediate risk — leaving basketball, football, ice hockey, volleyball (without face masks), water polo and wrestling as the only sports in the high- risk category. The National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS) has classified girls' lacrosse as a moderate-risk sport, but has labeled boys' lacrosse as a high-risk sport, a designation that US Lacrosse has asked the national high school sports association to reconsider. In other US Lacrosse news, the association's rule that all chest protectors for goalies meet NOCSAE standard ND200 and have an SEI certification mark went into effect January 1. This will be mandatory in the boys'/men's and girls'/women's rules for US Lacrosse, the NFHS and NCAA. Chest protectors meeting NOCSAE standard ND200 reduce the risk of commotio cordis (cardiac arrest caused by a blow to the heart area). All non- goalies will be required to wear chest protection meeting this standard starting January 1, 2022. n 42 Team Insight ~ January/February 2021 teaminsightmag.com END ZONE

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