Bottom line
- Total investment $7.7M – $11.4M including a $5.0M franchise fee.
- No Item 19 financial performance data disclosed — the franchisor chose not to publish revenue figures.
- Rated CAUTION with a risk score of 71/100.
- No Item 19 financial performance representation. Without franchisor-disclosed revenue data, you'll need to gather unit economics directly from existing franchisees.
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 USL League One unit return on the cash you put in?
Unlevered ROIC · per unit
1%
Below typical band (30–60%)
Overview
About
USL League One franchisees own and operate professional soccer teams competing in the third tier of the U.S. Soccer pyramid. Day-to-day operations include stadium management, player recruitment and payroll, marketing and ticket sales, community engagement, and broadcast/streaming coordination. Franchisees manage P&L, sponsor relations, and compete in a 34-match regular season with playoff tournaments.
Item 7 · what it costs
The Vitals
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
Year-over-year franchised unit counts and net change. Source: FDD Item 20.
Item 20 · 8 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.
No SBA loan data available for this brand.
FranchiseVerdict rating + FDD Items 3, 5, 6, 12, 17
Risk & Legal
A structurally weak franchise system with unresolved going concern issues, ongoing litigation, zero financial transparency, and a $7.7M–$11.4M investment into a 12-unit, slow-growing league with questionable profitability.
Score breakdown · what drove the 71 / 100 rating
- 01HIGHGoing Concern = False indicates serious financial/operational viability questions at corporate level
- 02MEDNo Item 19 (Average Unit Volume) disclosed — inability or unwillingness to share revenue/profitability data is a major red flag
- 03HIGHActive litigation (employment and discrimination lawsuits) suggests governance, culture, and legal liability issues within the league
- 04MINORHigh franchise fee ($5M) combined with slow unit growth (9.1% YoY to only 12 total units) indicates weak market demand and franchisee struggles
- 05MINORRoyalty structure capped at $115K annual with 15% escalation clause creates unpredictable cost burden; combined fee + royalty may exceed ROI capacity
- 06MINORSmall system size (12 units) limits brand leverage, supplier economies, and marketing scale
- 07MEDProfessional soccer in North America has historically faced sustainability issues; USL League One is a second-tier league with limited media revenue potential
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
9 numbers
One-time purchase · CSV download · Validation questions included
FDD download
USL League One · FDD (2023) PDF