Pitch Perfect - Little League Facts and Figures Part 1

August may be the dog days of summer for MLB but it is the pinnacle of rec baseball with the culmination of numerous Little League tournaments held around the world.

Hold on to your hats as we take a whirlwind tour of the largest youth baseball institution. Founded in Williamsport, PA in 1939 Little League is “the first organized youth sports program.” Under Little League, Inc. (a non-profit 501(c)(3)), the program has grown into a global brand with a lean 100+ employee base that assists with helping some 5000+ local Little Leagues administer spring baseball and a series of summer tournaments.

While many people may think of Little League as 11-12 year-olds immortalized in the 1976 film the Bad News Bears, local leagues have divisions that span ages 5-16 and there are multiple World Series which are broadcast on TV/streaming. These include: 12U (Little League), 13U (Intermediates), 14U (Juniors), and 16U (Seniors).   

The hierarchy starts with a local “league” geographically bounded and operated by a community/volunteer based governing body (often a non-profit). Local leagues pay fees to Little League, Inc. ($10 per regular season team and $300 per World Series tournament entry). The leagues also have other expenses like equipment, uniforms, field time, field maintenance, umpire fees, etc. To finance operations leagues cobble together a mix of registration fees, donations, and local sponsor advertising.

Local leagues can have anywhere from a few dozen players to nearly a thousand(!) with corresponding revenues lines that can climb to nearly $400k. All will typically operate at or near break even, sometimes in the red and sometimes in the black depending on the year and periodic capital expenditures. Access and field maintenance is often 35% of a league budget, equipment coming in at 25%. Outfitting a team can cost north of $1000.

Unsurprisingly, registration fees are correlated to geography with more affluent areas having significantly higher registration fees. So depending on where you live, a season of Little League might cost $100 (e.g. Eastside LL in Rochester, NY) or it might run as high as $500 (Palo Alto LL in CA). Even at the high end, pricing remains significantly below travel programs which can be 10x that.

Leagues are members of a “district” reporting to a volunteer District Administrator who in turn reports to a Region Director for one of five “regions.” The regions are overseen by Little League HQ in Williamsport. Districts will normally have anywhere from 3-15 leagues but not all leagues will field tournament teams or may field them for only certain age divisions. The mix fluctuates from year to year as tournament teams require more money and substantial additional volunteer time and player/family commitment. 

Tournament teams (colloquially known as All-Stars) travel an often windy road to make a World Series impacted by several factors. For instance, LLWS (12U) teams from the US must go through one of 10 regional tournaments. The JLWS (14U) by contrast only has only 6 regionals. Well, practically speaking only 5! In order to create some consistency and standards for Regional and World Series venues, some age divisions will have “host” districts which have the incentive of a much shorter path to the big show.

Taylor North LL which plays in Michigan District 5 (JLWS Host) won their district tournament (4 teams total) which meant a direct invitation to the World Series. In contrast, Mark West (CA) and Needville (TX) faced the gauntlet of winning a district, a sectional (group of district champs), a state, and then a regional tournament. Mark West had a route that involved competing directly with 33 other teams.

Baseball being baseball — a combination of interest, volunteer talent, and community support allows some teams, notably from Hawaii, to perform well in all divisions at the highest level despite having a significantly smaller player base. And host districts will often generate enough local excitement that they can fuel talented programs like the Juniors from Taylor North who made the US Championship game in 2024.

To their credit, Little League, Inc. has designed these tournaments with tiered championships that include souvenir pins and banners so that each hard fought victory is one that local leagues can celebrate and memorialize. Nearly every local league website and district website will showcase the teams with their banners — an effective long term branding strategy.

Of course, the big prize is the excitement of making an expanding lineup of TV/streaming broadcasts. While rec sports are typically a limited market (family and friends), the global tournaments have found a niche across a much broader youth sports audience. Some 3.5 million tuned in for the 2024 Little League World Series Championship, the largest since 2015, more than double a typical MLB game and a size comparable to recent College World Series events.

Little League, Inc. recognized this audience potential long ago. Outside of The Master’s, the Little League World Series is the longest tenured TV deal (ABC) dating all the way back to 1963.

Next week, in Part II, we’ll follow the money and look at the competitive landscape…

PS. ESPN has a Little League World Series 2024 documentary airing August 12! 👇