This is the rounded span between the 2026 i9 Sports FDD's bottom-half and top-half average Operating Profit for mature, reporting Area Developer Franchise Units. The official overall median was $80,173 and the average was $129,290. Operating Profit is the strongest same-brand proxy for owner benefit, but it is not after-tax take-home pay and it excludes owner compensation, certain owner-related expenses, interest, taxes, depreciation, amortization, finance charges, and the $500 monthly Franchise Fee under a 5-Year Agreement.
The disclosed figures are official. Any adjustment in this article for the 5-Year Agreement's $500 monthly Franchise Fee is an independent analytical calculation, not an Item 19 financial performance representation by i9 Sports, LLC. It combines identified FDD facts and a stated annualization assumption. Actual results can differ materially with market penetration, venue count, sport mix, registration pricing, labor, venue costs, financing, owner involvement, and execution.
Legal franchisor: i9 Sports, LLC, a Delaware limited liability company and an indirect wholly owned subsidiary of Youth Enrichment Brands, LLC. Document: 2026 i9 Sports Franchise Disclosure Document, issued March 26, 2026. Item 19 status: direct Revenue, Gross Profit, Personnel Expense, Operating Expense, Royalty Fee, and Operating Profit disclosure. Offer and population: current U.S. Area Developer offer, with state effective status varying; 129 Included Franchises operated throughout the 12-month Reporting Period and provided materially complete, consistently categorized financial data. External context: Federal Trade Commission guidance and a Bureau of Labor Statistics manager-wage benchmark. Date checked: July 21, 2026.
The current disclosure directly reports a defined operating measure for 129 franchised units, but confidence in translating it into personal owner income is lower because the FDD does not separate owner-operated and employee-manager-run results.
OFFICIAL. Middle result among 129 Included Franchises.
OFFICIAL. Equal to 25% of average Revenue as rounded in Item 19.
OFFICIAL. Revenue is not owner earnings.
OFFICIAL. Compatible with the Part II earnings cohort.
DERIVED. 129 Included Franchises divided by 280 active units as of Sept. 30, 2025.
OFFICIAL. Average Royalty Fee was already deducted in Operating Profit.
What does the 2026 i9 Sports Item 19 actually report?
Officially, Item 19 reports Operating Profit—not owner salary, distributions, or after-tax income—for 129 Included Franchises during the 12 months ended September 30, 2025. The FDD defines Operating Profit as Revenue minus Cost of Goods Sold, Total Operating Expense, and the 7.5% Royalty Fee. The definition excludes owner compensation and several non-operating or financing-related items.
| Official Item 19 reference point | Operating Profit | Units | How to interpret it |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bottom-half average | $53,533 | 64 | Average within the lower-Revenue half, not a downside guarantee. |
| Overall median | $80,173 | 129 | Half of reported Operating Profit results were above and half below. |
| Overall average | $129,290 | 129 | Raised by stronger units; only 36% met or exceeded the average. |
| Top-half average | $203,881 | 65 | Upper-cohort context, not an expected result for a new buyer. |
Three official reference points from the same Item 19 population and Reporting Period.
Interpretation: $54,000–$204,000 is a span between official half-cohort averages, not the minimum-to-maximum range and not a probability forecast. The actual reported unit range was a $12,223 loss to $608,688 of Operating Profit.
Source: 2026 i9 Sports FDD, Item 19, Part II, Chart 1, p. 58.
Item 19 Part I reports Registration Revenue for 213 Covered Units, while Part II reports broader receipts and the operating measure for 129 reporting units using a different period and eligibility test. The Part I and Part II figures should not be blended. The profit analysis in this article uses the internally compatible Part II Revenue and expense lines.
How does average Revenue become Operating Profit?
Officially, the average Included Franchise converted $514,066 of Revenue into $129,290 of Operating Profit during the 12-month Reporting Period. The bridge is fully reproducible from the same 129-unit Item 19 cohort: subtract $149,520 of Cost of Goods Sold, $196,999 of Total Operating Expense, and $38,257 of Royalty Fee.
All values are official averages for the same 129 reporting units.
Interpretation: Revenue growth matters, but personnel and direct program costs absorb most of the difference between Revenue and Operating Profit. The chart does not deduct excluded owner, financing, tax, or depreciation items.
Source: 2026 i9 Sports FDD, Item 19, Part II, Chart 1 and explanatory notes, pp. 58–59.
- Cost of Goods Sold: Player Expense, Venue Expense, and Other Cost of Sales, including uniforms, equipment, venue fees, coaches, background checks, player liability insurance, and credit-card costs.
- Total Operating Expense: Personnel Expense, Marketing Expense, and Other Expense. Personnel Expense includes staff wages and payroll-related costs but excludes compensation paid to owners.
- Operating Profit: Revenue minus Cost of Goods Sold, Total Operating Expense, and Royalty Fee. It is an operating measure before the exclusions listed by the FDD.
How does owner involvement change the result?
Uncertain: Item 19 does not split the 129 Included Franchises into owner-operated and employee-manager-run groups. Under Item 15, a full-time Key Manager must actively manage daily operations; that person may be the Operating Principal or an employee. Because Item 19 excludes owner compensation but includes employee wages in Personnel Expense, the same Operating Profit label can mean different things depending on who performs the management work.
For an owner who serves as Key Manager, The disclosed result may contain both residual business profit and the economic value of the owner's full-time labor. For a unit with a paid employee Key Manager, that manager's compensation should normally be inside Personnel Expense, making the residual result closer to a return to ownership. The FDD does not disclose which pattern applies to each reporting unit, so the two cannot be quantified separately from Item 19.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics profile for entertainment and recreation managers reported a $77,180 national median annual wage in May 2024. That benchmark shows why owner labor can be economically material, but it should not be mechanically added to or subtracted from the reported measure: doing so could double-count manager expense for some units and omit it for others.
The operating model is not passive. Item 15 requires the owner, Operating Principal, or Key Manager to participate personally in direct operations on a daily basis, and the Key Manager must manage full time. The official i9 Sports staffing-model page describes scaling through additional venues and mostly part-time seasonal staff, but the FDD controls the contractual role requirements.
FDD source: 2026 i9 Sports FDD, Item 15, pp. 47–48, and Item 19 explanatory notes, pp. 58–59.
Which recurring fees are already included—and which are not?
Officially, the 7.5% Royalty Fee and reported Marketing Expense are already deducted in Item 19 Operating Profit for the 129-unit Reporting Period population. The FDD expressly says that the $500 monthly Franchise Fee for a 5-Year Agreement is not included, so a full-year owner-benefit calculation under that agreement should reduce the Item 19 figure by $6,000 before considering other exclusions.
| Reference point | Official Operating Profit | 5-Year fee-adjusted | Treatment |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bottom-half average | $53,533 | $47,533 | Derived by subtracting 12 × $500. |
| Overall median | $80,173 | $74,173 | Derived full-year adjustment. |
| Overall average | $129,290 | $123,290 | Derived full-year adjustment. |
| Top-half average | $203,881 | $197,881 | Derived full-year adjustment. |
Formula: 5-Year fee-adjusted owner-benefit proxy = the disclosed annual result − ($500 × 12 months). The 10-Year Agreement pays its Franchise Fee upfront, so this specific annual deduction does not apply. Source: 2026 i9 Sports FDD, Items 5 and 6, pp. 14–22, and Item 19 explanatory note 12, pp. 58–59.
- Already reflected: Cost of Goods Sold, employee Personnel Expense, Marketing Expense as reported by the Included Franchises, Other Expense, and the 7.5% Royalty Fee.
- Not reflected: Owner salary, bonus, benefits, travel, vehicle expenses, charitable contributions, meals and entertainment, interest, taxes, depreciation, amortization, finance charges, and miscellaneous non-operating expenses.
- Debt treatment: Operating Profit is before interest and finance charges; loan principal is also outside the operating-profit calculation. Personal income taxes are not estimated.
How much uncertainty should a buyer build into the range?
Uncertain: the official $54,000–$204,000 half-cohort band is useful context, but it is not a forecast for a new Area Developer. The 129 reporting units represented about 46% of the 280 active units as of September 30, 2025, and the sample excluded newer, incomplete, non-four-season, non-reporting, and inconsistently categorized units.
Part II excluded 151 active Franchise Units: 32 that began providing Services during the Reporting Period, 13 without at least one Venue in each of four seasons, 32 without complete 12-month reports, and 74 with inconsistent category reporting. Two units permanently closed during the Reporting Period. The disclosed minimum and maximum results—negative $12,223 and positive $608,688—show materially wider unit-level dispersion than the central cohort band.
Venue scale is the clearest disclosed operating association. In Item 19 Part I, Covered Units with one Venue averaged $149,590 of Registration Revenue, while units with six or more Venues averaged $1,009,403. Those figures are not profit and come from a different 213-unit calendar-year population, but they show how venue count, sport breadth, and market penetration relate to the Revenue base available to cover personnel and program costs.
Source: 2026 i9 Sports FDD, Item 19, Part I, Chart 2 and notes, pp. 55–56.
The average also deserves caution: only 47 of 129 Included Franchises, or 36%, met or exceeded the average result. The median is therefore the better central reference point, while the bottom-half and top-half averages provide directional lower and upper context. The FTC's Consumer's Guide to Buying a Franchise specifically warns that averages can be pulled upward by stronger performers and recommends checking sample size, geographic relevance, and written substantiation.
What should a buyer verify before relying on the earnings figure?
A buyer should treat the official figures as a starting point and verify how they map to the intended territory, owner role, agreement term, and staffing plan. The FDD population is mature and reporting, while a new unit's ramp-up and local cost structure can be materially different.
- Request written substantiation. Ask for the schedules supporting the 129-unit income-statement population, category definitions, and treatment of unusual expenses. The FTC's Item 19 evaluation guidance explains the right to ask for substantiation.
- Interview owners by role. Separate owners who serve as full-time Key Manager from owners who employ a manager, and ask how owner salary, distributions, and reinvestment are recorded.
- Match venue and market penetration. Compare planned Venue count, sports offered, season coverage, local child population, pricing, and registration conversion with the Covered Unit profile.
- Reconcile recurring fees. Confirm current Royalty Fee, National Brand Fund contribution, local advertising, Customer Service Center Fee, telecommunications, insurance, technology, and any 5-Year monthly Franchise Fee against the latest FDD and agreement.
- Separate operating earnings from financing. Model interest and principal using the buyer's actual loan terms, then keep personal taxes outside the operating model.
- Review Item 20 contacts and turnover. Speak with current and former Area Developers, including operators near the intended market and units that transferred or ceased operations.
What is the decision-useful owner-earnings takeaway?
The strongest defensible annual range is approximately $54,000–$204,000 in official Operating Profit half-cohort averages, with an $80,173 median and $129,290 average for mature, reporting Franchise Units. For a full year under the 5-Year Agreement, the comparable fee-adjusted figures are $48,000–$198,000 after subtracting the excluded $6,000 annual Franchise Fee, but before other owner, financing, tax, depreciation, and non-operating items.
The largest disclosed earnings driver is the Revenue base; Venue count, sports offered, and Market Penetration Rate are associated with higher Registration Revenue. The largest unresolved uncertainty is owner involvement: Item 19 does not show whether each unit's Operating Profit includes unpaid owner management labor or reflects a paid Key Manager within Personnel Expense. A buyer should verify the role mix, written substantiation, exact recurring-fee treatment, and territory-specific operating costs through the current disclosure and structured interviews with current and former Area Developers.