Case Study: Oakland Ballers Raise $3.2M and Build Fan Ownership with DealMaker

Oakland Ballers Raise $3M+ From Fans, Building a Team the Community Owns

The Oakland Ballers faced a challenge when the departure of the MLB's Oakland A's left the city without a professional baseball team. The co-founders wanted to create a new team but sought to completely rewrite the traditional model of sports ownership by making the team community-owned. To achieve this, they partnered with DealMaker to use its capital-raising platform and technology to transform fans into shareholders.

Using DealMaker's technology, the Oakland Ballers successfully executed a digital capital raise. The platform managed the entire process, including investment flows, compliance, and a custom-built portal for fan voting. This solution enabled the team to raise over $3.2 million from more than 3,800 fan-investors in just two community rounds. The campaign's success, which included surpassing $1 million in merchandise sales in its first year, demonstrated that fan ownership is a viable and powerful model for professional sports.

Oakland Ballers

Paul Freedman

Oakland Ballers