Fitt Insider's read this week: sports are social medicine. Per Kantar, Americans see sports as culture's new connective tissue, more unifying than religion. Nearly 90% of Americans are sports fans and 46% describe themselves as obsessed. Fox Sports and the Harvard Kennedy School have launched an initiative to study fandom's potential to strengthen bonds and boost well-being.
The interesting part for operators isn't the fandom — it's what EY found underneath it. Gen Z is redefining fandom around accessibility and social fitness, gravitating toward sports that are participation-led, wellness-oriented, and community-based. Meanwhile only 13% of fans can afford live tickets. Demand is moving from watching to doing, and from expensive to accessible.
Everyone is building the venue. Almost nobody is building the format
The issue catalogs a wave of grassroots answers. OAK's Neighborhood Sports Club pairs a soccer pitch with a cafe and $10 pickup games, and drew a Nike-sponsored World Cup watch party. Joe Holder's Exercise Snacks popped up a sports-themed third place in New York. Crosscourt in Los Angeles frames basketball as a metaphor for life. In London, the NSLB collective staged Maranoia, a free marathon alternative with track lanes and calisthenics bars.
Fitt Insider names the gap precisely: a missing middle between stadiums, sports bars, and seasonal leagues — accessible venues for relaxed socializing and optional recreation.
All of those examples are physical. They require a lease, a build-out, and a city. That's a real constraint on how fast the missing middle can actually be filled, and it's why most brands watch this trend without acting on it.
The format doesn't have to be a building
What makes those spaces work isn't the square footage. It's a low barrier to entry, people you know, a bit of competition, and a reason to come back next week. Those are format properties, not real estate properties.
Cadoo Games packages exactly that. Members stake their own money with friends on a fitness goal, compete inside their own circle, and the games recur — so the social ritual repeats without anyone renting a pitch. For a brand, it's a way to run participation-led community programming for members who are spread across a city, or across the country.
- Accessible by default. Members choose their own stake and play from wherever they train, so cost and geography stop gating participation.
- Genuinely social. Friends are in the game together. The pull is the group, not a leaderboard full of strangers.
- Verified, so it counts. The camera counts reps and scores form. Steps and distance come from Apple Health or Google Health Connect, so results are real rather than self-reported.
- It markets itself. Verified workouts become shareable, skinned videos carrying your brand into your members' feeds.
The rest of the issue points the same direction
Elsewhere in the week, preventative health platform Function secured $450M in growth financing from General Catalyst, after acquiring Getlabs, Ezra, and SuppCo. LegitFit connected AI agents to gym operations, STRONG Pilates accelerated its US expansion, and WHOOP began a pilot with Kinomatic on wearable-guided post-operative recovery.
Capital keeps flowing to companies that own an ongoing relationship with a person rather than a one-off transaction. Community sports are the consumer version of that same idea: the value is in the repeat visit, the group chat, and the identity — not the single session.
If your brand already has members who like each other, you have the hardest ingredient. What's usually missing is a recurring reason for them to compete in a way that's fun and low-stakes enough that beginners join.
Where to start
Pick one cohort — a class, a location, a corporate account — and give them a recurring game with a stake small enough that nobody thinks twice. The point is the ritual, not the pot. Then let the shareables do your reach.
Longer term, we're building toward winnings converting into credit or perks at the brand itself. That's on our roadmap, not live today, but it's the natural endpoint: participation that feeds back into the business hosting it.
To talk through what that looks like for your members, see Cadoo for brands or email Tim@cadoo.io.
Frequently asked questions
What is the "missing middle" in community sports?
Fitt Insider uses it to describe the gap between stadiums, sports bars, and seasonal leagues — accessible places for casual socializing, fan connection, and optional recreation. With only 13% of fans able to afford live tickets, demand is shifting toward participation people can actually reach.
Why is Gen Z moving toward participation over spectating?
EY's research, cited in the issue, finds Gen Z redefining fandom around accessibility and social fitness, favoring participation-led, wellness-oriented, community-based sports. Cost is part of it, but so is the preference for doing something with friends rather than watching alone.
Do we need a physical space to run community programming?
No. The elements that make these spaces work — low barrier to entry, familiar people, light competition, a weekly reason to return — can be delivered as a recurring game. That lets a brand serve members who aren't near a single location.
Will beginners actually join a staked game?
That depends on how you set it up. Stakes are chosen by the members, so a first game can be small enough to feel playful rather than intimidating. Keeping the group to people who already know each other matters more than the amount at stake.
