Coming out of the pandemic, when recreational and competitive sports for kids were shut down for months-long stretches at a time all around the world, it’s no wonder that these pursuits are experiencing a massive resurgence in popularity across the board. Many children define their identities and form their friend groups around the sports they like or participate in, and athletic activities score a ton of points with parents as well—for the role they play in the development of confidence, leadership and teamwork skills, to their promise of fitness, mental health and outdoor time (depending on the sport, of course).
According to polls conducted by children’s market research firm KidSay from January to December 2023, 92% of eight- to 11-year-olds in the US watch/follow/play sports or play sports video games. And across the pond, Childwise in the UK noted in its latest Monitor Report that 87% of kids ages seven to 18 played sports last year, averaging 2.4 hours per week outside of school and another 1.5 hours in school. Moreover, 22% were part of a sports club/team in 2023 (compared to 18% the year prior), and 19% visited a gym or fitness club (up from 11% in 2022).
With sports playing such a pervasive role in the lives of so many kids, it makes sense for content producers and buyers to use this hook to engage them. And there are plenty of new sports series concepts in development that are primed to hit the market soon.
HENSON GETS IN THE GAME

Concept art of Earv, courtesy of The Jim Henson Company
In addition to working on Adrenaline Lemmings—a CG-animated/ live-action series announced in June about four lemmings training for an X Games-style stunt competition—The Jim Henson Company has just put a brand-new unscripted live-action/puppet show with a sports theme into its pipeline.
The Ultimate Goat (TBD x 22 minutes) sees journalist and public speaker Rod Berger team up with an adventure-loving goat puppet named Earv to travel around the world in search of the GOAT (greatest of all time) in different sports.
The duo will explore a wide variety of countries and cultures, interviewing top athletes in sports ranging from soccer and football, to kookier disciplines like extreme ironing. Each episode will also feature a five- to seven-minute segment designed to help kids discover their own inner GOAT. Berger created the series, and longtime Henson puppeteer Victor Yerrid is attached as a writer, executive producer and Earv’s performer.
Sports is a new frontier for Henson, but it’s a natural one because of its power to connect kids and families, says president of television Halle Stanford. Add to the mix a puppet as a conduit for physical comedy (Earv can be punted on a football field or rolled down a bowling alley, for example), and you have a recipe for success. The studio is currently constructing the puppet and plans to bring the series to market this fall.
“Of course we want kids up and moving after the pandemic, but sports also fosters community,” notes Stanford. “Whether you’re on the team or in the stands, you feel part of something in a really good way. More than ever, we need to feel like we’re part of a global community, and sports can do that.”
ACTION IS WHERE IT’S AT
San Francisco-based Luminous Blue is taking a more action-driven approach to sports content with its new series Wolfire (pictured at the top, 52 x 11 minutes). In this anime-style adventure concept, a pack of red wolves sets out to train a team of fourth-grade kids for a high-level soccer championship featuring players from all corners of the animal kingdom. Targeted at kids ages eight to 10, the show has a US$3-million budget and is set for a fall 2025 delivery.
The series comes from a trio of Luminous execs who see several market gaps that it could potentially fill. Driven by his own experience with a son playing soccer, creative director Randy Gaul wanted to create a more “imaginative” kids sports series. Wolfire’s executive producer and Luminous CEO/founder Norman Praught sees value in a series where the protagonist has a rocky journey and is guided by a supportive coach. And writer John Edwards views the project as a chance to craft an animal-centric series with tougher characters that stand out from the “cutesy” critters common in kids TV. All of these motivations blended together to create a kid-centric series with strong licensing potential, says Praught.
This is Luminous Blue’s (Wubbles) first-ever sports series for kids. But it’s not much of a gamble, since sports are such a big part of kids’ lives and there is room in the market for them, says Praught. The studio also sees potential to expand Wolfire—with its toyetic characters and focus on different powers and animals—into licensed sports toys, books, apparel and games.

Top 10 sports kids play. Source: ChildWise’s THE MONITOR REPORT 2024. The data comes from UK kids seven to 18.
RIDERS ON THE SNOW
With Italy gearing up to host the 2026 Winter Olympics in Milan, it’s a good time for Rome’s Showlab (YoYo) to start pitching Snow Riders (12 x 22 minutes). In this 2D-animated concept (which has a bible, storylines and a trailer available to share), 15-year-old avid surfer Anna’s lifestyle is turned upside down when her family moves from the seaside to Italy’s snowy mountains. But things start looking up when she tries snowboarding for the first time, falls in love with the sport, and sets herself a goal to qualify for the Winter Olympics.
Aimed at seven to 11s and budgeted at US$3.7 million, Snow Riders‘ coming-of-age adventure story also offers a gateway for exploring sustainability themes, says Micheline Azoury, Showlab’s director of international sales and acquisitions. The future of winter sports is uncertain in the face of global warming, and at least one planned subplot will focus on Anna working with her dad to protect the local mountains from eco-terrorists.
COUNTDOWN TO SPORTS

3,2,1 GO! will initially launch with 26 short episodes, and Zeilt Productions is looking to expand the format to 52.
Taking a different approach, Luxembourg-based Zeilt Productions’ 3, 2, 1 GO! centers around five kids who aren’t great at sports but who bond over giving them a try. They start filming these failed attempts and realize that the new skills they’re learning can be applied to solving other problems. In one episode, the kids discover a treasure map and use new zipline skills to help one of them overcome a fear of heights and find the loot.
“For me, sport is about diversity—the diversity of sports, the diversity of athletes,” says Laurent Witz, CEO and a producer Zeilt. “[I wanted to develop] a series whose heroes would be more exceptional for their singularity and their character than for their skills.”
3, 2, 1 GO! was born out of seeing how isolation and a lack of physical activity was hurting children and their development during the pandemic, says Witz. His core objective was to develop a series that’s in keeping with the philosophy of Pierre de Coubertin, the co-founder of the International Olympic Committee, who once said, “Sport seeks out fear in order to dominate it, fatigue in order to triumph over it, difficulty in order to overcome it.”
Luxembourg broadcaster RTL is attached to 3, 2, 1 GO!, and Zeilt has raised US$3 million of the 2D-animated show’s US$4.8-million budget for 26 seven-minute episodes (although the producers would like to raise more financing from partners, co-producers and broadcasters to expand the format to 52 episodes).
ROLLING ALONG

For TeamTO, sports are sometimes just about feeling like you belong—and that’s what the Paris-based studio is zeroing in on with its 2D/CG-animated series RIOT5 (10 x 22 minutes). Targeting the 12-and-up crowd, this concept revolves around roller derby, featuring lead character Griz, who forms the RIOT5 squad after she’s kicked off her old team and dumped by her girlfriend, the team’s captain. The only problem is that her current crew is mostly new to the sport, and they only have six months to train for the regional championships.
TeamTO decided to focus on roller derby because of its physicality and reputation as a welcoming sport for LGBTQ+ people, says executive producer Marine Tuloup. One storyline that leans into this second characteristic will see Griz fall for one of her teammates and struggle to balance her feelings with the desire to win.
RIOT5 is TeamTO’s first sports series, and it also represents the studio’s first step towards aiming for an older audience. A show bible is complete, a pilot script is in the works for director Anaïs Caura (Désintox, The Man-Woman Case), and production is expected to start next summer for a Q1 2027 delivery.
“Roller derby is an empowering and emerging female sport, which makes it very inspiring and a great arena for comedy with fierce action,” says Tuloup. “Its physicality and its beautiful philosophy of learning to fall and get back up again also gives it a very positive spin.”
This story originally appeared in Kidscreen‘s Q3 2024 magazine issue.