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BAM told Judge Barlow that BAMcon’s hotel was “nonpublic” and a “physical-security concern.” BAMcon’s own public website provides the hotel’s name, address, number, and the entire conference’s schedule and details.

The complaint, and the motion a magistrate judge granted on September 30, say this site’s September 23 report of “the dates and specific hotel location of Plaintiff’s upcoming private owners conference” put franchisees in danger. BAM’s conference website, open to anyone, has a Travel page: “Hotel Name: Sheraton Phoenix Downtown,” “Address: 340 N 3rd St, Phoenix, AZ 85004,” the phone number, the parking rates and the light rail stop. On October 13, the conference’s first day, the page was still there, word for word. The same site lists the sponsors, and its vendor portal lists the prices: $12,000 for Gold with the attendee list included, held by the accounting firm that calls itself BAM’s preferred partner. BAM’s books call the money “Sponsor Income.” Its disclosure document says vendor approval weighs “contributions or other benefits to us.” The conference ends Thursday. The subpoenas BAM served on October 5 set the records due Monday, October 19, four days later, and BAM’s October 7 memorandum to the court does not mention the conference at all. Everything on this page is public.

PRIMARY SOURCEBAM Franchising Inc. v. Does 1-10, No. 2:26-cv-00895, District of Utah: the complaint of September 25, paragraph 43, and the ex parte motion of September 28, granted September 30; BAM’s memorandum of October 7 (docket entry 11); BAM’s returns of service, filed October 12, with the subpoenas as served (docket entries 14 and 15). BAM’s BAMcon website (site.pheedloop.com/event/bamcon) and its sponsor application portal (site.pheedloop.com/portal/event/bamcon/apply/sponsor/). The September 2026 amendment to BAM’s 2026 Franchise Disclosure Document as filed in Minnesota and Wisconsin. All public. The conference site was read September 30 and read again, with timestamps, October 1, October 5 and October 13.

“nonpublic”

Paragraph 43 of BAM’s complaint: “On September 23, 2026, thebammap.com published the dates and specific hotel location of Plaintiff’s upcoming private owners conference. This disclosure of the nonpublic location of a future gathering at which a large number of franchise owners will be physically present in one location creates a significant physical-security concern, as it materially increases the risk of targeted harassment, disruption, confrontation, or other harmful conduct against Plaintiff’s franchisees and staff.” The motion for subpoenas repeated the paragraph word for word, said “the urgency of this matter has materially intensified,” and described the report as “information that could facilitate physical harm to attendees of a scheduled private event.” The court granted the motion on September 30 (reported that day). The subpoenas BAM attached to its motion set October 16 for the records, the day after the conference ends; the ones BAM served set October 19. In its October 7 memorandum opposing a hold on those records, BAM’s urgency argument rests on continuing disclosures and on logs that providers “do not retain … indefinitely”; it does not mention the conference.

BAMcon’s website is at site.pheedloop.com/event/bamcon. It has a Register Now button on every page. Its Travel & Event Info page reads: “Hotel Name: Sheraton Phoenix Downtown,” “Address: 340 N 3rd St, Phoenix, AZ 85004,” “Phone: +1 602-262-2500,” then the dates, the check-in time, the parking rates and directions from the airport by light rail. Its sponsor application portal, written for outside vendors, gives the same hotel under “BAMCON 2026 Event Details” and tells vendors their first payment was due June 1. The Title sponsorship package comes with “Up to Two Hotel Rooms.” The FAQ says registration closed September 11 and included three nights at the hotel. The site’s own pages, its home page among them, say the conference is October 13 to 15 at 340 N 3rd St, Phoenix.

The Sessions page lists the whole program: twenty-three sessions over three days, each with its hour, its room and, for all but one, a description written to the owners attending. All times are Arizona time, MST. Open a session to read BAM’s description of it, word for word as the site gives it. Every description reads as it did on September 30.

The program is built around one thing. The kickoff promises “your first look at a game-changing tool: The Matrix,” a scorecard the FAQ describes as “built directly into Patron,” BAM’s point-of-sale system; the working session that follows says “much of your real store data automatically pulls from your POS system.” Wednesday brings “the official unveiling and deep-dive demonstration of Patron Mobile,” which “brings the full power of your desktop buy calculator straight to your staff’s fingertips.” The keynote invites owners to “Close out your first day by hearing directly from our CEO and COO,” and Thursday morning has a panel of “the peer owners who have been successfully beta-testing the new system and the corporate team driving it.” The Bammys are Wednesday at 6 p.m. in the Phoenix Ballroom. No session mentions the rebrand whose details BAM told franchisees would come at BAMcon (September 23).

The program was read again on October 1, October 5 and October 13. One thing in it changed: between October 1 and October 5, the Wednesday 11:30 session, “Launching Patron Mobile: Fast, Flexible Buy Calculations,” was retitled “Its All About Inventory,” with its description unchanged, still promising “the official unveiling and deep-dive demonstration of Patron Mobile.” No other title, time, room or description changed, and neither did the hotel page or the dates. Two sessions list no room. The site still names no speaker.

The company told a federal court the location was nonpublic and that publishing it endangered its franchisees. Its own website publishes the hotel, the phone number and the hour-by-hour program, with BAM’s own descriptions of the sessions, to anyone who types the address, and it still did on the day the conference opened.

“nonpublic,” the company told the court. “Address: 340 N 3rd St, Phoenix, AZ 85004,” its website tells everyone.

What the calendar does to the argument

Four dates sit next to each other. The conference runs October 13 to 15. The subpoenas BAM drafted, and the court allowed, set October 16 at 5 p.m. for the records. The subpoenas BAM served, dated October 1 and delivered on October 5 to the registered agents of Vercel, which serves this site, and GoDaddy, its registrar, set Monday, October 19, at 5 p.m.; BAM filed the returns of service on October 12. And the paper BAM filed on October 7 to oppose holding those records unread does not mention the conference; its urgency is logs and leaks. The order BAM obtained on September 30 rested in part on a danger the records could not reach in time: on the date BAM itself chose, a name produced on the return date arrives four days after the gathering it was said to protect. Whatever the court decides about the records, the conference will be over.

The security claim also sits next to the sales pitch. The company told the court that publishing the hotel endangered the people who would be in it. The same company sells a $2,000 package that delivers “the pre-conference attendee contact list” to vendors who are not even in the room, and a $12,000 package that delivers “a list of all attendees” to the one sponsor that bought it. The attendees are the franchisees and the staff they bring. The address is on the Travel page. The list is for sale. The site that repeated the address is the one BAM asked a court to unmask.

And the program BAM promised. On September 23 BAM told its franchisees the details of its rebrand would come at BAMcon. The published program has no session on it. What it has is the Matrix, Patron, and a session whose title changed in the first week of October from a product launch to “Its All About Inventory.” Whether the rebrand is discussed in a room that is not on the schedule, this site cannot know and does not claim.

Who is paying

The same public site answers a question this site left open on September 29: what the accounting firms BAM steers its franchisees to give BAM. They pay to sponsor its conference.

The FAQ says the sponsor list is the vendor list: “You can find what vendors are attending in the ‘Sponsors’ tab.” Twenty-one names. One Gold, Certus Accounting & Tax Services of Provo. Six Silver: Nexstar Digital, Parker’s Brick Builds, Santoki, Specialized Accounting Services, Specialty Store Services and The Accounting Guys. Ten Bronze: ADP, BigKidBrix, Brick Extreme, CommercialSignage.com, Go Figure Displays, OneShop Retail, Palay Display, Tee Pee Advertising, Tricked Out Bricks and Versare Solutions. Four without a tier: Brick Popper, Champion City Media, Fast Signs and Zawadie; Champion City Media was added between October 5 and October 13. No Platinum or Title sponsor is listed.

Certus calls itself “a preferred accounting partner of Bricks & Minifigs” on its page for owners and “the preferred accounting firm for Bricks and Minifigs” in its April flyer. Specialized Accounting Services says it serves “nearly 100 Bricks & Minifigs franchisees” and puts BAM’s chief financial officer on camera vouching for it, speaking of the firms “that we recommend.” The Accounting Guys says, “We do all of the accounting for BAMF Corporate office and several BAMF Franchisee stores.” The disclosure document names none of them. All three pay to be in the room.

The prices are on the vendor portal, in BAM’s words. The application it opens with asks a vendor where it stands: “Are you currently an approved or preferred vendor for the Bricks & Minifigs franchise network?” with the answers “Yes, we are an approved/preferred vendor,” “No, but we currently work with individual BAM locations,” “No, we are brand new to the Bricks & Minifigs network,” and “We are currently in the vendor approval process with corporate.” A vendor waiting on corporate for approval is invited to pay corporate for a booth while it waits. Half the fee is due June 1 and half August 1, both non-refundable, 10% off for paying in full by June 1, and packages “require corporate approval.”

Package	List price	What BAM says it includes
Bronze	$5,000	“approximately 9ft x 9ft of dedicated booth space” and “Vendor Bingo Inclusion.”
Silver	$7,500	Bronze plus “posters featuring your company logo in the presentation rooms,” “Ads Featured on Our Conference App,” and “Three Lunches with Store Owners” for a team of up to five.
Gold	$12,000	Silver plus the logo “on the official lanyards and name badges worn by every attendee,” a 9ft x 18ft booth with priority placement, “A 1-minute video advertisement for your company” between all main-stage sessions, a half-sheet in the swag bags, and “List of Attendees: You will receive a list of all attendees, giving you the chance to plan for numbers, pitches, and more.”
Platinum	$16,000	Gold plus a 9ft x 27ft booth, the logo on keepsakes, the photo backdrop and the podium, a head table seat at the Bammys “with one of the executive team members,” and “a Dedicated email about your company to all franchisees, even those who do not attend.”
Title	$25,000	Sponsors the Bammys; “a main stage presentation (subject to approval/review)”; “a seat at the head table at dinner alongside our CEO,” who is Ammon McNeff; a 45ft x 9ft booth; two hotel rooms; all meals; and “a one-hour recorded webinar for the franchise network. This session is archived in our permanent library for viewing by all current and future owners.”
Drink, snack, meal	$8,000, $5,000, $10,000 to $12,000	Logo on every drink ticket; the snack bar; or a sponsored meal with “the opportunity to do a presentation in the dining hall.”
Digital Partner	$2,000	For vendors not attending: an app ad, a newsletter feature, “permanent placement on the Bricks & Minifigs corporate website under our new ‘Proud Partners’ resource page,” and “the pre-conference attendee contact list.”
Franchise Growth Catalyst	$500 to $5,000	A travel fund for franchisees: “100% of those funds are passed directly to our franchisees.”
Private meeting room	$250 an hour	“private 1-on-1 consultations or small group strategy sessions” with franchisees, away from the foyer.

At list, one Gold, six Silver and ten Bronze come to $107,000 before add-ons. BAM booked $125,781.96 of Sponsor Income from January through May. The figures fit. What any one vendor paid is not public.

The form asks a vendor whether it is “currently in the vendor approval process with corporate.” The disclosure document says approval weighs “contributions or other benefits to us.”

What the money buys besides a booth

Most of the packages sell a table in a foyer and a logo on a wall. The rest sell the franchisees. Gold, $12,000, the package Certus holds: “List of Attendees: You will receive a list of all attendees, giving you the chance to plan for numbers, pitches, and more.” Digital Partner, $2,000, for vendors who are not attending: “Direct Access: Gain a competitive advantage by receiving the pre-conference attendee contact list. This allows your team to reach out and offer promoted specials or introduce your services to franchisees before the event even begins,” and “permanent placement on the Bricks & Minifigs corporate website under our new ‘Proud Partners’ resource page. This page serves as a long-term reference for both unopened and existing stores looking for approved vendors.” Platinum, $16,000: “a Dedicated email about your company to all franchisees, even those who do not attend.” The attendees are franchise owners and the staff they bring; the registration form requires each of them to give a title, an organization and an address. Whether anyone bought the Digital Partner, Platinum or Title packages is not on the site, and neither BAM website had a Proud Partners page on September 30 or on October 13.

$2,000 buys the contact list before the conference starts, and a place on the corporate website’s page for “stores looking for approved vendors.”

What the disclosure document says

Item 8 is where a franchisor tells a buyer what it gets from the vendors it steers franchisees to. BAM’s says approvals rest on “quality, accuracy of product claims, safety, value, prompt attention to complaints, frequency of delivery, appearance and contributions or other benefits to us and/or any marketing fund.” It says that in 2025 BAM took in $1,362,791 selling products and services to its own franchisees. And it says: “Currently, neither we nor any affiliate(s) receive any other rebates, price adjustments, or discounts on products or services sold to you by recommended or approved suppliers. However, we reserve the right to do so in the future.” Its one sentence on where vendor money would go says that if a required vendor pays allowances, “we may place the funds in the Brand Fund” (September 1). The books put the sponsorships under Misc Income. In eleven editions since 2017, the word “sponsor” appears in the LEGO disclaimer, in state boilerplate, and, in the September amendment, on that one line.

The buyer’s side of the conference is in Item 6: “There will be a registration fee for conferences not to exceed $500 per person although we will work in good faith to keep the cost so it does not exceed our cost.” The document caps the fee at BAM’s own cost; the books enter the sponsorships as income. The money goes to an account the balance sheet calls “1005 BAMCon xxx9805,” $60,643.87 on May 31. The vendor portal’s payment page, headed “BAMCon ACH Payment Instructions,” names “BAM Franchising, LLC.” and a Chase account ending in the same four digits, and explains, in text written for franchisees paying a franchise fee, that ACH “is not commonly available, as most franchisees do not have an established ACH account that will allow the transfer of the full Franchise Fee.” The routing and account numbers are withheld here.

The document caps the registration fee at BAM’s own cost. The books enter the sponsorships as income, in an account named after the conference.

Where this comes from

1. BAM’s complaint and motion in BAM Franchising Inc. v. Does 1-10, District of Utah, the order of September 30 (reported that day), BAM’s memorandum of October 7 (docket entry 11), and BAM’s returns of service of October 12, with the subpoenas as served (docket entries 14 and 15), read on the public docket.
2. BAMcon 2026’s website, site.pheedloop.com/event/bamcon, and its sponsor application portal, site.pheedloop.com/portal/event/bamcon/apply/sponsor/: the Travel, FAQ, Sessions and Sponsors pages; the event information, terms, payment instructions, application questions and package list with prices. Anyone can open them. Read September 30; the site’s own data feeds were saved again with trusted timestamps on October 1, October 5 and October 13, and compared. The session descriptions on this page are copied from those feeds.
3. BAM’s September 2026 amendment to its 2026 Franchise Disclosure Document, as filed with the Minnesota Department of Commerce and the Wisconsin Department of Financial Institutions; earlier editions from the same registries. Reported here September 25.
4. The vendors’ own websites: Certus and its April flyer, Specialized Accounting Services, The Accounting Guys.

Nothing on this page came from a franchisee, an employee, a leaked document or a confidential source.

The fair reading, and its limit. A conference website can be public and a company can still wish its critics had not repeated what is on it; the complaint’s worry is about who reads this site, not who reads BAM’s. Vendor sponsorship of a franchise convention is ordinary, a sponsorship fee is not a rebate on a product sold to a franchisee, and sponsorships are how a conference stays cheap for the people attending it. The application asks vendors whether they are approved, so some sponsors are not, and nothing on the site says a sponsorship buys approval. What the documents do not do is tell a court the truth about the address, explain how records due four days after the conference could protect it, or tell a prospective franchisee that the vendors the company recommends pay the company, that the payments are booked as income, or that a vendor can buy the attendee contact list. The right of reply is open to BAM, to Certus, to Specialized Accounting Services and to The Accounting Guys.

The record

October 2: a reader asks the court to keep the names unread. September 30: the order granting the subpoenas. September 29: Reed Brimhall, the accounting firms, and the disclosure that names none of them. September 28: the motion. September 26: the complaint. September 25: the September amendment. September 23: the rebrand, and the details promised for BAMcon. September 1: the Brand Fund. August 6: “contributions or other benefits to us”. BAMcon 2026, Travel & Event Info. The sponsor application portal.

Sources. BAM Franchising Inc. v. Does 1-10, No. 2:26-cv-00895 (D. Utah): the complaint, paragraph 43; the ex parte motion for expedited discovery and its proposed subpoenas (return date October 16, 2026); docket entry 11, BAM’s memorandum in opposition of October 7, 2026, quoted verbatim; and docket entries 14 and 15, BAM’s returns of service filed October 12, 2026, with the subpoenas as served (dated October 1, 2026; return date October 19, 2026, 5:00 p.m.). BAMcon 2026’s public website and sponsor application portal, quoted verbatim as displayed September 30, 2026, and as read again October 1, October 5 and October 13, 2026 (between those readings one session was retitled and one sponsor was added; no session’s time, room or description changed, and neither did the hotel page or the dates). The session descriptions are BAM’s own, as its site gives them. BAM Franchising Inc., 2026 Franchise Disclosure Document, September 2026 amendment, as filed with the Minnesota Department of Commerce (file 9006, submission 37254-202609) and the Wisconsin Department of Financial Institutions: Items 6 and 8, the interim profit and loss statement for January through May 2026 and the balance sheet as of May 31, 2026, quoted verbatim; earlier editions 2017 through 2025 from the same registries. Certus, Specialized Accounting Services and The Accounting Guys as quoted from their own websites; BAM’s chief financial officer as quoted on September 29. Bank routing and account numbers are withheld. Everyone named here is presumed to have acted lawfully; a sponsorship is not an accusation, and this page makes none.

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