American Ultimate Disc League

Introduction

A lot of us dream of becoming an owner of a professional sports team. But now is your rare opportunity to invest in an entire professional sports league, one that is on the brink of becoming the next big team action sport for everyone. As an AUDL owner, you can become a leader in the vibrant, passionate and socially conscious Ultimate community.

The American Ultimate Disc League (AUDL) is the world's largest professional league for Ultimate, one of today's fastest-growing participation sports. Ultimate is a fast-paced, non-contact team sport celebrated for its airborne acrobatics – making it a veritable highlight factory for fans.

The AUDL was formed in 2012 to introduce and showcase our talented athletes and precision play to an expanded audience. Our 800 players generate endless "wow" moments while authentically representing the changing values of today’s society. Our audience enjoys our exciting, affordable, family friendly events, gobble up our highlights and video features on social media and watch our full-length games on TV or online. If you're a sports fan, you've likely seen our highlights on ESPN’s Sports Center Top10, Bleacher Report or other leading sports shows.

We recognize that we have to differentiate our sport to build a larger audience and attract new fans. Thats why we are now accepting leading cryptocurrencies on all AUDL league and team stores so fans and partners can pay in crypto for tickets, merchandize and sponsorships. That' also why we are currently launching the first collection of AUDL non-fungible tokens or NFT's called AUDL MoMintz,  featuring some of the most iconic plays from our video library of hundreds of games.   WeFunder investors will receive advance notice of our drops. Blockchain technology is used to establish the authenticity of each AUDL MoMintz and allows our community to collect and freely trade these NFT's and build their collection over time. 

The AUDL is excited to embrace the new world of pro sports which is fully integrating technology, gaming and data as part of the fan experience. This season, we will be making exciting new data available to our fans from player wearable technology during some of our live broadcasts. We have entered into a five-year, $3 million data distribution and co-development agreement to make official AUDL data and betting odds available to leading fantasy and daily sports book companies in the US and around the world.  Our fully functional AUDL Video console game should be available later this year to further attract a new audience of online gamers to pro ultimate.

And this season we will now have our AUDL Game of the Week available to over 200M households through broadcast deals with Fox Sports, Eurosport India, ESPN in Australia, New Zealand and the Caribbean as well as on AUDL.tv, ROKU and FANSEAT in europe. We plan to leverage this huge global platform to promote merchanize sales on our store, NFT's in our marketplace and attract subscribers to watch the remaining games streamed  exclusively on AUDL.tv

Ultimate is estimated to be played by 8 million people globally. Your Lead Investor, Bill Nye, the Science Guy, was a pioneering Ultimate player at Cornell and has remained a passionate player and fan. Bill has invested $35,000 in two previous AUDL financing rounds and as your Lead Investor, he will be investing again alongside you on the same terms in this offering. He is an avid supporter of Ultimate and predicts that Ultimate is going to be really, really big!

The AUDL actively promotes inclusion and diversity in our sport. We are currently investing in the work required to introduce Ultimate to new communities who we anticipate will be excited by our low-cost and accessible sport that promotes fair play, mutual respect, dispute resolution, and a healthy lifestyle.

We hope to be a positive catalyst, along with international organizing bodies, womxn Ultimate leagues and like-minded stakeholders, to introduce an entirely new and more diverse generation of young athletes to our sport. Ultimate is accessible to anyone and we think Ultimate can become THE next big team action sport for everyone.

We currently have 22 teams operating in the US and Canada. Our athletes do not currently play in the AUDL for large amounts of money but are passionate to have their skills seen and appreciated through the broadcast and social media platforms we have developed.

Our players are mostly college graduates, some are YouTube stars, mobile game developers, or software designers. One may live right next door. They are future thought and business leaders and stand united for greater inclusion and social justice and are bound by their love of the sport of Ultimate and the values it represents.

The global pandemic has proven how important live sports are to our society and the positive impact that sports can have on our overall sense of health and well-being. As we begin to see players and fans more widely vaccinated the AUDL is well positioned to be a leading pro sports league able to adapt to player and fan sentiment helping them feel safe and comfortable as they return to live, outdoor entertainment events this summer.

Business Model

The AUDL generates revenues from the sale of new team territories, media rights and advertising, video streaming subscriptions, media services, national sponsorships, licensing of data and images, tickets and concessions from league run events such as the Championship Weekend and All-star Game and the online sale of merchandise on the AUDL store.

We have achieved $2.55 million in revenues since inception and have raised over $6 million to date to grow professional Ultimate. We have developed a very efficient and low-cost professional sports business model which is very sustainable. 

In 2019, revenues increased 60% over the previous year.  Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the AUDL cancelled the 2020 season. This led to a material decrease in sponsorship billings, revenues from AUDL.tv subscriptions and ticket and merchandise sales from our events. 

However, our current pipeline of new and renewing sponsorship agreements, data licensing, new products like NFT's and increased team services support a revenue outlook of over $1.0 million in 2021. This outlook would translate into 2021 revenue growth up more than 200% from 2020 (the season we cancelled) and a 45% increase over more normalized 2019 revenues. 

On April 22, 2021 the AUDL Announced the largest commercial contract in its 10 year history when it signed a $3M Data Distribution and Co-development agreement with LSports Data, a global leader in sports betting solutions. This 5 year deal will result in new Data Licensing revenues being recognized starting in the 2021 fiscal year. 

The AUDL is able to grow revenues with a low-cost customer acquisition model. We have been developing the AUDL Growth Model for more than 9 years and it is now enabling us to build awareness with tens of millions of impressions - 365 days per year - curate fan interest in our content and then covert this interest to sales of AUDL.tv subscriptions, tickets and merchandize at our events, attendance at youth development camps and advertising and sponsorships through partnerships. 

New Business Lines to Support Growth

In November 2019, the AUDL formed a majority owned subsidiary, called UltiX Technology, LLC (UltiX). This new business was created to bring together industry leading expertise and partnerships as a developer of sports data collection, fan applications and video games. UltiX plans to offer new software products to monetize its AUDL licensed data and applications to further expand and engage the AUDL audience.

On October 1, 2020 the Company closed the purchase of a majority membership interest in a leading disc sports video production company, Fulcrum Media Group, LLC. This acquisition will serve to reduce our live game production costs and increase revenues in related disc sports event productions.

Social Media Growth

Most of us have missed live sports and the Ultimate community is eager to get back to play. Even with the absence of a 2020 season, the AUDL increased its social media followers rapidly during the past 12-month period as more fans engaged with our entertaining content, "best of" game rebroadcasts and new shows.

Over the past six months we have continued to build our base to over 900,000 engaged social media followers. We currently have over 2.5 million annual page views of our website and 100 million views of video content each year.

Key Growth Key Drivers for the AUDL

Sports Media Rights - A $20.9 Billion Market

Total US Pro Sports Media Rights Revenues in 2019 were $20.9 billion, growing at a 4.6% CAGR through 2023, according to PWC. The major disruption caused by COVID-19 turned 2020 into a unique period for all professional sports leagues and it will certainly have a material impact on this outlook.

The AUDL is targeting the growing interest in the sports market segment known as "participation sports", ones where fans casually play the sport but also love to watch top stars play at a competitive level. American Cornhole League is a good example of a league that has recently gained significant media traction.

In 2020, the AUDL signed a new multi-year national TV broadcast contract with Fox Sports. The AUDL Game of the Week will air on Wednesday nights and during other rebroadcast times from April-July on FS2. Fox Sports provides the league with advertising inventory that can be used to promote our products or those of our sponsors.  in 2021, our Championship game, played at Audi Field in Washington will air on FS1.  We have also  added Eurosport India and ESPN to our international Game for the Week broadcast partners for the 2021 season. 

We launched our new AUDL.tv streaming service in 2019 and captured almost 2,000 paying subscribers with an estimated average customer lifetime value of $80 per sub. AUDL.tv is now available to over 60 million Roku subscribers around the world.

Management expects that total revenues from AUDL media rights will triple in 2021 as we focus on promoting our AUDL.tv streaming service and add new in-game experiences.

In May 2020, we produced a nine-episode series called "Ultimate Greatness" which is being aired in over 80 countries around the world, including in Spanish on ESPN in Mexico, Latin America and South America.

All these media platforms generate broad awareness and provide an opportunity to attract new sponsors and develop advertising sales opportunities.

National Pro Sports Sponsorships - $17.8 Billion Market

Total 2019 US Pro Sports Sponsorship Revenues were $17.8 billion, growing at a 3.8.% CAGR through 2023, according to PWC. The AUDL has established a multi-year relationship with an experienced sports sales agency that represents our extensive in-game activations, digital presence and advertising inventory to national brands across the US. This successful relationship is based on a monthly retainer and performance-based sales incentives.

We signed our largest partnership contract in 2018, a national agreement with Deschutes Brewery as presenting sponsor. This is a 3-year deal valued in the low to mid six-figures. Other new national sponsors are currently showing strong interest in reaching our attractive audience. Annual revenues from a new sponsor typically represent a mid-five-figure to low six-figure contract.

The AUDL appeals to brands seeking sports properties that are inexpensive, fresh and specifically target the attractive Gen Z and Millennial demographic. Based the current pipeline of opportunities, management hopes that total national sponsorships may approximately double in the 2021 fiscal period over the record levels achieved in 2019.

Sports Data, Statistics and Gaming - A $150 Billion US Market

The explosion of legalized online sports betting in the US is changing the sports media landscape. It is expected that 80% of Americans will live in states where sports betting is legal by 2024, according to CNBC. We recognize that not all fans feel comfortable betting on sports but prized-based fan pool games and fantasy leagues are very popular ways to engage our audience and introduce new fans.

To drive further fan awareness and engagement, the AUDL has co-developed a proprietary stats application and has eight years of historical data that can be accessed through our API by leading fantasy and other online betting platforms. We have developed a prize-based fan game called Play10 that will feature live “in-game questions” during our Game of the Week broadcasts. We are also developing potential new revenue producing partnerships with several sports betting platforms.

On September 29, 2020, the AUDL entered into a Collaboration Agreement with UltiX Technology, LLC to develop a prototype for the world’s only console based Ultimate video game to further engage our audience and grow revenues. The league will be paid a license fee for the use of its images and brands and will earn royalties on future revenue in the event the video game achieves commercial success.

Professional Sports is a Market in Transition

Sports enthusiasts are evolving, and some professional leagues aren’t adapting fast enough. Younger players are turning away from the violent nature of football. The risk of head trauma has caused youth football participation rates to plummet. Baseball, meanwhile, is too slow and methodical to capture the imagination of many younger players and viewers.

The explosive growth of online content providers, and the major shift to video streaming, have made live sports programming more valuable than ever. The rights to broadcast global tier-one sports has become cost prohibitive for many networks. The AUDL provides a cost-effective way to access new programming that appeals to advertisers seeking to reach our attractive demographic. Online sports betting and fan games will further transform the experience of watching live sports and help introduce many new fans to our sport.

COVID-19 will have a lasting impact on professional sports. The AUDL has a very low-cost business model and can adapt to smaller in-person attendance because we control all live broadcasts for our games. This will allow us to monetize our events in different ways and create new fan experiences. Even if fans are uncomfortable returning to outdoor events in the short term, the AUDL can continue to grow.

Youth Development and Increasing Diversity

AUDL will encourage grassroots growth in Ultimate through youth tournaments and clinics. We will actively seek out new communities for our sport, building a pipeline of diverse, talented players and new fans.

The AUDL created the Inclusion Initiative in July 2019 to focus on diversity and inclusion in our sport and business.

We believe it’s important to extend that work into a non-profit foundation called Inclusion, Diversity and Education in Action (IDEA) whose mission is to promote engagement and education in the AUDL and the broader community.

We plan to fund the foundation through direct contributions from the AUDL operating budget, corporate partnerships and opportunities for our fans through matching programs. The foundation will financially support active partnerships and activities that will proactively engage minority communities.

Perks

We have put together some great investor Perks starting with investments of $250 or greater. Check them out and get ready to enjoy the 2021 season the summer as an owner of the AUDL. 

Investment Opportunity

This is the American Ultimate Disc League's second Equity Crowdfunding Offer under REG CF. We want to dramatically increase our investor base with Wefunder and hope you decide to join our team as an owner to advocate our mission to new fans and business partners across the US and around the world.