Oakland Ballers Pitch Deck: All 15 Slides + Teardown

The Oakland Ballers pitch deck is a masterclass in opportunistic positioning. Rather than pitching a standard independent baseball team, the founders framed the venture as a 'media platform' and a community response to the departure of Major League Baseball from Oakland. The deck successfully utilizes a 'David vs. Goliath' narrative, directly referencing the Oakland A's exit to create urgency and local sentiment. With a lean $7M startup cost and a $6M pre-money valuation for the initial $2M note, the deck highlights low dilution and high upside by citing the $80M valuation of the Oakland Root…

Key takeaways

• The deck positions the team as a media platform, citing 'Welcome to Wrexham' and 'Angel City' as content-driven precedents for sports valuation (Slide 4).
• The financial ask is clearly stated: $2M on a convertible note at a $6M pre-money valuation, with an additional $5M planned post-announcement (Slide 5).
• The founders use the Oakland Roots soccer club as a direct valuation comparable, noting their ~$80M crowdfunding valuation (Slide 5).
• The team emphasizes low startup costs of approximately $7M to argue for minimal investor dilution compared to traditional franchises (Slide 5).
• The 'Why Now' factor is built on the departure of the Oakland A's, using the phrase 'Out with the A's... In with the B's' (Slide 2).
• Founder Paul Freedman brings significant exit credibility, having been President of Guild Education, a $4.3B B Corp (Slide 6).
• Founder Bryan Carmel provides the media 'engine' for the platform, with a background producing for HBO, ESPN, and Comedy Central (Slide 6).
• The deck identifies the Pioneer League (PBL), established in 1939, as the operational home for the franchise (Slide 2).

Frequently asked questions

What is the primary business model proposed by the Oakland Ballers?

The deck proposes a dual-revenue model. First, it functions as a traditional independent baseball team in the Pioneer League. Second, and more importantly for investors, it is framed as a 'media platform.' The founders plan to create a slate of 'sticky, funny Baller-themed video content' to build a global digital audience, optimizing for the 8 hours per day consumers spend on digital content.

How does the company justify its valuation to Seed investors?

The company uses a 'comparable asset value' strategy. Specifically, they point to the Oakland Roots, a minor league soccer club that achieved an ~$80M valuation through crowdfunding. By raising their initial $2M at a $6M pre-money valuation, they suggest that achieving a similar outcome to the Roots would represent a massive return for early investors.

Who are the founders and what is their background?

The team consists of Paul Freedman and Bryan Carmel. Freedman is a seasoned education entrepreneur who was President of Guild Education ($4.3B valuation) and sold several companies. Carmel is a veteran media producer and showrunner who has worked with major networks like HBO and ESPN, and produced the award-winning documentary 'Kumaré.'

What is the total capital requirement mentioned in the deck?

The deck outlines a total capital need of approximately $7M. This is broken down into an initial $2M raise via a convertible note and a planned subsequent raise of ~$5M after the team is officially announced to the public. They describe this as 'low start-up costs' for a sports franchise.

What specific league are the Oakland Ballers joining?

According to slide 2, the Oakland Ballers are joining the Pioneer League (PBL). The deck notes that this is an independent baseball league that was established in 1939, providing the venture with an established competitive framework and history despite being a new franchise.

Oakland Ballers pitch deck: the facts

Company

Oakland Ballers

Year

2024

Stage

Seed

Slides

15

Sector

Media / Sports

Deck type

Investor Pitch Deck

Outcome

$2M Raised

Headquarters

N. America (Oakland, CA)

Oakland Ballers pitch deck PDF

The full Oakland Ballers deck is embedded on this page and can be read slide by slide in the browser — no download or account required. Each slide is covered in the breakdown above.

What the Oakland Ballers pitch deck was used for

This is a 15‑slide seed‑stage pitch deck used by the Oakland Ballers in 2023–2024 to raise approximately $2M in seed funding for a new independent professional baseball team in Oakland.[2][8][9][11] The team is part of the Pioneer League, an MLB Partner independent league, and the deck positions the Ballers not just as a sports franchise but as a community‑centric media platform filling the void left by the Oakland A’s departure.[2][8] The seed round drew more than 50 individual investors, many with ties to Oakland and the broader East Bay, with a deliberate cap around $8,900 per investor to echo the A’s 1989 World Series win.[2][8][9] The deck’s core narrative is that a locally rooted, content‑driven, partly community‑owned club can keep professional baseball in Oakland while building a differentiated media and fan‑ownership model.[2][8][10][15]

Business model: Professional independent baseball team positioned as a community-owned sports and media asset, generating revenue from ticket sales, sponsorships, media/content, and fan/community investment.[2][8][10][15]

Round

Seed

Year

2023

Raised

$2,000,000

Investors

More than 50–53 individual investors with ties to Oakland and the broader East Bay region; structure intentionally focus

Founded

2023

Founders

Paul Freedman, Bryan Carmel

Headquarters

Oakland, California, USA

Industry

Sports / Media

Total funding: At least $2M in seed funding (Nov 2023) plus subsequent community investment rounds bringing total raised from fans to over $3M across two community rounds by 2025.[2][4][8][11]

Use of funds as presented: Launch of an independent professional baseball team in the Pioneer League, including baseball operations (players, staff, facilities), marketing, and building a community‑centric, content‑driven brand.[2][8][10][15]

What happened after the Oakland Ballers deck

Following its 2023 seed deck and $2M seed round, the Oakland Ballers successfully launched play in the Pioneer League in 2024, expanded ownership to thousands of fans via crowdfunding, and achieved notable on‑field and community milestones while continuing to operate and raise additional capital.[2][3][4][6][8][11][12][14]

• Completion of a $2M seed round in late 2023 from more than 50 individual investors, primarily with East Bay ties.[2][8][
• Launch of play in the Pioneer League in 2024 as Oakland’s new professional baseball club.[2][8][10][13]
• Subsequent community investment campaigns raising more than $3M from over 3,800 fan‑investors across two community round
• On‑field success including bringing home a baseball title to Oakland for the first time since 1989, reinforcing the narr

What the Oakland Ballers deck got right

• Strong, time‑sensitive local narrative around replacing the departing MLB team. The team is filling a highly visible gap created by the Oakland A’s departure, giving the deck a timely and emotionally resonant thesis—keep professional baseball in Oakland and treat the team as a community asset.[2][8][10][13][14]
• Participation in an MLB Partner independent league adds credibility with flexibility. The Ballers are part of the Pioneer League, an MLB Partner independent league, which provides professional‑level competition and credibility while allowing more flexibility in ownership and media experimentation than a traditional MLB franchise.[2][8][10][13]
• Seed round intentionally structured to showcase broad local investor support. The founders emphasized a cap of roughly $8,900 per investor and recruited over 50 local investors, turning the cap table itself into proof of community backing and alignment with the team’s mission.[2][8][9][10]
• Clear articulation of a media‑platform vision layered on top of the sports asset. Media coverage highlights the Ballers’ ambition to act as a media platform—through content, storytelling, and fan engagement—rather than relying solely on ticket sales, which can appeal to investors looking for scalable upside.[2][8][10]
• Demonstrated follow‑through on community ownership via later fan investment rounds. Subsequent successful community crowdfunds show that the original deck’s community‑ownership story was credible enough to convert thousands of fans into investors, validating the initial positioning.[3][4][6][11][12]
• Founder–market fit through local roots and community‑asset framing. Founders Paul Freedman and Bryan Carmel are East Bay natives who consistently articulate the club as a community asset, which aligns personal narrative with the mission and aids both fundraising and fan support.[5][7][8][14]

What could have been stronger

• Limited visibility into detailed financial and media revenue projections. External coverage of the deck indicates that the Ballers emphasize narrative (saving baseball in Oakland, community ownership, media platform) more than detailed financial projections, leaving investors with limited visibility into expected unit economics, payback periods on fan investment, or media revenue ramp.[2][8][10]
• Complex, fragmented ownership structure due to many small and fan investors. The seed round is described as coming from more than 50 small investors with an intentional per‑investor cap near $8,900, and later rounds are community‑crowdfunded, which complicates cap table structure and may concern institutional investors about governance and exit pathways.[2][3][4][6][8][11][12]
• Operational complexity across sports operations, media, and community ownership. The business proposition spans running a competitive professional team, operating a media/content business, and structuring community ownership, creating operational and strategic complexity that is difficult to fully address in a short seed deck.[2][8][10][15]
• Limited articulation of downside and risk‑mitigation in public descriptions of the deck. Although coverage highlights the void left by the Oakland A’s and the appeal of a community‑oriented team, there is little externally documented in the deck about downside scenarios such as attendance shortfalls, league instability, or macro shocks, which are material for a small independent club.[2][8][10][13]

How an investor would read this deck

What draws attention

• How the Ballers convert local goodwill and national attention about the A’s departure into sustainable ticket sales, sponsorships, and recurring fan revenue.[2][8][10][13][14]
• Evidence that the media and content strategy can grow audience and sponsorships beyond in‑stadium attendance, validating the positioning as a "media platform" rather than just a team.[2][8][10]
• How the highly distributed cap table (initial small investors plus thousands of fan‑investors) is governed and how key decisions (future financings, sale, league changes) are made.[3][4][6][11][12]
• Unit economics of a season in the Pioneer League—attendance assumptions, pricing, cost base, and sensitivity to on‑field performance.[2][8][10][13]
• Long‑term exit possibilities for early seed investors, given the community‑ownership narrative and lack of clear public markets or typical M&A buyers for small independent clubs.[4][6][11][12]

Risks that stand out

• Execution risk in simultaneously running a professional sports operation and building a differentiated media platform with limited early‑stage resources.[2][8][10][15]
• Concentration risk on local economic and political conditions in Oakland and the East Bay, given the community‑centric narrative and local investor base.[2][8][10][13][14]
• League and structural risk associated with the Pioneer League as an MLB Partner independent league, which does not have the same revenue‑sharing or stability as MLB franchises.[2][8][10][13]
• Financing and governance risk arising from the combination of dozens of early seed investors and thousands of fan‑investors, which can complicate future institutional rounds or strategic exits.[3][4][6][11][12]
• Reputational and mission risk if financial decisions (e.g., future sales, relocations, pricing) are perceived as contradicting the community‑ownership and local‑asset narrative.[2][3][4][6][8][15]

Questions this deck invites

• What were the specific seed round terms (security type, valuation, investor rights), and how do those interact with later crowdfunding rounds?[2][3][4][6][11]
• What are the Ballers’ actual attendance, sponsorship, and media metrics from their inaugural season, and how do these compare to the projections in the seed deck?[2][8][10][13][14]
• How is governance structured across founders, early investors, and thousands of fan‑investors (voting rights, board composition, vetoes)?[3][4][6][11][12]
• What concrete media/content products (shows, digital series, social formats) exist today, and what revenue do they generate relative to ticketing and sponsorship?[2][8][10]
• How dependent is the model on the continued absence of MLB in Oakland, and what happens to the Ballers’ economics and positioning if MLB or another major league returns?[2][8][10][13]

What founders can take from the Oakland Ballers deck

• A compelling **civic narrative**—keeping baseball in a city that is losing its MLB team—can be a powerful fundraising lever when clearly tied to a specific opportunity and timeline.[2][8][10][13]
• Positioning a traditional sports asset as a **media and community platform** broadens the story beyond gate revenues and creates more varied paths to monetization and investor appeal.[2][8][10]
• Deliberately **structuring a seed round around many small local investors** can align with a community‑ownership thesis and become part of the story, not just the cap table.[2][8][9][10]
• Using **symbolic investment details** (like an $8,900 cap tied to the 1989 World Series) can make an otherwise abstract financial round more memorable and emotionally resonant.[2]
• Tying a seed deck to an **upcoming league launch and season start** gives a clear milestone for use of funds and urgency, helping investors understand how capital translates into near‑term outcomes.[2][8][10]
• Designing the fundraising strategy so it can later **expand into fan crowdfunding** can create continuity from early investors to thousands of smaller backers, reinforcing the community‑ownership brand.[3][4][6][11][12]

Oakland Ballers pitch deck: common questions

What is the Oakland Ballers?

Oakland Ballers is a professional baseball team in the independent Pioneer League, launched to keep pro baseball in Oakland after the Oakland A’s announced plans to leave the city.[2][8][13][14] The organization explicitly frames itself as a community asset and media platform, using baseball games and related content as the core product.[2][8][10]

How much did the Oakland Ballers raise in their seed round, and when?

According to multiple reports and private‑market data, the Oakland Ballers raised about $2M in a seed round completed around November 28, 2023.[2][8][10][11] The funding came from roughly 50–53 individual investors, many with East Bay ties, each generally limited to an investment of about $8,900.[2][2][8][9]

Who founded the Oakland Ballers?

The team was co‑founded by East Bay natives Paul Freedman and Bryan Carmel.[5][7][8][14] Later coverage also highlights investors and co‑founders with ties to the Haas family and other local leaders, but Freedman and Carmel are consistently cited as the original founders.[5][7][8]

Who invested in the Oakland Ballers seed round?

The seed round was funded by dozens of individual investors—over 50 in total—rather than a single lead institutional investor.[2][8][9][10] Subsequent community investment campaigns have brought in thousands of smaller fan‑investors through online platforms and Regulation CF offerings.[3][4][6][11][12]

What was the funding for, and how were the funds intended to be used?

The seed capital was primarily intended to launch the franchise’s first season in the Pioneer League, including player and staff payroll, stadium and operations costs, marketing, and building a media/content operation.[2][8][10][15] Later crowdfunding rounds are explicitly framed as funding baseball operations and marketing, consistent with the initial seed‑stage use of funds.[3][6][11]

Sources

Funding and outcome facts on this page were researched on 2026-08-30 from the pages below.

• Oakland Ballers
• The Oakland A's are leaving the city, but a new baseball team is trying to fill the void. Here's an exclusive look at the pitch deck the Bal
• Oakland Ballers Launch Historic Community Investment ...
• Oakland Ballers Raise $3M+ From Fans, Building a Team ...
• Oakland Ballers investors hope to continue Haas family legacy
• With the A's leaving Oakland, the Pioneer League B's want fan investment in Bay Area baseball
• Haas heirs join ownership of new Oakland Ballers baseball team in link to historic A's
• Baseball staying in Oakland with independent Pioneer League ...

Related fundraising guides (24)

• Bloom Community Pitch Deck Teardown: Scaling Niche Social Networks Through Event Flywheels
• airSlate Pitch Deck Teardown: A $51.5M Series C Masterclass in Growth and Product Consolidation
• Thematic Pitch Deck Teardown: Leveraging Creator Networks for Scalable Music Promotion
• Ideon Technologies Pitch Deck Teardown: Using Muon Tomography to De-Risk Mining Exploration
• Gelt Pitch Deck Teardown: The Protocol-to-Consumer Play for DeFi Savings
• Domino Data Lab Pitch Deck Teardown: A Masterclass in Enterprise Social Proof
• Calico Pitch Deck Teardown: A 6-Slide Masterclass in Supply Chain Simplification
• api.video Pitch Deck Teardown: A Developer-First Approach to $12M Series A
• Cove.Tool Pitch Deck Teardown: A Masterclass in Visualizing Efficiency Gains
• Layla Pitch Deck Teardown: A $3M Seed Round Built on AI-Powered Travel Discovery
• Haystack Oncology Pitch Deck Teardown: A Masterclass in Pedigree-Driven Biotech Fundraising
• Empion Pitch Deck Teardown: A Culture-First Approach to Automated Recruitment
• Circles Pitch Deck Teardown: A $16.5M Series A Bet on Scalable Peer Support
• Auki Labs Pitch Deck Teardown: A $13M Bet on Replacing GPS for the Spatial Metaverse
• Aeris Health Pitch Deck Teardown: A Masterclass in Hardware Traction and COVID-Era Pivoting
• Yuzu Health Pitch Deck Teardown: A Masterclass in Market Education and Infrastructure Replacement
• Hint Health Pitch Deck Teardown: Scaling Direct Primary Care Infrastructure
• Evy Pitch Deck Teardown: A 10-Slide Masterclass in Embedded Insurance Minimalism
• Condense Pitch Deck Teardown: Solving the 'Pre-Recorded' Problem in Metaverse Live Events
• Brag House Pitch Deck Teardown: Targeting the Casual Collegiate Esports Market
• Friday Finance Pitch Deck Teardown: A $20M Series A Built on Aggregation and Social Proof
• Yalo Pitch Deck Teardown: Dominating Enterprise Conversational AI via WhatsApp
• Impossible Kicks Pitch Deck Teardown: Scaling High-Volume Physical Retail for Sneaker Resale
• Goldcast Pitch Deck Teardown: Turning Virtual Events Into A High-Velocity B2B Revenue Engine

Decks from the same year (1)

• 2024 pitch deck examples

Decks from the same region (1)

• US pitch deck examples

Decks with a similar raise (1)

• Pitch decks that raised $1M to $10M

Browse companies alphabetically (1)

• Pitch decks from companies starting with O

More pitch deck teardowns (16)

• NVIS Pitch Deck Teardown: A Deep Technical Play for Layer 2 Network Cloaking
• Invitae Pitch Deck Teardown: Scaling Genomic Data Through Price Disruption
• NXGH Pitch Deck Teardown: A Multi-Product Fintech and Telecom Roll-up Strategy
• Nyctale Pitch Deck Teardown: Bridging On-Chain Behavioral Data and Traditional Finance
• Nylas Pitch Deck Breakdown: A Masterclass in API Infrastructure and Developer Traction
• Nyra Health Pitch Deck Teardown: A Minimalist Approach to Digital Neuro-Rehabilitation
• Oxford Alpha Fund Pitch Deck Teardown: A Quantitative Strategy for Volume-Filtered Trading
• Oakai Labs Pitch Deck Teardown: A Pre-Validation Prototype for SME Social Marketing
• Ober Pitch Deck Teardown: A Highly Derivative Rideshare Template Analysis
• Ob evr Pitch Deck Teardown: A Brief Look at a VR Experience Concept
• Obie.ai Pitch Deck Teardown: A Masterclass in Demo Day Minimalism and Traction
• Obie.ai Pitch Deck Breakdown: A Minimalist 9-Slide Approach to AI Knowledge Management
• OCApp Pitch Deck Teardown: Digitizing University Clearance in the Tanzanian Edtech Market
• Ocean.io Pitch Deck Breakdown: Solving the ABM Data Gap with Vertical Targeting
• Octave Pitch Deck Teardown: Selling 'Agentic GTM' Through Founder Pedigree and Metadata
• Octi Pitch Deck Breakdown: The AR Social Network Built on Computer Vision and Human Recognition

Recently published pitch deck teardowns (12)

• Hint Health Pitch Deck Teardown: Scaling Direct Primary Care Infrastructure
• Hervé Pitch Deck Teardown: Scaling Luxury Cannabis Edibles Through Proprietary Hardware
• Howbout Pitch Deck Teardown: Leveraging Viral Network Effects for Social Coordination
• Hone Pitch Deck Teardown: Defining the 'Missing Middle' of Corporate Learning
• Jolt Pitch Deck Teardown: Disrupting Green Hydrogen with Solution Combustion Electrodes
• Jubilee Pitch Deck Teardown: Leveraging Media Distribution to Launch a Dating Platform
• Jack & Jill Pitch Deck Teardown: A $20M Seed Round Built on AI Agent Liquidity
• Iris Audio Pitch Deck Teardown: A $7M Series A Masterclass in Technical Validation
• Joonko Pitch Deck Teardown: A $25M Series B Built on Automated DE&I Sourcing
• Jimini Health Pitch Deck Teardown: The Hybrid AI-Therapist Model for Mental Healthcare
• Kaleidoscope Pitch Deck Teardown: Building Version Control for the $100K Scientific Flow
• Jude Pitch Deck Teardown: Targeting the £600bn Boomer Self-Care Market

Fundraising library · Pitch deck examples · Investor directory · Founder database