BATL, The Backyard Axe Throwing League
It’s been 14 years since the Backyard Axe Throwing League brought urban axe throwing to the masses, using the axe as a tool to bring people together. Back in 2006, a group of friends were bored at a cottage outside of Toronto and decided to throw an axe at a stump. Little did they know that this innocent way to pass the time would soon evolve into the creation of a worldwide sport.
Upon returning home to Toronto, BATL founder and CEO Matt Wilson decided to set up a target in his backyard and invite some friends over to show them just how cathartic throwing a sharp axe into wood could be. A point system was created, and soon enough a group of 8 friends would meet every week and engage in some friendly competition. 8 friends quickly grew to 16, and 16 quickly grew to 32. Before he knew it, Matt was hosting 2 full leagues of a total of 60+ per night in his backyard, not including all the spectators that would stop by to catch a glimpse of our exciting new sport. Before long, we had to move our operations indoors – which led to opening 10 locations across Canada between 2015-2018. That was just the beginning.
Axe Throwing Expansion Into The US
In 2017, BATL stepped across the border to open our very first location in the United States. We partnered with Throw Nashville to bring BATL’s brand of urban axe throwing to Music City, and that would mark the beginning of our US growth. Shortly after, we teamed forces with Thunderbolt Axe Throwing to bring BATL’s brand of urban axe throwing to the Chicago Masses. It instantly caught on in the windy city, and BATL Chicago has been a driving force in the community or Irving Park ever since. In 2018, we opened the doors to BATL Novi, bringing axe throwing to metro Detroit.
BATL Scottsdale is open to the public, bringing axe throwing to the Valley of the Sun. The Phoenix greater area now has the ability to experience the unique thrill provided by axe throwing, and we’re excited to begin to grow the sport. After that, we opened up shop in the Lone Star state, making Houston Heights our first BATL location in Texas. At the start of 2020, BATL joined forces with Axe Club of America, opening up 3 new venues in North Carolina – bringing our total to 10 venues across North America! Now, we’re ready to bring the fun to Austin – and we’re just getting started, with more US locations planned in the next year.
