Early Bird Evaluation
What Fall 2026's Early Bird promotion delivered and what it cost. 158 boys registered as Early Birds; 146 are still on rosters. Data as of Oct 16, 2026, except where a date is given.
What the data says
Early Bird brought registrations and money in early and gave RDs a site-by-site demand signal: 136 of 137 families who named a site run there. It reached the families it was aimed at: the plan was to promote it only to past families and coaches, and 67% of Early Birds still on rosters are returning boys, against 32% of other focus-region boys.
It mostly filled sites LMR already runs: 134 of 146 Early Birds (92%) are at sites that had an LMR team in an earlier season. 12 are at 4 of this fall's 14 new sites, and 7 of those are at one site.
The cost was mostly work, not cash. 116 of 158 boys (73%) went through a holding team and had to be moved, and staff time was not tracked.
| Region | Stamped | On roster | All boys | Share | 1st season |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Charlotte | 82 | 73 | 498 | 15% | 22 |
| Columbus | 46 | 46 | 186 | 25% | 16 |
| St. Louis | 25 | 25 | 290 | 9% | 10 |
| Seattle | 5 | 2 | 96 | 2% | 0 |
| Total | 158 | 146 | 1,070 | 14% | 48 |
| Item | Amount |
|---|---|
| National's 10% discount | $2,469.00 |
| Bag tags (all 300 bought) | $587.80 |
| Carabiners (158 × $0.32) | $51.24 |
| Pinwheel custom report | $150.00 |
| Processing fees kept by Stripe on 10 refunds | $72.55 |
| Total | $3,330.59 |
| Site | Fall 2026 teams | … with Early Birds |
|---|---|---|
| Ran last fall or spring | 63 | 29 |
| Ran before, but not last fall or spring | 6 | 1 |
| New this fall | 14 | 4 |
| Total | 83 | 34 |
| Fall | Sites | New sites | Boys at new sites |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 55 | 12 | 153 |
| 2022 | 78 | 15 | 165 |
| 2023 | 86 | 20 | 181 |
| 2024 | 87 | 11 | 119 |
| 2025 | 91 | 20 | 240 |
| 2026 | 82 | 14 | 136 |
| Site | Feedback from | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Somerset Neighborhood Team (Charlotte) | Nikki | Came first: replacement site Formed to replace Rea View Elementary, where 3 boys had registered early. Rea View said it could not host LMR this fall because the school already had too many activities. On Sep 9 a new parent offered to coach and proposed a team in her neighborhood; Nikki and the parent set it up. |
| Cornelius Elementary (Charlotte) | Nikki | Came first: Early Bird A parent new to LMR registered early for JV Washam Elementary (how she heard about Early Bird is unknown). Told that JV Washam’s administrators would decide whether her son could join, she started a team at Cornelius, his former school. She posted in local networks, a second parent came forward to coach, and Nikki set up the team with them. Nikki says this is the only Charlotte team Early Bird helped create. |
| River Trail Elementary (Charlotte) | Nikki | Came first: staff outreach Michelle emailed the principal in June; the principal replied that the school was very interested. Michelle sent coach recruitment materials, and the first coach got in touch after that. The early-registering parent is new to LMR; how they heard about Early Bird is unknown. |
| St. Margaret of Scotland (St. Louis) | Jamie | Came first: school’s own interest The school reached out to LMR. A parent-coached team, ready to start in July once it decided to go ahead. Jamie says families were happy to get the discount but does not believe it was a motivator. |
| Goal | Status | What the data shows |
|---|---|---|
| Promote it only to past families and coaches of fall teams this first season | Met | 98 of 146 Early Birds on rosters (67%) are returning boys |
| Give returning boys a benefit that helps boy retention | Not measured yet | Retention can be measured when the Retention Study adds Fall 2026 in December |
| Give RDs time to find more coaches for sites that fill up | Not measured | 136 of 137 families who named a site run there; when each team got its coach was not tracked |
| 10% off, full price only (no payment plans), about a month long | Done | Jul 15 – Aug 17, 8 AM; National's 10% comes to $2,469.00 |
| Later: offer it to everyone, with the Community Site Team option | Future | Not part of Fall 2026 |
| Area | Pros | Cons |
|---|---|---|
| Cash timing | $22,369 in the bank by Aug 15, against $490–$4,529 in past falls by the same date | About 80% of early registration money was Early Bird: $21,065 from Early Bird families against $5,285 from the 33 Expansion boys who signed up in the same weeks. Whether those families would have paid this early anyway can't be known |
| Early commitment | 158 boys committed by Aug 17; the 146 still on rosters are 14% of focus-region boys | Few new families: 48 of 146 Early Birds are in their first season (33%). Among other focus-region boys, 628 of 924 are (68%). That matches the plan to promote only to past families |
| Team planning | 137 of 146 named a site and 136 run there — an early demand signal by site | Nobody measured whether RDs used it to confirm teams or recruit coaches sooner; the free-text answers came in 107 different ways for 34 teams |
| New sites | One new site, St. Margaret of Scotland, filled 7 of its 15 spots during the window | 134 of 146 (92%) are at sites LMR already ran; 10 of 14 new sites got no Early Birds. That matches the plan to promote only to past families |
| Cost | About $3,331 direct, roughly $21 a boy | Staff time not counted; 142 unused bag tags are part of the cost |
| Running it | The Early Bird board, the stored Early Bird list and the badges now exist and can be reused | 116 of 158 (73%) went through holding teams and had to be moved; moves across regions meant splitting payments by hand |
| Departures | Only 12 of 158 left | That's 8%, against 3% season-wide (55 of 1,860; not like for like). 10 were refunded |
| Evidence | Goals were written down before launch (above), and Fall 2026 is the first season with day-by-day registration dates — a baseline for next time | The goals had no number attached, and two of them (retention, coach lead time) weren't set up to be measured |
- A number for each goal, written down before launch
- Early-commit share: registrations by the deadline ÷ final count, against Fall 2026
- Retention: Early Bird boys coming back next season, against other returning boys
- Coach lead time: the date each Early Bird site's team got its coach
- New-family share, once it's offered to everyone (Fall 2026: 33% first-season)
- New sites: Early Birds at sites with no LMR team before, and whether a new site's first boys came through Early Bird (Fall 2026: 12 of 146, at 4 of 14 new sites)
- Placement: share at the preferred site, and days from registration to a real team
- Staff hours on holding teams, moves and the accounting split
- Whether Early Bird added boys or only moved sign-ups earlier. Nobody can know exactly what each family would have done without it; a future pilot comparing places with and without Early Bird could estimate it.
- Whether Early Bird families come back. That can be measured at Spring 2027 registration, because the 158 stay on the list.
- How many staff hours it took.
How the key figures were worked out
Early registration money (about 80% Early Bird)
The Aug 18 list holds every boy registered up to the Early Bird deadline. Each boy was matched to his registration on F26 Financials, which gives the fee after any discount (processing fees, donations and merch are left out). 145 Early Birds still on the books owe $21,065 ($23,720 list less $2,655 in discounts). The 33 Expansion boys who signed up in the same weeks owe $5,285. $21,065 ÷ ($21,065 + $5,285) = 80%. The 13 Early Birds no longer on the books are left out of both.
Cost per Early Bird (about $21)
Direct cost: $2,469.00 National discount (10% of list for the Early Birds still registered) + $587.80 bag tags (all 300 bought) + $51.24 carabiners (158 × $145.95 ÷ 450) + $150.00 Pinwheel report + $72.55 refund fees = $3,330.59. Every one of those costs was spent across all 158 Early Birds, so it is divided by all 158: $3,330.59 ÷ 158 = $21.08 a boy. Staff time is not included.
New and returning sites
Every Fall 2026 focus-region team with boys on Oct 16 (83 teams, 1,070 boys; holding teams left out) was looked up by site name in the all-time participant export, which covers every season from 2013 to Spring 2026. Names were matched after ignoring punctuation, the word “School”, grade labels such as “4th/5th” and the “(SF)” prefix, then the unmatched ones were checked by hand. Madrona Elementary (SeaTac) counts as new; the earlier Madrona was a different site in Edmonds. A site counts as new if no boy ever registered under that name before. The fall-by-fall table uses the same rule for every season, looking back across all regions; only Fall 2026's new sites were checked by hand, so a site that changed its name between earlier seasons would count as new twice and those years may run slightly high. Charlotte includes Upper Palmetto and Gaston County; Seattle's history starts around 2018.