Private equity is coming for your kid’s sports league

When the refrigeration system failed at an ice rink outside Kalamazoo, Michigan, last September, the Kalamazoo Optimist Hockey Association—whose club had skated there for six decades—was suddenly without a home rink. A month later, a private investment firm bought the building for $3.5 million and promised to reopen it. No local buyer could have moved that quickly. KOHA is a nonprofit with two full-time employees that serves 600 families and nearly 800 kids. Its executive director, Matt…