Youth Sports Tournament Company

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Executive Summary

SportsHub Tournament Co. organizes and operates youth sports tournaments across regional venues, generating revenue through team entry fees ($395/team), paid door admission ($20/person), concession revenue sharing, and local event sponsorships. Starting with 20 events in Year 1 and scaling to 70 events annually by Year 5, the business targets the youth travel sports market, where families now spend more than $40 billion a year on youth sports overall, by delivering well-run, fairly officiated tournament experiences that teams return to season after season. Year 1 projects about $332,800 in revenue with a gross margin of about 59% after direct event costs, growing to about $1.75 million in revenue by Year 5. These are estimates built from the per-event assumptions in this plan, not promises.

Company Description

SportsHub Tournament Co. is a tournament production company organized as a Georgia LLC, operating multi-sport youth events at regional venues across the Southeast. The business earns revenue four ways at every event: team registration fees, door admission from families and spectators, a percentage of concession vendor sales, and event sponsorships from local businesses. Low fixed overhead and a founder-led model keep margins strong as event volume scales from 20 events in Year 1 to 70 events by Year 5. No facility lease is required - venues are contracted per event, keeping fixed costs minimal.

Problem & Opportunity

Families, coaches, and club teams increasingly seek high-quality tournament competition beyond their regular season - but too many events are poorly organized, inconsistently officiated, and short on the basic experience families expect: clear schedules, live standings, safe venues, and a fair fee structure. A poorly run tournament loses teams permanently. Athletic directors report spending hours coordinating logistics with disorganized operators. Families drive hours only to find late starts, undertrained officials, and no communication. The market is large and growing, but quality operators are rare.

Products & Services

Turnkey tournament production covering venue sourcing and contracting, certified and background-checked officiating (12 officials per event), real-time bracket and standings management, professional event-day staffing (10 workers per event), and a transparent flat entry fee of $395 per team with no hidden costs. Families pay $20 at the door. Concession vendors operate on-site under a revenue-sharing agreement at no cost to families. Local businesses sponsor events starting at $2,500 for visible branding and PA announcements throughout the day. Every event is run the same way so coaches know exactly what to expect.

Market Analysis

Families in the United States now spend more than $40 billion a year on youth sports, according to the Aspen Institute's Project Play, and pay-to-play travel and tournament sports are a large and growing part of that spending. There are about 50 million children ages 6 to 17 in the country, and more than half of them play organized sports. The average family spent about $1,016 in 2024 on a child's primary sport, up 46% from 2019 (Aspen Institute). These figures are national averages and should be checked again before the plan is sent to a lender. The primary customers for SportsHub are AAU teams, school-sponsored teams, church leagues, and club programs within a 2-hour drive of each event venue. The Southeast regional market includes hundreds of active programs seeking quality tournament opportunities on weekends throughout the year.

Competitive Landscape

Regional tournament operators and school-run events are the primary competition. Most school-run events are inconsistent in quality, limited in scale, and not open to outside teams. Regional operators vary widely in quality - the gap SportsHub fills is production consistency, certified officiating, digital bracket management, and a reputation that drives returning-team rates above 70% by Year 2. The competitive advantage is operational: most tournament operators treat events as a side business. SportsHub treats it as the business, with standardized processes, trained staff, and systems that deliver the same quality at event 70 as at event 1.

Marketing & Sales Strategy

Growth is driven through direct outreach to AAU program directors, school athletic directors, and church league coordinators. Returning-team retention is the primary growth lever. Social media documents event highlights and live standings to build inbound interest.

The first 90 days. Days 1 to 30: form the LLC, buy insurance and set up registration and bracket software. Days 31 to 60: call AAU program directors, school athletic directors and church league coordinators and sign the first venue. Days 61 to 90: open registration for the first event, book the first sponsor and confirm officials.

Operations Plan

Each event requires venue contract execution (60-90 days out), officiating staff recruitment and scheduling (12 officials per tournament at an average $150/official), event-day staff coordination (10 workers per event at $150/day), bracket and registration software management, and concession vendor coordination. Per-event venue cost is $2,000. Insurance is carried per-event ($500) plus an annual general liability policy ($1,000). The founder manages all venue relationships, team registrations, officiating contracts, and sponsor sales in Year 1. An Operations Manager is added in Year 2 to handle event-day logistics as volume increases to 35 events.

Risks and how we plan for them:
- Low turnout at early events. We price and staff each event against real registrations and cancel or merge brackets that fall short.
- Weather and venue problems. We contract indoor backup space and write refund and reschedule rules in the entry terms.
- Injuries and liability. We carry event insurance, require waivers and follow venue safety rules.
- Official quality. Referees are certified and background-checked, and coaches can report problems after each event.
- Dependence on the founder. The Operations Manager is hired in Year 2 so event days do not rest on one person.

Registration and communication. Teams register online with a flat entry fee, receive a schedule and venue map a week before the event and get live bracket and score updates on the day. After each event, coaches receive a short survey and a written summary of what we will change, and returning teams get early registration for the next event.

Management & Organization

The company is founded and led by an operator with direct experience in youth sports event management, coaching networks, and regional venue relationships. The founder manages all functions in Year 1: business development, venue contracting, team registration, officiating scheduling, and sponsor sales. An Operations Manager joins in Year 2 at $40,000/year to own event-day logistics, freeing the founder for growth and relationship management. A Marketing and Partnerships Coordinator is added in Year 3 at $35,000/year to drive sponsorship revenue and team acquisition as the event calendar expands to 50 events annually.

Milestones Narrative

Year 1: 20 events with about 22 teams per event and about 350 paying fans per event, sales about $332,800. Year 2: 35 events, an Operations Manager hired, returning-team rate above 70%, sales about $680,000. Year 3: 50 events, a Marketing and Partnerships Coordinator hired, sales about $1,109,500. Year 4: 60 events, sales about $1,421,900. Year 5: 70 events, sales about $1,749,100.

What the plan's numbers say. Year 1: sales about $332,800, profit about $96,900; Year 2: sales about $680,000, profit about $233,100; Year 3: sales about $1.1 million, profit about $418,200; Year 4: sales about $1.4 million, profit about $572,600; Year 5: sales about $1.7 million, profit about $699,400. The lowest year-end cash is about $149,700.

How we will keep score. Every month we compare real sales to the plan, check the cash in the bank, review the direct cost of each job or product, and look at what customers say. If sales are behind plan for two months in a row, we slow spending and delay hiring until the numbers catch up.

Funding Request

SportsHub is seeking $42,500 through an SBA Microloan to fund startup costs and initial working capital. The founder is contributing $10,000 in personal capital, so $52,500 in all. The Funding Need Calculator in this plan shows $52,500: startup costs of $35,000 plus a cash cushion of about $17,500 (about three months of overhead). Startup uses: LLC formation and legal documentation ($1,500), event equipment including tables, tents, banners, scoreboards, and timing gear ($8,000), tournament registration and bracket software, first year ($2,500), initial marketing including social media advertising and printed materials ($5,000), general liability insurance deposit and first-year premium ($3,000), and working capital covering venue deposits for the first three months of operations ($15,000).

How the numbers work. Year 1 sales of about $332,800: team entry fees $173,800 (440 team entries at $395), door admission $140,000 (7,000 paying fans at $20), the concession revenue share $14,000 and sponsorships $5,000. Direct event costs (venue, officials, event staff, awards, per-event insurance and card fees) are about $123,400 in Year 1, a gross margin of about 59%. We expect a profit of about $96,900, $233,100, $418,200, $572,600 and $699,400 in Years 1 to 5, as sales grow to about $1,749,100 by Year 5. The lowest year-end cash balance is about $149,700.

The loan is planned at 8.5% interest over 6 years, so payments of about $756 a month are already included in our cash flow.

A cautious case: if events draw only half as many teams and fans as planned in every year, the model shows Year 1 sales of about $168,900 and a loss of about $600, a profit of about $100,100 in Year 3, and year-end cash that stays above $50,700. The biggest risk is attendance: every figure above assumes about 22 teams and 350 paying fans at each event in the first season, rising to 34 teams and 500 fans by Year 5, so early events should be priced and staffed against real registrations. All numbers in this plan are estimates.

Appendix Notes

Documents to attach before you send this plan:

- LLC operating agreement.
- Georgia business license.
- Venue rental agreements for the first events.
- General liability and event insurance certificates.
- Officiating association agreements and official background check policy.
- Concession vendor revenue-share agreement.
- Sponsor agreement template.
- Tournament registration and bracket software account.
- Your resume and a personal financial statement.
- SBA Microloan application from a local intermediary lender.
If you don't have any of this yet, no worries - let's continue.

The assumptions behind our numbers (change them in the Financials section to match your own):
- Team entry fees: about 440 team entries in Year 1 at $395 each (22 teams at each of 20 events); about $180 of direct cost per team for officials, event staff, awards, insurance and registration and card fees.
- Door admission: about 7,000 paying fans in Year 1 at $20 each (about 350 per event); about $0.60 in card fees each.
- Concessions: vendors pay a 20% share of their sales, about $700 per event in Year 1.
- Sponsorships: 2 sponsors in Year 1 at $2,500 each, rising to 13 at $3,000 in Year 5.
- Venue and event-day costs (venue, site manager, trainer): about $2,650 per event. Events: 20, 35, 50, 60 and 70 in Years 1 to 5. Teams per event rise from 22 to 34 and paying fans from 350 to 500.
- Pay: founder $45,000 a year; Operations Manager $40,000 from Year 2; Marketing and Partnerships Coordinator $35,000 from Year 3.
- Other yearly costs in Year 1: insurance $1,000, software $2,500, marketing $12,000, accounting, legal and admin $5,000, founder travel and equipment upkeep $3,000.
- Tax rate: 21%.
- Every dollar amount is an estimate. Replace them with your own quotes and research.

Plain words used in this plan:
- Entry fee: the flat price each team pays to join a tournament.
- Door admission: what spectators pay to enter a venue.
- Revenue share: a percentage of vendor sales paid to the organizer.
- Bracket: the chart showing who plays whom.
- SBA Microloan: a small loan offered through nonprofit lenders and backed by the Small Business Administration.

Startup Costs