Tariffs were top of mind at the NSGA 2025 Leadership Conference but so was confidence that the sporting goods industry would figure out ways to mitigate any fallout. Attendees told SGB Executive that suppliers were keeping price increases to a minimum while also ramping up communications with dealers to provide an early read on potential changes.

“One of the interesting things for me is the interest level in getting the industry to a healthy space,” Matt Kaplan, president at OrderMyGear (OMG), told SGB. “Folks are more interested in sharing ideas and talking about solutions and making NSGA a better, more productive event for everybody moving forward. And I think that’s what this is all about.”

Under the theme, “Winning Together: The Power of Relationships in Sports & Business,” NSGA’s annual show, held this year at the PGA National Resort in Palm Beach Gardens, FL, from May 18-20, remained foremost a strong networking event, particularly for the team dealer space.

Matt Carlson, president and CEO of the NSGA, said attendance at the annual show has returned to pre-pandemic levels and has been “very solid“ for the last three years. He said the NSGA received positive feedback from adding more interactive elements to drive conversations, including an expanded speed networking event and a new interactive session featuring AI-enabled real-time feedback from attendees. Carlson said, “We think the attendees really enjoyed it.”

The AI-driven interactive session found attendees generally upbeat about the industry’s prospects. Carlson noted that on a scale of 1-to-5, session attendees gave the current state of the sporting goods industry an average score of 4.0, with the future state of the industry at 3.8.

Carlson suspected that the slightly lower rating on the future reflects concerns over tariffs and the economy and longstanding anxiety over sports participation. Carlson said, “All of us would benefit from additional sports participation.”

However, the session also explored near-term challenges around tariffs, including the need for strong communications, advance notice about tariff changes and the need to share the pain of higher costs fairly. Suppliers were encouraged to be transparent and upfront about the cost of tariffs, with some calling for a line item on invoices.

One attendee who was unconcerned about tariffs was Mary Kelly, an economist, “leadership expert” and former Naval commander. In her keynote session, Kelly noted that during President Trump’s first term in office, he proposed over 5,300 tariffs with less than 2 percent imposed. Kelly said, “This is all about deal-making for him. He’s trying to get leverage.” However, navigating tariffs to avoid a margin hit received significant attention in huddles at the NSGA conference.

“The tariffs are a big issue, and a lot of people don’t know how to react to that right now,“ Jim Chandley, president at Nation’s Best Sports (NBS), the buying group, told SGB. Chandley noted that the overall sports industry has seen “some stability“ with the Trump administration in mid-May lowering its tariff rate on Chinese imports to 30 percent from a previous high of 145 percent, but he also pointed out that reciprocal tariffs were only paused during negotiations and could return in the coming months. The “overall uncertainty with the economy“ impacts the ability to commit to orders.

“As the manufacturers have made their pricing decisions, the product is coming in for fall. From that standpoint, that’s going to be pretty good,“ said Chandley. “I think there’s still a lot of going to be a lot of voids in the marketplace for people who canceled orders. I know we canceled a lot of our fall goods, just not knowing what was going to happen and, so, we’re not going to have those products in the fall. But for the most part, I think it’ll be good.“

“The tariffs are an issue, but it’s not isolated to our industry,“ said Brad Coble, sales manager at Midwest Sporting Goods, a team dealer based in Tulsa, OK. “We’re going to see them at the grocery store. When we go buy a car. So, everyone will have to manage it. We are concerned with some of our schools because maybe they used to buy 10 dozen softballs, but now they can only buy eight dozen. So, what does that look like? Are we going to need to have a cheaper softball to fill in a few of those? So that’s a little concern, but I’m overall positive.“

“Everybody’s scared,“ said Allen Van Valkenburg, general manager at RinkSide Sports, a hockey shop in Tampa Bay, FL. “The hockey industry seems to be affected a bit more than the general sporting goods industry, but it still affects all of us, and just the unknown is always the worst part.”

Several attendees were encouraged to hear at the show that business at team dealers and some traditional retailers attending the show were holding up despite the external challenges.

“I’m positive because no one is saying they’re going downhill,“ Mike Blythe, owner of Blythe’s Sporting Goods, a team dealer with a retail store in Valparaiso, IN, told SGB. “A lot of people are flat right now or maybe just a little bit up. But I don’t hear people saying they’re down 10 percent. So that encourages us to see that it is not going to continue to increase, and we’re looking forward to a great fall. This event helps us come back and be recharged.“

Blythe used the show to pick up ideas from other dealers nationwide, learn about vendors’ latest innovations and compare shop online solutions from OrderMyGear and Chipply. He hoped to understand better how tariffs could impact his business this year but admits it remains uncertain. “It seems to me like there’s so much up in the air that that question didn’t get answered too well for me yet,“ said Blythe.

“The vibe is definitely positive,“ said Josh Ellsworth, chief revenue officer at Stahls‘. “Most dealers that I’m talking to are up in their business, which was a bit surprising to me. I expected a different sentiment, but it was not what I had heard. So, it seems there is good growth in team, and a real positive outlook for the balance of the year.”

Ellsworth said there is concern that some manufacturers of sublimation jerseys could require “a little bit more agility“ to shift their cut and sew facilities to other countries, depending on the tariffs, but decorators attending the show appeared prepared. Ellsworth said, “It seems like everybody’s just kind of in a wait-and-see approach and not-panic approach and making the adjustments they need to succeed.”

Gordon Geiger, NSGA’s chairman and co-owner of Geiger’s, which has two stores in the Cleveland, OH suburbs, said the industry continually faces anxieties with “new price lists all the time“ amid the trade war, but his conversations at the show indicated attendees were hopeful of riding out the disruption. Geiger said, “I think the mood of the show and everything is super positive despite the tariffs and the economy worries.”

Bob Fawley, president of Capitol Varsity Sports, a reconditioner and seller of sporting goods with two team stores in Southwestern Ohio, said he had a “couple of really good years in a row“ that he credits to a healthy interest in sports.

Fawley said, “I’ve got a granddaughter who’s in club volleyball, and I have been blown away the last six months traveling to her games and seeing so many families and teams. If you go to Columbus, OH, there are 16 volleyball courts, and they’re running for three days in a row with a game every hour. You also see all the little gyms they’ve opened for travel basketball. They are as big a business out there away from the schools as at the schools. Our outlook is positive.”

Fawley still believes the tariffs are “tough on everybody,” given the uncertainty. “The problem with tariffs is we haven’t figured out where they will land. Everybody’s guarding their margin. That’s the problem. We’re in a thin-margin business anyway, so you can’t afford to take many hits,” continued Fawley.

Steve Vogelsang, VP, Sales & Marketing at Gill Athletics, which makes facility and gym equipment largely supporting track & field, basketball and volleyball under the Gill and Porter names, said about his plans around the NSGA show, “My goal as a manufacturer here is always to visit with as many team dealers as I can and for the most part, they’re upbeat. I think they’re encouraged that from a pricing standpoint, we’ve got some better definitions around tariffs, so that’s been helpful. And overall, despite the level of inflation, we’re still seeing school customers finding their way to buy what they need.”

Troy Freeman, director of Operations at Play It Again Sports, the resale franchisee with about 300 locations nationwide, said he came to NSGA’s event to gain ideas from other retailers and vendors that may work at Play It Again Sports. This year’s priority was understanding where pricing is heading amid the tariffs and sharing those insights with franchisee partners.

“We have Canadian and U.S. stores, and we’ve gone through our lumps with our communications,“ said Freeman. “But that’s why if we over-communicate to both countries and try to tell them where we’re at with pricing and where we’re going with tariffs, they understand that we’re for them, we’re working on trying to improve their business, and the success of their store is our success. Sharing that information and communication is the best.”

Sporting Goods Industry Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony
The importance of relationship building was a key theme around the three inductees into the Sporting Goods Industry Hall of Fame for 2025, which included John Cardinal, of Cardinal’s Sporting Goods; Chris Considine, Wilson Sporting Goods; and E.J. “Ned” Hamilton, at Peter Glenn Ski & Sports, who were honored on the last night of the show.

  • John Cardinal, the grandson of John Cardinal, who now works for Game One, which acquired Texas-based Cardinal’s in 2018, said his grandfather stressed the importance of making connections at the school level, including knowing the names and families of all the secretaries and janitors. Cardinal said, “He made you feel you were the best to be around and that’s all about relationships.”
  • Chris Considine, who was at Wilson for nearly 31 years, including president from 2005 to 2013, was called out for his ability to bring teams together and build trust with an “Onward” slogan closing out all his communications. He said at the induction ceremony, “The numbers are important for keeping score but nothing’s more important than those you care about.”
  • E.J. “Ned” Hamilton was known for his risk-taking, including success in opening the first ski shop in Boca Raton, FL, where the weather ranges from the mid-70s in the winter to the 90s and above in the summer. In his induction, Hamilton called out “the three Ps” to success in ski retailing: People, Product and Place. He said the key to people is making the right hires. “You don’t teach people to be nice. You hire nice people and give them the tools to succeed,” said Hamilton.

Keynote Sessions
Attendees at the NSGA 2025 Leadership Conference also attended mini-sessions on the latest innovations from Champro, Chipply, OrderMyGear, Prolook, and Stahls and a panel discussion exploring the Shopify e-commerce platform.

Among the speakers, Mary Kelly’s broader talk offered lessons in leadership, particularly in managing the uncertainties that are increasing due to geopolitical factors and rapid technological change. She said a leader’s job is to reassure employees and customers. “Your job is to make them feel better. Manage their uncertainty because uncertain employees and uncertain customers are unproductive. Uncertain employees are not making phone calls and helping your customers. Uncertain customers are not making the buy,” said Kelly.

Joel Bines, a “retail expert” formerly at AlixPartners and author “The Medial Economy – 6 Strategies for Transforming Your Business to Thrive in the Me-Centric Consumer Revolution,” talked about how computers, tablets, smartphones, and social media have created a “me-centric consumer” that’s shifted the power from the retailer to the consumer. Said Bines, “Today’s consumers have access to each other, and they have access to information, so they can find out anything at any time. And what that means for retail businesses or consumer-facing companies or intermediaries is we have to understand that the world where our decisions and our choices used to drive consumer decisions has been completely and totally inverted.”

Bines said this presents challenges in reaching consumers and opportunities if companies can commit to one or more of select consumer needs, citing “6 Cs”: Cost, Convenience, Category expertise, Customization, Curation, and Community.

In the sporting goods space, Bines said the changes are leading to emerging opportunities around the resale space, citing concepts such as 2nd Swing Golf, SidelineSwap, and Play It Again Sports, as well as newer sports, citing cricket, cornhole, and golf (disc golf), and pickleball.

Bines also cited an opportunity to service “pre-professional sports,“ supported by NIL deals and travel leagues, with some leagues earning regular television coverage. “I was walking around the golf course yesterday. There was a junior golf tournament, and these kids were six years old. Parents were there. There was an official. You might think this is just crazy, but it might be something that you aren’t thinking about,” said Bines.

In the closing keynote of the conference, Ben Zobrist, the MVP of the 2016 World Series for the Chicago Cubs, in a discussion moderated by Champro President Ryan Hunt, discussed his struggle with mental health shortly after the highest moment of his professional career and provided insight on ways leaders can deal with stress. He highlighted the importance of finding balance and doing the “inner work“ when you are in high-pressure situations.

“Everybody knows, no matter what your role is, people have expectations for you,“ said Zobrist. “You may not be playing in front of 40,000 people, but there are still high expectations of performance. Your job is on the line. Money is on the line. The company’s on the line. There’s a lot on the line. And when there’s pressure, there is definitely the need to perform, but there’s also the need to process. You can’t forget the need to process in the midst of the performance.”