Insight
Uhrman: Building a sports team is easier than building a tech startup
“The building of a sports team is a lot easier than the building of a technology team, and the people that are willing to help you do it are vastly larger than those that I experienced when I was building something in tech, because when most businesses are buil…”
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Uhrman: 90% of all sports teams do not make money
“The first thing that I learned, which was actually fascinating, was that 90% of all sports teams don't make money.”
Insight
Uhrman: Celebrity investors do not drive direct ticket sales for Angel City
“They don't help us sell tickets. They don't help us sell merch. Like their audience is broad, right? But they help us tell the story. And if we do our job right, we can convert the people that pay attention to our story.”
Disclosure
Uhrman did not know NWSL existed before co-founding Angel City FC
“Had no idea the National Women's Soccer League existed. And it was like six or seven years old. Had no idea it was in its eighth year.”
Disclosure
Uhrman: Angel City founders lacked required net worth for an NWSL team
“You have two people come up to Portland, neither of which have sports experience, right? Neither one of us have the net worth requirements to actually fund a team.”
Assertion Supported
Uhrman: Angel City secured $60M in sponsorships using a community reinvestment model
“So now we have 35 sponsors.
We have, again, spent over, you know, committed 2.5 million to the community.
We have over sixty million in committed sponsorship revenue that 10% of that is going to go back into the community.”
Disclosure
Uhrman: Angel City dropped its no-trade policy to regain roster flexibility
“It did hurt, I think, our ability to make changes when everybody else was making changes. And you know, it was something we've only done for the first year. We don't do it anymore.”
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Uhrman: Angel City replaced 80% of soccer operations staff after year one
“And so we turned maybe 80% of our entire soccer, soccer operations house from coaching to performance to medical.”
Assertion Partly supported
Uhrman: Angel City reached 16,500 season ticket holders in its second season
“We've sold out five games our last year of 22,000 fans with an average of 20,000 fans. So, you know, we've seasoned ticket holders that break 16,500 of a 22,000 seat stadium, which is pretty incredible.”
Prediction Open · timeframe May 2044
Uhrman: Angel City aims to be the first $1B women's sports franchise
“Look, you know, in 10 to 20 years, I want to not only be the most valuable women's sports team in the world, be the first billion dollar women's sports franchise, but be able to show meaningful impact in our community.”
Assertion Partly supported
Uhrman: LAFC and LA Galaxy both consistently sell out their Los Angeles stadiums
“Second, I was really blown away by the fact that it was a sold out crowd of 22,000 fans and that they'd sold out every single game since they launched. And the reason that was so unique and surprising is that there is an incredibly successful men's MLS team cu…”
Assertion Partly supported
Uhrman: NWSL had no commissioner until 2020
“When we were talking about doing this back in 2019, early 20 20, there was no commissioner. The first commissioner joined the NWSL in 2020.”
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Uhrman: Angel City FC received over 99 investor rejections initially
“We got over 99 no's, and it was from everything from, there's 11 professional male sport, the teams, you know, 11 professional sports teams in LA, there's the beach, there's the mountains women's sports, Isn't investable. Women's wealth has no growth. People a…”
Disclosure
Uhrman: Eva Longoria was Angel City FC's first and largest pre-Series A backer
“Not only was it the first yes, but it was the largest check we got to date. It was the largest check we got until we raised our Series A.”
Disclosure
Uhrman: Angel City's famous celebrity cap table strategy was entirely unintentional
“The celebrity aspect was unintentional. Again, the celebrities and athletes signing on board is because we realized they were a segment of people that understood what we were building. We didn't have to explain it. They didn't ask if it was a charity that neve…”
Assertion Supported
Uhrman: Angel City FC conducts 250 in-person community events each year
“Our third or fourth hire was head of community.
We do 250 events a year.
Kara Nortman: In person?
Julie Uhrman: In person.”
Julie Uhrman