Sezzle, Gridiron Bring BNPL To Youth Sports

The buy now, pay later (BNPL) company Sezzle has formed a partnership with Gridiron Football to provide a digital payment solution for the fast-growing youth football league.

“Expanding into sports registration and equipment with Gridiron Football is a natural step for Sezzle as it focuses on bringing flexible payments to consumers across all verticals,” the company said in a news release on Tuesday (June 15)

The companies said the partnership will allow parents to sign their kids up through Gridiron and pay in four installments with no fees or interest. The companies pointed to research from the Aspen Institute showing that the average amount spent per child per year was just under $700. Meanwhile, participation in team sports among kids ages 6-12 has dropped to 38 percent, from 45 percent 10 years ago.

BNPL has become a rapidly expanding sector over the last year or so, attracting consumers who may be credit card-averse as well as young people who are uneasy with the idea of debt. It has also forged a connection between merchants and consumers looking for an alternative to credit cards, or customers whose credit scores are too low to make them viable.

As PYMNTS’ recent report concluded, 32 percent of consumers who struggled to pay their monthly bills relied on BNPL for their Black Friday shopping last year. Other research has shown that consumers who prefer to use BNPL and other forms of credit at the point of sale would not shop with merchants that didn’t support it.

Sezzle and Gridiron said their partnership arrives just in time for parents to use BNPL to sign up for Gridiron’s summer and fall no-contact football leagues, which launch on July 5 and September 1, respectively. This is expected to be the largest season yet for the Gridiron league.

For a more in-depth look at Sezzle and BNPL, refer to PYMNTS’ report from last week.