Jim Lion

West Hollywood, CA (USA)
Role(s):
Founder/Owner/Principal

Jimichelion Entertainment

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Location: West Hollywood
Industry: Sports/Recreation
Year Founded: 2007
Number Employees: 1-10 people
Description: Please let me know if you find the following proposal meritorious: I invented a sport called toeball and recently staged an exhibition match with players from a nationally ranked club team of 15-year-old soccer players. It was a huge hit with the players. With a final score of 28-29, the white-jersey team pulled a come from behind victory over the favored red-jersey team. The coaches and players all wanted to know when they could do it again. My dream is to take toeball from an amusing, but obscure flight-of-fancy, to a viable professional sports league. I believe this is possible because the high scores will draw in American audiences averse to regular soccer matches that often end in 0-0 ties. The frequent clock stoppages, timeouts and four quarters allow ample space for TV advertisers to promote their products, which means more money for the sport and better athletes and sponsors to keep it going. My plan is to start by holding 8 exhibition matches in 8 separate cities, and after each match to conduct an auction of a toeball franchise for that city. I propose a minimum bid of $100,000 per franchise. Once 8 successful auction have been held, a new national toeball sports league can begin. TV is everything in creating popularity for a sport. The good news is that sports programming is a growth industry. ESPN and Fox Sports, the two biggest players, have multiple national and regional channels desperate for quality programming. Since this sport is so fun to watch, much more so than soccer, we can steal the audience for soccer matches and vastly expand on it. We may even be able to get a tentative TV deal before the franchise auctions are held, and thus boost the price much higher than the minimum requirement of $100,000 per team, since we intend to share TV revenues with the franchise owners. From a venture capitalist or private equity investor, I seek a commitment of up to $1 million, and assistance in putting together an experienced management team - to handle the franchise auction, and to promote of the sport of toeball nationwide. Positive cash flow from the auctions, if successful, will make it unnecessary to spend most of this money, but the commitment will be necessary to prove to the world that we're serious about what we're doing, and determined to succeed. If you like, I can send you a DVD of the exhibition match. After a few minutes you'll understand the sport completely, and you'll know why it can supplant and exceed the limitations of soccer in the United States. I like to think of toeball as the first new sport of the 21st Century. Jim Lion Los Angeles [<a href="(URL removed)">send me a message</a>]