International Dance League

What International Dance League does

International Dance League (IDL) is a Delaware-incorporated, Los Angeles-headquartered sports and entertainment company that operates the world's first global professional dance league. Founded in 2025 by STEEZY co-founders Evan Zhou and Connor Lim, IDL runs a franchise-based competition built around six professional dance crews — Brotherhood (Vancouver), GRV (Los Angeles), 1MILLION (Seoul), Royal Family (Auckland), Jam Republic (Singapore), and Quick Style (Oslo) — that compete across five international Series events plus a season-ending Championship. The 2026 inaugural season runs May through September 2026 across New York, Vancouver, Sydney, Seoul, and Los Angeles, with structured judging, fan voting, and standardized season standings.

The platform is built around three product surfaces: (1) live event operations across mid-sized venues such as Hammerstein Ballroom, Thunderbird Sports Centre, Hordern Pavilion, Kyung Hee University Peace Hall, and Shrine Expo Hall; (2) a commerce layer powered by Shopify integrating retail into each tour stop and enabling dancers to monetize their personal brands; and (3) a livestream broadcast system distributed via YouTube and Twitch, with Honda Stage powering the broadcast technology and e.l.f. Cosmetics as the Official Livestream Presenting Partner. The league also operates a Community Division alongside the Pro Division as a participation pathway.

IDL monetizes through four primary streams: event ticketing (transaction-fee model across the global Series and Championship), brand sponsorships (founding partners Honda, CÎROC Vodka, and e.l.f. Cosmetics), merchandise sales through the Shopify-powered shop.idl.pro and on-site retail, and a dancer-driven dance commerce program that extends the merchandise and styling economy into live events. The company allocated $5 million directly to dancer compensation in its inaugural season. It serves three identifiable customer segments: dance enthusiasts and social media followers (with the six founding teams collectively representing over 20 billion views and 250 million followers), traditional sports and entertainment audiences seeking new competitive formats, and brand sponsors targeting young, culturally engaged demographics through dance content and on-site activations.

Name

International Dance League

Legal name

International Dance League, Inc.

Website

https://idl.pro

Company type

Private

Founded year

2025

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

International Dance League operates the world's first global professional dance league, running franchise-based competitions across five international cities with six pro teams, monetizing through ticketing, sponsorships, livestream broadcasts, and Shopify-powered dancer commerce.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Professional Dance League / Sports Entertainment

NAICS

Sports Teams and Clubs (711211), Dance Companies (711120), Promoters of Performing Arts, Sports, and Similar Events without Facilities (711320)

SIC

Services-Amusement & Recreation Services (7900), Services-Miscellaneous Amusement & Recreation (7990)

akta.pro primary industry

Dance Competitions & Showcases (Non-Esports) (MPAGADAH)

akta.pro secondary industry

Dance Festivals & Dance Series (MPAGADAJ)

Keywords

• Professional dance league
• Dance competitions
• Live sports events
• Sports entertainment
• Team merchandise sales

Headquarters

HQ city

Los Angeles

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Event Ticketing: Revenue from ticket sales to live events at venues including Hammerstein Ballroom in New York, Thunderbird Sports Centre in Vancouver, Hordern Pavilion in Sydney, Kyung Hee University Peace Hall in Seoul, and Shrine Expo Hall in Los Angeles.
2. Brand Sponsorships: Sponsorship deals with founding partners including Honda (jersey sponsor), CÎROC Vodka (official spirits partner), and e.l.f. Cosmetics (founding partner, content studio, livestream presenting partner).
3. Merchandise Sales: Merchandise sales through IDL's official merch store (shop.idl.pro) and at live events.
4. Dance Commerce: Integrated commerce ecosystem powered by Shopify enabling dancers to monetize their influence through merchandise and dance-related products sold during events.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels4 records

Core offering

International Dance League (IDL) runs the world's first global professional dance league, organizing franchise-style competitive seasons in which six elite international dance crews (Brotherhood, Quick Style, Jam Republic, GRV, Royal Family, 1MILLION) compete head-to-head across five Global Series events culminating in an IDL Championship. The league sells event tickets, broadcasts competitions via livestream, sells official merchandise, and operates a dancer-monetization commerce program powered by Shopify at live events.

Product overview

International Dance League (IDL) operates as a professional dance league with a platform-plus-events architecture. The core product is the Pro Division, featuring six elite international dance franchise teams (Brotherhood from Vancouver, Quick Style from Oslo, Jam Republic from Singapore, GRV from Los Angeles, Royal Family from Auckland, and 1MILLION from Seoul) competing in a season-format league across five Global Series events. The league culminates in an IDL Championship event in Los Angeles. Supporting products include a Community Division for broader participation, IDL Merchandise sold through Shopify-powered commerce, IDL Livestream for broadcasting on YouTube and Twitch, and Fan Voting features. The league, founded by STEEZY co-founders Evan Zhou and Connor Lim, launched its inaugural season in 2025 with the official 2026 season beginning in May 2026.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• IDL Pro Division The professional competitive division of International Dance League featuring six elite international dance crews competing in a franchise-based league format with contracts, salaries, and standardized judging across global events.
• Global Series Events Five Series events held in international cities where the six IDL Pro Division teams compete in head-to-head matchups with judges' scores and fan voting.
• IDL Championship Season-ending championship final where the IDL Pro Division team with the most cumulative points across the Series events is crowned league champion.
• Community Division Community-level dance competition division running alongside the professional Pro Division, providing a pathway for broader dance community participation at IDL events.
• IDL Merchandise Official IDL apparel, accessories, and dancer-driven merchandise sold through the IDL online store (shop.idl.pro, Shopify-powered) and at live events.
• IDL Livestream Live broadcast of IDL Pro Division events on YouTube and Twitch, reaching global audiences beyond the live event venues.

Quantifiable outcome

• 190 million views generated in first 30 days after launch
• +2 more outcomes

Named customers6 records

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration3 records

Feature1 record

Partnerships

Four partnerships are on record, tiered core.

• ShopifycoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 June 2026Global partnership to launch first-of-its-kind commerce program integrating retail directly into IDL's six global tour events. Shopify powers the commerce layer enabling dancers to monetize their influence.
• e.l.f. CosmeticscoreGTM or Marketing Partner · 1 May 2026Founding Partner, content studio provider, and official livestream presenting partner for the 2026 season. Provides on-site makeup artists and custom glam kits for dancers at each event, focusing on Power Grip Primer product. Owns broadcast experience across YouTube and Twitch for all U.S. events.
• HondacoreGTM or Marketing Partner · 1 April 2026Founding Partner and official jersey sponsor for all IDL Pro-Teams. Supporting partnership covering event activations, digital content, athlete storytelling, and fan experiences across six global events. Powers IDL Livestream and related content through Honda Stage program.
• CÎROC Ultra-Premium VodkacoreGTM or Marketing Partner · 1 March 2026Official vodka sponsor for IDL's inaugural 2026 U.S. season. First brand partnership for IDL, covering venue signage, branded merchandise, on-site experiences, and co-branded social content at events in New York, Los Angeles, and Championship Finals in LA. Expansion of CÎROC's Athletic Club platform.

Scale indicators9 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Direct peers

• Juste Debout: Juste Debout is a major international street-dance competition originating in France, with global qualifiers and finals. Like IDL, it targets pro-level street dance styles, runs multi-city events, and is pursuing professionalization of the dance competition circuit.
• STEEZY Studio: STEEZY is the digital dance tutorial platform co-founded by IDL's founders. While it sits upstream as an educational/training product, its brand and community overlap almost entirely with IDL's audience and talent base, making it the closest ecosystem peer.
• Hip Hop International (HHI): HHI organizes the Hip Hop World Championships and operates the global competitive circuit that includes many of the same crews now competing in IDL (e.g., Jam Republic's Mavy Marquez is an HHI World Champion). It is the most established incumbent in competitive street dance and a direct competitor for the same teams and championships.
• Red Bull Dance Your Style: Red Bull's global street-dance competition series is one of the closest direct peers to IDL — a multi-city, head-to-head street dance event format with global touring, sponsorships, and a fan-driven scoring component. Both target a similar audience of dance fans and culture enthusiasts worldwide.
• Battle of the Year: Battle of the Year is one of the longest-running international b-boy/breaking crew competitions, with regional qualifiers and a global final. It competes with IDL for the same urban dance crew talent and audience, particularly in the breaking community.
• World of Dance: World of Dance operates a leading global dance competition platform and media brand, including the NBC television series. Like IDL, it organizes large-scale competitive dance events, monetizes dancer talent, and pursues sponsorships — directly competing for the same pro dancer pipeline and audience attention.

Others

• Overwatch League / Call of Duty League: City-based franchised esports leagues provide a comparable business model architecture (franchised teams, city-based events, sponsorship-driven revenue, livestream distribution) that IDL explicitly references as inspiration for its franchise-based professional league model.
• TikTok Dance Ecosystem: TikTok is the primary distribution and audience-development platform for competitive dance content and the channel through which IDL's founding teams built their 250M follower base. It is both the league's biggest enabler and its largest competitive substitute for viewer attention.

Broad incumbents

• World DanceSport Federation (WDSF): WDSF is the international governing body for DanceSport, recognized by the IOC, organizing competitive ballroom and Latin dance at a global scale. While IDL focuses on street/club styles and operates commercially versus WDSF's federation model, both occupy the formalization-of-competitive-dance space.
• America's Best Dance Crew: MTV's America's Best Dance Crew was a high-profile televised dance crew competition that helped establish crew-based competitive dance as entertainment. It represents the legacy media approach to the same category IDL is reinventing, and a comparable historical analog for crew-competition economics.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/idl_global

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles3 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds1 record

Investors3 records

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about International Dance League