We were lucky to catch up with Brendan Campagna recently and have shared our conversation below.

Brendan, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Let’s start with a story that highlights an important way in which your brand diverges from the industry standard.

In the youth soccer industry, there are two products offered: recreational teams and competitive teams. Recreational teams are a great start for young athletes; however, as they grow up, many will transition to a competitive team around the age of 10 or 11. One of the problems associated with the jump from recreational to competitive soccer is the cost. A 2022 study found that the average cost for a year of youth soccer is $1,188 per child, but I can say from experience that prices for competitive teams in my area are much higher. Families can avoid the jump from a cheap recreational program to a pricey competitive program by staying on a recreational team; however, recreational teams often lack a knowledgeable coach as they rely on parent volunteers. So much of a child’s experience in any sport will be dependent on their coach and his or her level of expertise.

At Anglers Football Club, we try to fit somewhere in between the recreational and competitive landscapes. Our fees are less than $300 per season, bringing us in at under half the cost of the national average. In addition, we offer scholarships to bring the prices even lower for families in need. Making soccer accessible to any family is something we are passionate about. Despite our low prices, we have been intentional to pay coaches rather than rely on volunteers. Paid and trained coaches are the backbone to a positive experience for kids. Our in-house training and evaluation program for coaches is helping all of us adults learn and grow together just as we are asking the players to learn and grow together.

This model certainly does not help our profitability, and I do not blame those clubs that do charge upwards of $1,000 for a single season. I suspect their bottom line requires it. Knowing that the Anglers FC pricing model would never lead to sustainability, my business partner and I immediately dissolved the LLC and reincorporated as a tax-exempt nonprofit after our acquisition of the business in 2021. Rather than charging high prices, we decided to operate as a community-funded organization, relying on donations and sponsorships. While most youth soccer clubs operate legally as nonprofits, in practice they think like for-profit businesses. Sometimes, what was initially created to be a community-focused organization turns into a profit-hungry monster. We have avoided this trap thus far by adopting a nonprofit funding model common to the parachurch industry, but seldom used by secular nonprofits: individual support raising. In addition to standard nonprofit funding strategies such as corporate sponsorship, applying for grants, and fundraising events, I have set out seeking individuals in our community to join as monthly donors. I have met in-person with friends, family, business owners, and anyone else who I think will be able to uniquely and powerfully connect to our mission of providing an affordable, holistic, and family-oriented alternative to club soccer.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

I acquired the business in October of 2021. I had been a high school teacher and soccer coach for five years at the time, and was looking for ways to transition full-time into soccer when the opportunity to take over a small, local club presented itself. Anglers Football Club provides youth soccer programming year round. The fall and spring seasons are the bulk of what we do, but we have also launched camps, extra training sessions, and international trips each summer, and we host a futsal league every winter.

Youth soccer nation wide has three big problems: the cost, the commitment, and the culture. Families can spend thousands of dollars to have soccer dominate their family time and lives not just in-season but also out-of-season, all to have their child get burnt out on the sport by the age of 12 because of the toxic behavior of parents and coaches. I have a lot more I could say about that, but I will spare you the details and instead briefly share how Anglers FC strives to be different. Our costs are well below the national average for youth soccer programs. Our offseason programs are truly optional for players, and they will not be punished in-season for not participating in the offseason. We work to educate parents and coaches and hold them accountable for toxic behavior in order to maintain a strong culture.

We find that many families gravitate to our program after negative experiences in other clubs. Our focus on being affordable, holistic, and family-oriented has driven our growth, tripling the size of the Club in the last two years.

Have any books or other resources had a big impact on you?

The book Profit First by Mike Michalowicz has been instrumental in my financial management of the Club. My leadership has been significantly influenced by The Five Temptations of a CEO by Patrick Lencioni. Probably most of all, our coaching philosophy and training is largely based upon the work of Todd Beane, which he outlines in Clear Coaching.

Let’s move on to buying businesses – can you talk to us about your experience with business acquisitions?

I have “acquired” two different organizations over the last two years. I put acquired in quotation marks because while the practical implication of the business transactions I am referring to was acquisition, legally they worked a little differently.

In October of 2021, my business partner and I acquired Victory FC, the club that would soon be rebranded to Anglers FC. We paid the owner of the LLC a small amount, but as soon as the transaction was complete, we folded the LLC and incorporated as a nonprofit. There were a few hoops we had to jump through when we applied for tax-exempt status with the IRS since we were a nonprofit taking over the operation of a for-profit entity. Approval took longer than is typical, and we did have to adjust some statements in our Articles of Incorporation, but we did eventually get tax-exempt status about nine months after our application.

The second acquisition was in November 2023. Woodland Park FC, a small club in a neighboring city was planning to fold due to an unfilled vacancy in leadership. It was a recreational program in a very similar position as Victory FC was in the fall of 2021. Both clubs had been run completely by volunteer parents. In both cases, the current director’s children had aged out of the program, so they were moving on. Bringing their program under the umbrella of Anglers FC made perfect sense for all parties involved. Like with Victory FC, I saw an opportunity to save an organization that provided a niche, but valuable, service to its local community, and I had the track record of bringing healthy structure and growth to a very similar club over the previous two years. Unlike Victory FC, Woodland Park FC was an unincorporated association. While they did have Articles of Incorporation, the legal status of the organization was a little convoluted. After consulting with legal counsel, we all decided a merger or acquisition was not the best approach. Instead, the two organizations signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU). Woodland Park FC signed over exclusive ownership of their intellectual property, including branding and contact lists, to Anglers FC, and Anglers FC agreed to keep teams operating in the local community. After the MOU was signed, the legal entity that was Woodland Park FC dissolved. We then did a brand refresh of the existing Woodland Park FC brand rather than a full rebrand to be Anglers FC, but organizationally, we operate as one 501(c)(3).

Contact Info:

• Website: https://anglersfc.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/anglersfc/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/anglersfootball
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/anglersfc
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@anglersfc