CoachCorner Elevating Youth Sports | Colin Cowherd to Chicago

Get up to speed with latest news impacting the sports business landscape in Chicago and beyond. 🗞️ 

CoachCorner: The Platform Elevating the Coaching Standard for Youth Sports

CoachCorner is revolutionizing the sports coaching industry by bridging the gap between coaches and organizations in need. Typically the industry was based on word-of-mouth for coaching positions, which often left many qualified professionals without access to opportunities, CoachCorner has developed a platform to level the playing field, making it easier for youth sports programs and schools to find and hire experienced coaches, teachers, and mentors who align with their specific needs. To date over 10,000 coaches have connected with the platform to help with their future job search. Their mission is to connect exceptional coaches with the perfect opportunities, ensuring athletes receive the best mentorship and guidance possible. "Youth sports is a highly dynamic and rapidly growing industry, expected to hit $70 billion this decade. With schools and clubs seeing high turnover due to seasonality, and the supply of youth sports programming not keeping up with demand, we thought that there had to be a way to clean up these youth sports staffing inefficiencies." - Andrew Zessar, cofounder

Success Story:

With just two weeks before the season, a private school in New York City was scrambling to find a softball coach or risk canceling their season. They posted a job on CoachCorner's site and received seven quality applicants within days. In just one week, they hired Coach Sasha, saving their season just in time. Coach Sasha quickly transformed the struggling team, which had only one win the previous year. Her leadership, passion, and coaching expertise helped the team make the playoffs, earning the admiration of players, parents, and school staff. Her impact went beyond wins—she built confidence, teamwork, and a love for the game. After the season, the school’s athletic director shared their gratitude: "Thank you so much for all your help in finding Sasha—she has been incredible and will be returning again. I will absolutely be using CoachCorner to hire more coaches in the future." Coach Sasha is now set to return for another season, proving that the right coach can change everything."

Platform Overview:

The platform offers a seamless experience for both coaches and organizations. Coaches can create a free profile, complete with relevant experience, and browse a database of coaching opportunities. Organizations can sign up, build their team profiles, and discover qualified coaches in their area. The process is designed to be efficient, guiding users through signing up, building profiles, discovering matches, and connecting to start their coaching journey. In addition to connecting coaches and organizations, CoachCorner provides valuable resources to enhance the hiring process. This comprehensive approach ensures that both coaches and organizations have the information they need to make informed decisions.

CoachCorner solving a lot problems with its platform: 

• Limited Access to Opportunities: Traditionally, coaching positions have been filled through word-of-mouth and personal networks, leaving many talented coaches without access to job opportunities. CoachCorner opens up the job market, allowing coaches to connect with organizations they wouldn’t have found otherwise.

• Inefficient Hiring Processes: For athletic departments and organizations, finding the right coach can be time-consuming and difficult. CoachCorner streamlines this process by offering a database of pre-vetted, qualified candidates, making it easier to find coaches who align with a team’s goals and values.

• Lack of Comprehensive Coach Information: Hiring the right coach isn’t just about experience on paper; it’s about understanding their coaching style, philosophy, and past performance. CoachCorner gathers in-depth information through interviews, questionnaires, and references to give organizations a fuller picture of each candidate.

• Building Trust in Hiring: By acting as a reference source and providing verified information about coaches, CoachCorner helps reduce the risk for organizations hiring new staff, ensuring they bring in reliable, high-quality candidates.

CoachCorner is creating a more transparent, accessible, and efficient coaching job market, benefiting both coaches and organizations alike.

What can the Chicago Sports Tech community do to help with the growth of PromoShare?

1. Interested in being a coach now or even in the future, fill out a free profile on CoachCorner.io

2. If anyone has any connections to schools, camps and other youth organizations reach out to [email protected]

3. CoachCorner is looking for an athlete or influencer looking to be part of CoachCorner. Reach out to [email protected]

Chicago

Chicago-based Ariel Investments launches fund focused on women's sports Ariel Investments is leaning into women’s sports to accelerate its growth. Women’s sports revenue has increased by 300% in 3 years, hitting $1.28 billion last year. Ariel Investments is starting Project Level, a fund focused exclusively on this underinvested sector. Project Level will have Jason Wright as its Head of Investments, a former president of the Washington Commanders. Its advisory board features celebrities like Queen Latifah and F1 driver Lewis Hamilton. They aren’t wasting time jumping in either; Ariel announced a deal they have with Denver’s expansion team in the National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL). The firm looks to “level the playing field” as investments have traditionally lagged in women’s sports, but its growth potential has investors hungry for healthy returns. Crain’s details Ariel Investments’ history and how its board members have already been invested in women’s sports.

Colin Cowherd picks the Windy City over Hollywood for his popular show Colin Cowherd is bringing his popular Fox Sports 1 show to Chicago. He’s leaving LA after 10 years, probably tired of the avocado toast and fake tans. In this article, Cowherd professes his love of Chicago and says it’s one of his favorite cities. His pitch to the executives of Fox was based on his idea of bringing a show to the middle of the country, instead of staying only on the West Coast. The move could open up the possibility of him broadcasting out of the Big Ten Network offices on W. Chicago Ave. Cowherd is also the founder of The Volume podcast network, which offers a variety of programming with recognized sports figures like Draymond Green and Shannon Sharpe. See how the Cowherds have prepared for the move by snatching up local real estate.

Nadia Rawlinson, co-owner of the Chicago Sky, named Emerging Leader of the Year Nadia Rawlinson went from missing out on a big opportunity during college at Stanford University to being named Emerging Leader of the Year. She was in college in the late 90s during the dot-com boom and saw classmates make big paydays while she watched. It taught her a valuable lesson to never pass up on an opportunity. Fast forward to now after years of experience at major tech companies and she’s at the forefront of Chicago’s business landscape. Rawlinson grew up in Lake Forrest and became co-owner of the Sky in 2022 after seeing the untapped potential in women’s sports. Under Rawlinson’s leadership, the Sky posted a 40% increase in revenue in 2024 and has attracted investors like Chicago-native Dwayne Wade. Jeff Shapack, a local real estate developer, says of Rawlinson: “She is someone who can help build Chicago’s brand equity and elevate it to new heights”. Big words but she’s shown she’s up for the challenge of living up to them. Read more on her history with prominent tech companies and the respected local leaders around the city giving her praise.

The Bears' lakefront stadium dreams still has Johnson as an ally, missing Pritzker The Bears’ hopes of a lakefront stadium rests on bridging the gap between Chicago’s brass and Springfield’s. At least they still have support from Mayor Johnson, who’s been a better mascot on this for the Bears than Staley Da Bear. In recent comments about the stadium plans, Johnson urged state legislators to approve the Bears’ plan. Governor Pritzker has been well-documented to oppose the use of public funds to build a new stadium. Under the Bears’ plan, they would require $2.4 billion in public subsidies while providing $2.3 billion in private funding. In defending the public funding ask, Johnson argued infrastructure improvements are needed anyway regardless of whether the Bears get their desired stadium. $900 million in public bonds is requested and he says a 2% hotel tax surcharge would cover it and mostly be paid by tourists. So far, Pritzker isn’t hearing it. Crain’s discusses other options for a new stadium and breaks down what the proposed funding would go towards.

National

Big numbers for the Big game: The business behind Super Bowl LIX Everybody eats during the Super Bowl, if you happen to be the city hosting. New Orleans generated close to $500 million when it last hosted it in 2013. This year marked its record 11th time. It’s interesting to dive into figures related to the Super Bowl’s economic impact. Despite having one of the highest average hotel rates over the past decade, this year’s prices were down 13% from last year. Commercials are selling for $8 million for 30 seconds, the most ever. But the most important numbers Fox will be focused on, who broadcasted this year’s event, are the viewership numbers. It has a high mark to try to reach to beat the record 123.7 million average viewers from last year. Dive into all the top business numbers of this year’s Super Bowl compared to recent years, including top player salaries from the Eagles and Chiefs.

Red Bull gives Arch wings: Arch Manning signs NIL deal with Red Bull Big money moves happen quite often for the Manning family. Peyton and Eli made millions during their NFL careers and continue to do well years after their careers ended. Now it’s Arch’s turn. Red Bull announced its partnership with Arch Manning in an Instagram post. Even though he’s only started two games in his college career, the nephew of Peyton and Eli has the highest NIL Valuation among college athletes. Across all sports, Arch’s $6.6 million is over $2 million more than the next highest. No exact figures have been released in the Red Bull announcement, but it’s sure to be substantial. Arch Manning will step into the starting role in 2025 with big expectations. Other than the obvious weight from the last name, he was the top-ranked player from the recruiting Class of 2023. Anything less than spectacular as far as performance goes this coming season from Arch will be widely criticized. It comes with the territory with the Manning last name on his jersey and now a big bag of his own. ON3 discusses their NIL Valuation ranking system for tracking the most valuable collegiate athletes.

Bet on bogey or birdie? ESPN BET, PGA Tour team up to launch new betting stream Who’s ready to go all-in on Scottie Scheffler?? PGA unveiled a new live betting stream, available on ESPN+. Through a partnership between PGA TOUR, ESPN+, and PENN Entertainment, fans will now have access to a competition feed with a focus on odds and wagers. The feed will include insights, key data, and live analysis of betting odds. ESPN BET on PGA TOUR LIVE premiered last Thursday for the WM Phoenix Open. It will feature at 6 FedEx Cup events this season. PGA TOUR has been working on releasing an interactive betting stream since it began a partnership with ESPN+ in 2022. The announcement represents a big breakthrough for getting fans at home excited to watch golf. Which is not always easy to do. Read more on which events will feature the new live betting stream and what else it includes.