Brand Velocity Group Acquires Youth Sports Operator RCX Sports From Raine Group

Brand Velocity Group acquired RCX Sports from the Raine Group. Forbes reported the transaction on June 4, 2026. The companies did not disclose financial terms. RCX Sports serves as the youth sports operating partner for the NFL, NBA, WNBA, NHL, Major League Baseball and Major League Soccer.

The company works with local parks and recreation departments, YMCAs and Boys and Girls Clubs. For a fee, RCX provides officially licensed uniforms, equipment and support for leagues, tournaments and events. RCX’s largest partner is NFL Flag.

More than 800,000 children now participate in NFL Flag leagues, up from 500,000 when RCX took over the license in the fall of 2019. CEO Izell Reese played in 93 NFL games as a defensive back from 1998 through 2004. “I jokingly tell people a lot of time when I’m trying to explain it that we’re like Little League Baseball meets Fanatics,” Reese said.

The RCX brand and leadership team will remain intact. BVG capitalizes its investments on a deal-by-deal basis instead of raising a fund. Limited partners for this transaction included Hamilton Lane and St.

Cloud Capital, NFL Hall of Famers Peyton Manning, Emmitt Smith and Larry Fitzgerald, current NFL players DK Metcalf and Jameis Winston, and Dallas Mavericks guard Klay Thompson. “Everyone’s investing real dollars,” said Austin Ramos, a BVG partner who founded the company in 2019 with Steve Lebowitz and Drew Sheinman.

” Reese said he has been in contact with some of the investors, including Smith, his former teammate with the Dallas Cowboys.

“I feel like I’m back in the locker room and he’s drilling me like I was a rookie,” Reese said. These are individuals, they’re not just a name, they’re strategic and mission-aligned. ” Eli Manning joined BVG as a partner in 2021, one year after retiring from the NFL.

He was involved in BVG’s 2022 acquisition of Score Sports and helped coordinate the RCX deal. “He helped with a lot of the coordination as we thought about bringing the deal together with the right individuals,” Ramos said. ” Reese said the NFL and other leagues want RCX to keep prices low and focus on increasing participation.

“The price points have continued to steadily rise for these organizations, but that’s not the case with us,” Reese said. ” Several states now sponsor girls flag football at the high school level. The NCAA added flag football to its emerging sports for women program in January.

Flag football will become a medal sport for the first time at the 2028 Summer Olympics. Reese and Ramos said RCX is in conversations with other sports leagues and governing bodies about partnerships.