For Love and Profit

REVIEW SUMMARY
Company. i9 Sports Corp., Brandon
Industry. For-profit recreation
Key. Giving kids (and parents) an alternative to local league play
By the Numbers. Click here for more information about i9's recent revenue growth.

Youth sports are facing a crisis nationwide, with local leagues and school teams enduring financial cutbacks due to the economy.

Making matters worse, children are often caught between video-game distractions and boorish behavior by parents with excessive expectations.

Frank Fiume believes he has the solution.

He launched i9 Sports Corp. eight years ago in the Brandon area east of Tampa to organize private, for-profit youth leagues. Fiume previously successfully arranged an adult softball league on Long Island, N.Y.

After starting with flag football, the simply named franchise-based company with offices at Kings Avenue Executive Park has expanded to other youth sports, including soccer, basketball and cheerleading. Boys and girls ages 3 to 14 can sign up, everyone gets to play regardless of their skills and practices are held the same days as games, thus relieving scheduling and transportation headaches.

The concept has grown to 130 i9 Sports franchises from Florida to Hawaii, with revenue growing 73% in the last three years despite the recession. The company's goal is to create 300 to 500 franchises over the next five years.

“We are a rocket on the launching pad, ready to take off right now,” says Fiume, who moved to the Tampa Bay area in the late 1990s. He adds that the company has created a solid infrastructure for national franchising and is proficient in marketing, including social media.

Part of the expansion process involved hiring a full-time president and COO. Brian Sanders joined the company two years ago, shortly after moving to Tampa from Connecticut, and is now in charge of day-to-day operations as well as franchisee relations across the country.

“We're not in the sports business, we're in the premier customer service business,” Sanders says. That kind of support is important to the more than 300,000 youngsters now on i9 Sports teams who are gaining self-esteem while trying out their athletic skills.

Values over skills

Granted, not every kid is cut out for sports and their parents should pursue other avenues for college scholarships. But every kid can still learn lifelong values such as good sportsmanship, teamwork and character, which is what i9 Sports strives to teach.

“If we can teach kids these things, we can help them succeed in life,” Sanders says. “This hyper-competition level is hurting youth sports.”

Parents typically pay a $135 fee for children to participate in i9 Sports games for eight weeks, cutting out the need for fund-raising or concession sales. The youngsters get a reversible jersey they can keep (cheerleaders get uniforms, too), equipment is provided and participation medals are handed out each week to every player, with one player getting the chance to win a sportsmanship medal.

“Mom is our primary customer,” Sanders says. “She is the one making the decision for the kids.”

Scores and standings are still kept during games, but having fun takes priority over winning, Sanders says. If a kid is less than a standout at a particular sport, he says, the goal is to let him or her figure it out on their own, rather than have a coach or parent get after them.

“There's no angry shouting at players from the stands,” notes Brandy Zickenfoose, branding manager for i9 Sports. In fact, she says parents are asked to sign a pledge promising to promote positive sideline behavior and support the inclusive culture.

Facebook feedback

The company's principals can easily find out how well their concept works by regularly looking at its Facebook page, which has at least 15,000 followers who frequently provide feedback from franchises near and far.

“The culture is right there,” Fiume says. “Anybody can tell you how good your company is, but if you want the real story, there it is. It's full disclosure.”

Parents can also find comfort in knowing that i9 Sports coaches are subject to mandatory background checks and trained referees are hired to officiate games. Franchisees are subject to even greater scrutiny.

“We have the luxury of limiting who we let in,” Sanders says. “We don't want to take anybody who has the money.”

Buying a franchise costs just under $70,000 and includes coaching for owners to ensure success in their respective communities, whether one of several in a large metropolitan area or the only one in an entire state. New owners come to Brandon for one week of training and at least four months of preparation is required before a franchise opens.

Sanders says i9 Sports is ideal for entrepreneurs who seek a career change or were downsized in recent years. The franchises provide an opportunity to be a small or home-based business owner balancing lifestyle, profitability and scalability for future growth.

Wherever a prospective franchisee calls from, he adds, the company attempts to link them with the right community with plenty of population potential in the 3-to-14 age range. “We see it more as matchmaking,” he says.

Follow the lead

Fiume notes that i9 Sports itself tries to emulate customer service practices from successful national companies that don't have sports as their center — Zappos, Apple, Disney and Southwest Airlines, to name a some.

“The brand has evolved so much,” he says. The company has its own proprietary software that franchisees can access, along with a “playbook” outlining best practices, he says.

Company executives hope now is the best time for i9 Sports to evolve and expand further with greater emphasis placed on programs that promote physical activity among the nation's youth. The National Football League has its “Play 60” program, encouraging youngsters to get outside for an hour each day, and First Lady Michelle Obama is battling childhood obesity with her “Let's Move” plan.

Sanders says the company doesn't aim to compete against local parks and recreation programs or the YMCA (now known simply as the Y), but rather offer an alternative to those programs. This is especially important in areas where physical education is being cut from public schools because of budget constraints, he says.

He adds that i9 Sports programs are beneficial to budding athletes who want to hone their skills year-round. For example, a youngster who plays tackle football in the fall can participate in flag football during spring.

But the company's biggest emphasis is on having fun, which is what sports should be about, Sanders says. He cites studies showing that 42 million youngsters across the United States play sports each year, yet almost half quit by the time they turn 12 because it becomes a negative experience.

“We're the only ones pushing in this direction,” he says. “We've got a huge opportunity to redefine youth sports in America.”

He Put the 'i' in Team

Frank Fiume had to think of a good name for his fledgling youth sports company in 2002. Something that could be easily remembered, got right to the point and, perhaps most importantly, would be protected against infringement or copycatting.

“It takes a lot of money to get a name where people know what you are,” the founder and CEO of i9 Sports says. For him, though, it took only a scratch pad and a fair amount of thought.

Fiume says he came up with nine words starting with the letter I that exemplified the company's core ideology — imaginative, innovative, interactive, integrity-driven, impassioned, inspirational, instructional, insightful and inclusive.

He adds that there's no conflict with using the small “i” commonly associated with products created by Apple Inc. over the last decade. The iPod, for instance, was introduced the year before i9 Sports began, yet his company was well under way by the time other gadgets like the iPhone and iPad came along.