Bottom line
- Total investment $37K – $70K including a $25K franchise fee, 7.5% ongoing royalty.
- Average unit revenue of $462K/year (median $360K). Estimated payback in 0.4 years.
- Rated STRONG with a risk score of 41/100. SBA loan default rate of 0.0% across 33 loans (below the industry average).
- System growing at 21.1% CAGR over 3 years with 264 total units — strong expansion trajectory.
Item 1 · who you're contracting with
The Franchisor
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 i9 Sports unit return on the cash you put in?
Unlevered ROIC · per unit
98%
Above typical band (30–60%)
Levered LBO scenario · Yale Crease Capital framing
What would 25 i9 Sports units return on equity?
Equity IRR · 5-yr
49.9%
7.57× MOIC
Year-1 DSCR
1.88×
EBITDA ÷ debt service
Equity required
$600K
on $3.0M purchase
Total debt
$2.4M
SBA $1.5M + senior + seller note
Overview
About
i9 Sports franchisees operate youth recreational sports leagues and camps in their protected territories, managing player registration, coach recruitment and training, game scheduling, facility coordination, and customer service. Day-to-day activities include league administration, parent communication, marketing to fill roster spots, and ensuring compliance with corporate programming standards across multiple sports (soccer, basketball, baseball, flag football, etc.).
Item 7 · what it costs
The Vitals
Item 19
Financial Performance
Item 20 · unit dynamics
The Growth Chart
Year-over-year franchised unit counts and net change. Source: FDD Item 20.
Item 20 · 18 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).
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.
FranchiseVerdict rating + FDD Items 3, 5, 6, 12, 17
Risk & Legal
Moderate-to-caution risk profile: solid unit economics and low entry cost are offset by litigation exposure, ambiguous growth trajectory, and heavy reliance on unverified financial claims without Item 19 disclosure.
Score breakdown · what drove the 41 / 100 rating
- 01HIGHLitigation involving parent company affiliates (Arby's, Dunkin') raises questions about corporate governance and legal exposure that could affect franchise operations
- 02MINORSlow unit growth of 7.8% YoY in a youth sports market suggests market saturation or operational challenges despite positive unit economics
- 03MINORHigh royalty floor ($425-$450/month minimum) creates fixed cost burden; franchisees earning below $5,400-$5,400 annually in network revenue operate at a loss
- 04MINORNo Item 19 (financial performance representations) limits ability to validate the $461K average revenue and $122K net income claims independently
- 05MINORMinimum royalty structure incentivizes aggressive revenue extraction even from struggling locations, potentially masking system-wide underperformance
Severity inferred from the FDD text · not a regulatory classification
FDD Items 5, 6, 12, 17 · continued from Risk & Legal
Contract & Territory Detail
Item 11
Training & Operations
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
100 numbers
One-time purchase · CSV download · Validation questions included
FDD download
i9 Sports · FDD (2025) PDF