Highly scalable business model, well suited for rapid adaptation across various sports
Direct digital marketing expected to drive growth and engagement
Collaboration with U.S. Army Bowl showcases the app’s athlete recruitment capabilities
Signing Day Sports Recruitment App
SCOTTSDALE, Ariz, Jan. 04, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Signing Day Sports, Inc. (“Signing Day Sports” or the “Company”) (NYSE American: SGN), the developer of the Signing Day Sports app and platform to aid high school athletes in the recruitment process, today provided the following letter to stockholders from the Company’s Chairman and CEO, Daniel Nelson:
Dear Stockholders,
We are pleased to share with you a recap of the significant milestones and exciting developments that Signing Day Sports achieved in 2023, as well as our positive outlook for 2024.
First and foremost, the Company’s recent initial public offering and commencement of trading on the NYSE American exchange marked a pivotal moment in the Company’s evolution. The IPO enabled the Company to secure $6.0 million in gross proceeds and approximately $4.8 million in net proceeds, reflecting not just a financial achievement but also affirming the market's trust in our vision and strategic direction. Our commitment is firmly rooted in enhancing and expanding our robust platform, which is dedicated to facilitating the college recruitment process for high school athletes. While we were significantly constrained by capital in 2023, we plan to strategically deploy the proceeds of the IPO to significantly bolster the growth of the Signing Day Sports app and believe we now have a solid balance sheet to execute on our strategy.
A key element of this plan involves intensifying our direct digital marketing efforts, aiming to broaden student-athlete engagement and streamline the addition of new athlete profiles to our app. This focus on digital marketing is expected to develop new revenue streams within each student-athlete profile and foster increased user revenue. Additionally, we recognize the transformative potential of the name, image, and likeness (NIL) opportunities for student-athletes in college athletics and, in response, we are doubling down on our commitment to building an educational platform that not only promotes student-athlete development but also serves as a forum for their promotion.
Among our recent milestones, the collaboration with the U.S. Army Bowl National Combine and high school all-star game stands out, an event celebrated as America's Biggest Week in Football. This December, we had the opportunity to demonstrate the capabilities of the Signing Day Sports app at the global headquarters of the Dallas Cowboys. The app played a crucial role for athletes participating in the U.S. Army Bowl, serving as both a marketing and branding tool in their recruitment journey. More than one thousand athletes engaged in an NFL-style combine, initiating their experience with comprehensive measurements taken through our app. Post-combine, we ensured that all official combine activities and the athletes' video-verified data were integrated and stored within the app. This functionality enabled athletes to create and send their video resumes to universities across the country, giving them a significant advantage in the recruitment process. Moreover, our platform provided a unique space for these athletes to announce their college commitments, underlining the Signing Day Sports app’s innovative athlete recruitment capabilities.
Furthermore, our recently-announced appointment of Kevin Grogan as Senior Soccer Advisor, marks a significant event for Signing Day Sports in the realm of soccer recruitment. Kevin's distinguished background as a former professional soccer player, a seasoned coach, and a knowledgeable sports business consultant adds considerable depth and expertise to our team. His combination of direct on-field experience and sharp business acumen, coupled with his thorough understanding of soccer's athletic and business dimensions, positions him to lead the enhancement of our platform's impact on the sport. We believe this represents a clear demonstration of our commitment to achieving excellence in collegiate sports recruitment, and are confident that Kevin’s insights will bolster our ability to provide unparalleled recruitment services and support to young athletes. This commitment aligns with our goal to capitalize on the global appeal of soccer, creating new opportunities for emerging talent and establishing our position as a leader in the college recruitment sector.
As we look ahead to 2024, we could not be more excited about the outlook for the business. In particular, we look forward to leveraging key strategic alliances to rapidly scale the business. As an example, we are collaborating with Elite Development Program (EDP Soccer), a premier youth soccer organization providing us access to more than 150,000 athletes from more than 1,050 clubs playing on more than 7,700 league teams and more than 5,500 tournament teams. As recently announced, on January 1, 2024, we commenced our collaboration with EDP Soccer on the joint marketing and promotion of EDP Soccer events and the Signing Day Sports platform, led by Kevin Grogan. Not only does this collaboration provide us a solid foothold within soccer, but it illustrates the adaptability of our app to new sports, as well as the scalability of our business model. We look forward to announcing further developments regarding our collaboration with EDP in the near future.
Also as recently announced, we are implementing new artificial intelligence (AI) initiatives that we expect to roll out over the next several months. These initiatives are designed to accelerate customer acquisition, onboarding, and retention, while providing an enhanced experience for both athletes and coaches. For athletes, the technology is designed to allow us to streamline the application process, verify user metrics, and better place student-athletes. For coaches, AI is expected to allow us to aggregate and analyze massive data sets in order to evaluate player skills more efficiently and effectively.
Overall, we believe that the Signing Day Sports app is positioned well to address major inefficiencies in the collegiate athletic recruitment process. By addressing key challenges within the industry, our product serves a vast market with a compelling need for access to college-athlete recruitment services. The app’s subscription-based model allows a stream of recurring revenue, backed by a low customer acquisition cost based on our history of optimized marketing strategies. We believe we have a highly scalable business model, well suited for rapid adaptation across various sports. Combined with a solid financial foundation, we are confident that the future is bright for Signing Day Sports. As we look to the future, the Signing Day Sports app stands not merely as a participant but as a leader in the future of recruiting. Our stockholders can take pride in being part of a company that is set to redefine the standards of athletic recruitment.
Thank you for your trust and support as we continue this exciting journey together.
Daniel Nelson
Chairman & CEO
About Signing Day Sports
Signing Day Sports' mission is to help student-athletes achieve their goal of playing college sports. Signing Day Sports' app allows student-athletes to build their Signing Day Sports' recruitment profile, which includes information college coaches need to evaluate and verify them through video technology. The Signing Day Sports app includes a platform to upload a comprehensive data set including video-verified measurables (such as height, weight, 40-yard dash, wingspan, and hand size), academic information (such as official transcripts and SAT/ACT scores), and technical skill videos (such as drills and mechanics that exemplify player mechanics, coordination, and development). For more information on Signing Day Sports, go to https://ir.signingdaysports.com/overview/default.aspx.
Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains "forward-looking statements" that are subject to substantial risks and uncertainties. All statements, other than statements of historical fact, contained in this press release are forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements contained in this press release may be identified by the use of words such as "may," "could," "will," "should," "would," "expect," "plan," "intend," "anticipate," "believe," "estimate," "predict," "potential," "project" or "continue" or the negative of these terms or other comparable terminology. These statements are only predictions. You should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements because they involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors, including without limitation, the Company's ability to manage and use its financial resources effectively, the Company's ability to obtain additional funding to develop additional services and offerings, the Company’s ability to produce and deliver effective digital marketing and use other strategies to attract new users and customers at minimal expense, increase the rate of subscription renewals and slow the rate of user attrition, the Company's ability to attract and retain key personnel, including celebrity football professionals and consultants such as Kevin Grogan, the ability of the Company and other organizations to collaborate effectively, the Company’s ability to implement AI initiatives into its platform effectively, the Company's ability to adequately scale its platform and support future growth, the Company's ability and third parties' abilities to protect intellectual property rights, the Company's ability to comply with user data privacy laws and other current or anticipated legal requirements, market acceptance of the Company's offerings, competition from existing online offerings or new offerings that may emerge, impacts from strategic changes to our business on our net sales, revenues, income from continuing operations, or other results of operations, and the Company's ability to manage its business effectively. These risks and uncertainties are, in some cases, beyond our control and could materially affect results. If one or more of these risks or uncertainties occur, or if our underlying assumptions prove to be incorrect, actual events or results may vary significantly from those implied or projected by the forward-looking statements. No forward-looking statement is a guarantee of future performance. Forward-looking statements contained in this announcement are made as of this date, and the Company undertakes no duty to update such information except as required under applicable law.
Investor Contacts:
Crescendo Communications, LLC
212-671-1020
SGN@crescendo-ir.com
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