FranchiseVerdict
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FV-00693·STRONGExcellent81

D-Bat

Education - Tutoring & Test PrepFranchising since 2007Website
Investment
$536K – $1.0M
92nd pct Tutoring & Te…
Avg revenue
55th pct Tutoring & Te…
Royalty
Units
170
85th pct Tutoring & Te…
SBA default
0.0%
vs <3% typical

Bottom line

  • Total investment $536K – $1.0M including a $45K franchise fee.
  • No Item 19 financial performance data disclosed — the franchisor chose not to publish revenue figures.
  • Rated STRONG with a risk score of 54/100. SBA loan default rate of 0.0% across 213 loans (below the industry average).
  • System growing at 32.8% CAGR over 3 years with 170 total units — strong expansion trajectory.

Item 1 · who you're contracting with

The Franchisor

Legal entity
D-BAT ACADEMIES, LLC
Parent company
D-BAT Sports, Inc.
Incorporated in
Texas
HQ
2101 Midway Road, Suite 300, Carrollton, Texas 75006
Auditor
Whitley Penn LLP
Audited financials
Franchisor revenue
$13.8M
vs $18.3M prior year

Yale framework · single-unit ROIC

Returns Analysis

Pulls Item 7 (investment) and Item 19 (revenue) from this brand's FDD into the Yale unlevered-ROIC formula. Override any input to stress-test it against your own assumptions.

The model · Yale framework

What would one D-BAT unit return on the cash you put in?

Revenue · per unit, per year
$
Item 19 not disclosed — typing your own estimate
Franchisor take · royalty + ad fund
Royaltytyp 68%
%
Ad fundtyp 35%
%
Operating costs · category default: education
COGS
%
Labor
%
Rent / occupancy
%
Other operating
%
Total invested capital · what you actually put in
Initial investment
$
FDD Item 7: $536K–$1.0M
Working capital
$
FDD reports $50K–$75K

Unlevered ROIC · per unit

13%

Below typical band (30–60%)

0%30–60% Yale band80%

Store EBITDA · annual
$109K
EBITDA margin
14.5%
Total invested
$846K
Payback
93 mo
Unit-level only. A multi-unit portfolio gives up roughly 5–15% of this to shared services (corporate G&A) before reaching the ~10-unit break-even Yale describes.

Overview

About

D-BAT franchisees operate indoor baseball and softball training facilities offering batting cage rentals, lessons, lessons, camps, and leagues. Day-to-day operations include managing facility maintenance, scheduling instructors, processing membership payments, managing youth/adult customer relationships, and overseeing coach staff.

CEO
James Cade Griffis
Founded
1993
FDD year
2025
States available
37

Item 7 · what it costs

The Vitals

Total investment
$536K – $1.0M
All-in to open one unit
Liquid capital
$50K – $75K
Cash you must have on hand
Franchise fee
$45K
Royalty
Currently, 40% of Membership Fees
Ad fund
2.5%
typical 3–5%
Total fee load
42.5%
vs 9–13% typical

Item 19

Financial Performance

This franchisor did not disclose financial performance representations in Item 19, or our extractor could not parse them.

Item 20 · unit dynamics

The Growth Chart

Total units
170
Opened
21
Last reporting year
Closed
4
Turnover rate
2.4%
Company-owned
0
Corporate units in the system
% franchised
100%
vs corporate-owned
Net growth (yr3)
+11.1%
Net unit change last year
3-yr CAGR
+32.8%
Compounded over last 3 years
2023
170+17
Franchised units
2024
153
Franchised units
2025
128
Franchised units

Year-over-year franchised unit counts and net change. Source: FDD Item 20.

Item 20 · 12 states with active franchisees

The Territory Map

Derived from franchisee contact records. Shows states with at least one current operator — not where the franchisor is registered to sell new units (that data is re-extracting in a future refresh).

AK
ME
VT
NH
MA
RI
CT
NY
NJ
PA
DE
MD
DC
WA
OR
CA
NV
ID
MT
WY
UT
CO
AZ
NM
ND
SD
NE
KS
OK
TX
MN
IA
MO
AR
LA
WI
IL
MS
TN
MI
IN
KY
AL
OH
WV
GA
VA
NC
SC
FL
HI
Registered · 12 states
Not registered

States derived from franchisee phone area codes (Item 20). Approximate — ported numbers may show the original state, not the franchisee's current location.

Government records

SBA Loan Data

Aggregated from SBA 7(a) loan disclosures, public data unique to FranchiseVerdict.

Total loans
213
Loan volume
Avg loan
Default rate
0.0%
vs <3% typical · system-wide
5-yr default

FranchiseVerdict rating + FDD Items 3, 5, 6, 12, 17

Risk & Legal

54
Risk · 0-100
STRONG54 / 100

D-BAT presents elevated risk due to lack of financial transparency (no Item 19), an unusually aggressive 40% membership royalty, modest growth, and going concern issues at the franchisor level.

Score breakdown · what drove the 54 / 100 rating

  1. 01MEDNo Item 19 (Average Unit Volume) disclosed - impossible to assess ROI or validate 40% royalty burden
  2. 02MINORExceptionally high royalty rate of 40% on membership fees severely limits net profitability
  3. 03MINORModest unit growth of 11.1% YoY suggests slowing expansion or market saturation concerns
  4. 04MINORHigh initial investment range ($536K-$1M+) paired with unknown revenue creates significant capital-at-risk scenario
  5. 05HIGHGoing Concern status is FALSE - potential financial instability at franchisor level raises sustainability questions
  6. 06MINORProtected territory provided but with opaque financials, territorial advantage may be insufficient to offset 40% royalty drag

Severity inferred from the FDD text · not a regulatory classification

FDD Items 5, 6, 12, 17 · continued from Risk & Legal

Contract & Territory Detail

Territory
Radius
Protected territory
Yes
Initial term
10 years
Renewal term
5 years
Online sales rights
Restricted
Franchisor can compete
Yes
Hire a manager?
Allowed
Litigation count
0
Right of first refusal
Yes
Franchisor can buy back on resale
Mandatory arbitration
No
Jury trial waiver
Yes
Non-compete
2 yrs
Post-termination restriction
Owner-operator
Required
Governing law
Texas

Item 11

Training & Operations

Classroom training
13 hrs
On-the-job training
7 hrs
POS system
D-BAT membership tracking and scheduling software
Operating tech stack

Item 20

Franchisee Contacts

Phone numbers extracted directly from this brand's FDD Item 20. After purchase, you'll also receive a list of validation questions tailored to this brand.

Franchisee contacts

21 numbers

Locked
(510) 512-••••
CA
(630) 480-••••
IL
(803) 756-••••
SC

One-time purchase · CSV download · Validation questions included

FDD download

D-BAT · FDD (2025) PDF

Single-page checkout · instant download · CSV export of contacts available separately above