Sports Authority

Last updated

Sports Authority
Type Private
Industry Retail
Founded
DefunctJuly 29, 2016;7 years ago (2016-07-29)
FateChapter 7 bankruptcy
Headquarters1050 West Hampden Avenue, ,
Number of locations
463 (at the time of closure) [1]
Area served
United States
Puerto Rico
Key people
  • Michael Foss (CEO)
ProductsApparel, sports equipment, footwear, exercise equipment
Number of employees
15,250 (2016) [2]
Parent Kmart (1990–1994)
Gart Sports (2003–2006)
Website Archived official website at the Wayback Machine (archive index)

Sports Authority, Inc. (formerly The Sports Authority) was an American sports retailer. [3] At its peak, Sports Authority operated 463 stores in 45 States and Puerto Rico. The company's website was on the GSI Commerce platform and supported the retail stores as well as other multi-channel programs. A joint venture with ÆON Co., Ltd., operates "Sports Authority" stores in Japan under a licensing agreement.

Contents

On March 2, 2016, Sports Authority filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, and the case was converted to Chapter 7 a few months later. On May 18, 2016, the company's stores were sold to a group of liquidators and on May 25, CEO Michael Foss announced that all of the stores would close by the end of August 2016. [4] [5] On June 30, 2016, Dick's Sporting Goods won the auction for Sports Authority's brand name and intellectual property. [6]

On July 15, 2016, the online store closed operations, redirecting users to the Dick's Sporting Goods website. On July 21, 2016, the purchase of Sports Authority's intellectual property by rival Dick's Sporting Goods was approved.

History

Gart Brothers

Gart Brothers, or Gart Bros. began in 1928, when Denver Post newspaper carrier Nathan Gart started the company with $50 (~$852.00 in 2022) in fishing rod samples.

In 1971, the Gart Bros. Company opened the "Sportscastle" superstore in Denver, Colorado, at the corner of 10th Avenue and Broadway. The 1980s marked a period of substantial growth for the company through a series of acquisitions. These mergers included Hagan's Sports Ltd. (1987) and Stevens Brown of Salt Lake City (1987). In the fall of 1992, Leonard Green & Partners acquired Thrifty and became the company's largest shareholder.

Sportmart

At the same time that Gart Bros. opened the Sportscastle, the Hochberg family and the Cantor family opened their first Sportmart in Niles, Illinois. The company grew to 60 stores in nine states. Gart Bros. and Sportmart merged in 1998. Sportmart briefly operated in Canada in the 1990s before closing down their operations after two years.

Oshman's

Oshman's Sporting Goods was founded in Houston, Texas, in 1919 by Jake Oshman. By 1965, Oshman's had become the largest sporting goods chain in Texas, operating 43 Oshman's SuperSports USA stores and 15 traditional stores; the company merged with Gart Bros. in 2001, two years before eventually merging with and changing their name to Sports Authority.[ citation needed ]

Sports Authority

Interior of a Sports Authority in Daly City, California Sports Authority DC interior 1.JPG
Interior of a Sports Authority in Daly City, California

The Sports Authority, Inc., was founded in Lakes Mall in Lauderdale Lakes, Florida, by a syndicate of venture capital groups and several key founding executives. Jack A. Smith, formerly COO of Herman's World of Sporting Goods, CEO; Roy M. Cohen, senior vice president and general merchandise manager; Richard Lynch, senior vice president and CFO and Arnold Sedel, vice president of stores operations, were the founding executives. The venture capital syndicate was led by William Blair Venture Partners and included First Chicago Venture Partners, Bain Capital, Phillips-Smith Venture Partners, Marquette Venture Partners, and Bessemer Securities.[ citation needed ]

The Sports Authority, Inc. opened its first store in November 1987 in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. In 1990, Kmart acquired the company. [7] At the time of acquisition, Kmart had opened two sporting goods stores in Metro Detroit under the Sports Giant name and converted these stores to the Sports Authority name. [8] Five years later, The Sports Authority had expanded to 136 stores in 26 states, and was spun off from parent Kmart.

Its headquarters were in Lauderdale Lakes, [9] [10] near Fort Lauderdale. [11]

Gart Sports merges with The Sports Authority

Gart Sports, which also operated Oshman's and Sportmart, completed a "merger of equals" with The Sports Authority on August 4, 2003. At the time of its merger with the Gart Sports Company, The Sports Authority was the largest full-line sporting goods retailer in the United States, and had 205 stores in 33 states. The combined company took the Sports Authority name. With the merger, each share of Sports Authority was exchanged with 0.37 shares of Gart Sports which gave investors in each about 50% of the new merchant. The new company was based in Englewood, Colorado, which was the home of Gart Sports.

As of May 2006, the remaining stores that were not operating under the Sports Authority name were re-branded to the Sports Authority name.

2006 leveraged buyout by Leonard Green & Partners

In January 2006, Sports Authority agreed to be purchased in a leveraged buyout by affiliates of Leonard Green & Partners, a private equity investment firm, in a transaction valued at $1.4 billion (~$1.97 billion in 2022). [12] Shareholders approved the deal in May 2006. Upon completion of the merger, Sports Authority ceased to be a publicly listed stock. There were also no public bonds outstanding, and Sports Authority no longer filed financial statements with the SEC.

Copeland's Sports

In August 2006, Copeland's Sports, headquartered in San Luis Obispo, California filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy and on November 17, 2006, Sports Authority, through a wholly owned subsidiary, assumed the leasehold interests in seven former Copeland's Sports retail store locations.

S.A. Elite

Sports Authority launched new store brand "S.A. Elite" in mid-2010, based on consumer research and testing. These stores are smaller than typical Sports Authority outlets and carry high-end sports apparel and accessories. [13] [14]

Bankruptcy/liquidation

A Sports Authority store in Tanasbourne, Oregon on May 20, 2016, with sign announcing closure of the store. Sports Authority in Hillsboro, Oregon.jpg
A Sports Authority store in Tanasbourne, Oregon on May 20, 2016, with sign announcing closure of the store.
Another Sports Authority Store, this one in former Borders of Flemington, New Jersey, as seen on May 28, 2016. This location also has signs announcing the store's impending closure. Sports Authority Flemington, New Jersey.jpg
Another Sports Authority Store, this one in former Borders of Flemington, New Jersey, as seen on May 28, 2016. This location also has signs announcing the store's impending closure.

On February 4, 2016, it was widely reported that Sports Authority was set to declare Chapter 11 bankruptcy, due to debt problems. [15] Later that month, The Dallas Morning News reported that the company planned to close all 25 of its stores in Texas. The report did not specify a date for the closures. [16] On March 2, 2016, Sports Authority filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. [17] After considering restructuring, Sports Authority announced that on April 26, they would sell all of their assets, including all of the remaining store locations. [18] Earlier in April, Reuters reported that Academy Sports + Outdoors and Dick's Sporting Goods had expressed interest in purchasing Sports Authority's assets. On May 3, 2016, the company notified the US Bankruptcy Court that it would not reorganize its debt but would auction its assets. Contrary to media reports, the company announced it would not be liquidating its assets, but would be auctioning off its stores and operations, with the intended goal of keeping all of its stores open. [19] On May 18, however, it was announced that the effort to avoid liquidation was unsuccessful, causing the Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing to be converted to Chapter 7. The stores would in fact be closed, part of the American retail trend known as the retail apocalypse. [4]

As of July 28, 2016, the Sports Authority website redirected to the Dick's Sporting Goods website.

Brands

Sports Authority sold different brands of sporting goods from many different vendors. The company also sold products under its own private labels, including Alpine Design (seasonal clothing and outdoor goods), Sims (seasonal clothing and snowboards), Aspire (women's sportswear), SA Gear (men's sportswear and fitness equipment), Tommy Armour and Ram (Golf), Parkside (outdoor games and trampolines), and Bodyfit by Sports Authority (fitness accessories). Many of these products were made by other manufacturers and branded with the Sports Authority private labels.

Sports Authority Field at Mile High

What is now Empower Field at Mile High. Sports Authority Field at Mile High AFC Championship game.jpg
What is now Empower Field at Mile High.

Sports Authority owned the corporate naming rights to Sports Authority Field at Mile High, a stadium in Denver, Colorado, which is the home of the Denver Broncos. The Denver Broncos purchased the stadium naming rights in August 2016, and has since removed the Sports Authority name from the stadium. By 20 June 2018, the stadium operated under the name Broncos Stadium at Mile High until Empower Retirement took over in September 2019.

Competition

Sports Authority's major competitor stores included:

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kmart</span> Big box retailer

Kmart Corporation is an American retail company that owns a chain of big-box department stores. The company is headquartered in Hoffman Estates, Illinois, United States. The company was incorporated in 1899 as S. S. Kresge Corporation and renamed Kmart Corporation in 1977. The first store with the Kmart name opened in 1962 in Garden City, Michigan. At its peak in 1994, Kmart operated 2,486 stores globally, including 2,323 discount stores and Super Kmart Center locations in the United States. As of April 16, 2022, that number was down to nine, including just three in the continental United States. From 2005 through 2019, Kmart was a subsidiary of Sears Holdings Corporation. Since 2019, Kmart has been a subsidiary of Transform SR Brands LLC, a privately held company that was formed in 2019 to acquire assets from Sears Holdings.

A discount store or discounter offers a retail format in which products are sold at prices that are in principle lower than an actual or supposed "full retail price". Discounters rely on bulk purchasing and efficient distribution to keep down costs.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Vail Resorts</span> American mountain resort company

Vail Resorts, Inc. is an American mountain resort company headquartered in Broomfield, Colorado. The company is divided into three divisions. The mountain segment owns and operates 40 mountain resorts in four countries, Vail Resorts Hospitality owns or manages hotels, lodging, condominiums and golf courses, and the Vail Resorts Development Company oversees property development and real estate holdings.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dick's Sporting Goods</span> American sporting goods retailing corporation

Dick's Sporting Goods, Inc. is an American chain of sporting goods stores founded in 1948 by Richard "Dick" Stack. It is the largest sporting goods retailer in the United States, and is listed on the Fortune 500.

Builders Square was a big-box home improvement retailer headquartered in San Antonio, Texas. A subsidiary of Kmart, its format was quite similar to The Home Depot, Menards, and Lowe's with floor space of about 100,000 square feet (9,300 m2), and inventories in excess of 35,000 different items. In 1997, a Los Angeles leveraged buyout specialist acquired Builders Square and merged it with Hechinger but the new combined company failed to thrive and all remaining stores ceased business operations by the end of 1999.

Southglenn Mall was a mid-size shopping center located on South University Boulevard in Centennial, Colorado, at the southwest corner of Arapahoe Road and University Boulevard. The center opened in 1974 and was closed from 2006 to August 2009 to make way for The Streets at SouthGlenn, a mixed-use redevelopment project.

Modell's Sporting Goods Online, Inc. is a digitally native retailer which specializes in sporting goods and related apparel. Modell's began with operating retail stores between the late 1980s and the late 2010s. In 2020, Modell’s became a brand owned by the private equity firm Retail Ecommerce Ventures.

Inland Center is a regional shopping mall owned and operated by Macerich, located in San Bernardino, California along the southwest border adjacent to Interstate 215 and the city of Colton. The mall is within one mile of three bordering cities on the southern end of San Bernardino. Inland Center is a single-level mall anchored by, JCPenney, Forever 21 and Macy's, plus 110 specialty shops and services.

Herman’s World of Sporting Goods was a sporting goods retailer in the United States. It was founded by Herman Steinlauf in 1916 as a music store. Founded in 1916 by Herman and Eddie Steinlauf as a music store in lower Manhattan. The first store was at 110 Nassau Street, in Lower Manhattan. Later, the chain expanded to East 42nd Street and East 34th Street, then to Paramus, New Jersey. The chain kept growing as time went on, in the New York metropolitan area and later other areas. Herman's later became a sporting goods outlet and was sold as a four-store group in 1970 to W. R. Grace and Company Eddie Steinlauf's son Leonard expanded into a fourth store in Paramus, creating the first sporting goods superstore. This drew the attention of conglomerate W.R. Grace, who made a play for the company. Leonard Steinlauf fought the sale, citing his vision of creating a national chain of sporting goods superstores. He believed that Herman's should stay a family company. Herman Steinlauf and Leonard Steinlauf's sister pressured Leonard into selling his 25% of the company, a decision he would later regret. Leonard Steinlauf became Herman's CEO but lasted less than ten years under a strained relationship with W.R. Grace.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">City Sports</span> American sporting goods retailer

City Sports is an American sporting goods retailer that re-launched in the spring of 2017 after being purchased during bankruptcy liquidation in December 2015. Founded in 1983 by Mike Kennedy and Eric Martin, two Boston locals, the company grew across state borders and operated 27 stores in eight states. Post-bankruptcy the company now operates an e-commerce site with plans for future brick and mortar locations.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Southwest Plaza</span> Shopping mall in Jefferson County, Colorado

Southwest Plaza is an enclosed shopping mall in unincorporated Jefferson County, Colorado, immediately south of Denver. Littleton, Colorado is commonly indicated in the mall's postal address because its ZIP code is primarily associated with that city, which lies some two miles east. The mall has two levels with over 150 stores and a food court.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">MC Sports</span> Defunct American retailer

MC Sports was an American retail sporting goods chain. Founded in Grand Rapids, Michigan in 1946, the chain operated 75 stores in the Midwestern United States before permanently closing in 2017 after filing for bankruptcy.

National Wholesale Liquidators is a Brooklyn, New York-based company that operates warehouse-style closeout discount stores. It offers a mix of brand-name items, everyday household items, and furniture. National Wholesale Liquidators carries over 120,000 items. The company also offers appliances, automotive products, bath towels, bedding, carpets and floor covers, detergents and cleaning products, electrical hardware, electronics, food products, furniture outdoor, giftware, health and beauty aids, holiday decorative, and household storage products. In addition, it offers indoor furniture, jewelry, kitchen towels-linens, luggage, men's apparel and fragrances, paint and sundries, paper goods and supplies, personal umbrellas, pet supplies, sporting goods, vacuums and accessories, video games, and women's fragrances.

Golfsmith International Holdings Inc. was an American golf specialty retailer based in Austin, Texas. Each store, along with golfsmith.com, housed a wide selection of golf clubs, shoes, apparel, gadgets and gear from all the major brands as well as proprietary offerings. They also offered custom club fitting, lessons and services for golfers.

Sears Holdings Corporation was an American holding company headquartered in Hoffman Estates, Illinois. It was the parent company of the chain stores Kmart and Sears and was founded after the former purchased the latter in 2005. It was the 20th-largest retailing company in the United States in 2015. It filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on October 15, 2018, and sold its assets to ESL Investments in 2019. The new owner moved Sears assets to its newly formed subsidiary Transform Holdco LLC and after that, Sears Holdings Corporation was closed.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Layton Hills Mall</span> Shopping mall in Utah, United States

Layton Hills Mall is an enclosed shopping mall in Layton, Utah, United States. Opened in 1980, the mall features Dick's Sporting Goods, Dillard's, and JCPenney as its anchor stores. The mall is owned by CBL & Associates Properties.

Oshman's Sporting Goods Inc. was a sporting goods retailer in the United States. Their headquarters were in East End, Houston, Texas. It operated traditional sporting goods stores and Oshman's Supersports USA megastores.

Edison Brothers Stores, Inc., was a retail conglomerate based in St. Louis, Missouri. It operated numerous retail chains mainly located in shopping malls, mostly in the fields of shoes, clothing and entertainment, with Bakers Shoes as its flagship chain. The company was liquidated and condemned in 1999, though some of the chains it operated continued under different owners.

Transform SR Brands LLC is an American privately held company formed on February 11, 2019, to acquire some of the assets of Sears Holdings Corporation. The new company is owned by ESL Investments. Following the Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing of Sears Holdings on October 15, 2018, Transformco purchased the surviving assets owned by Sears Holdings for $5.2 billion.

References

  1. Dick’s Just Paid $15 Million For Sports Authority’s Name
  2. "#127 Sports Authority". Forbes.com. Retrieved April 28, 2016.
  3. "Sportsauthority.com Terms and Conditions of Use." Sports Authority. Retrieved on September 15, 2011. "1050 West Hampden Avenue Englewood, CO 80110"
  4. 1 2 "Sports Authority's Stores Have Been Sold To A Trio Of Liquidators, All Will Close – Consumerist". Consumerist.com. May 17, 2016. Retrieved September 4, 2016.
  5. "About Us". SportsAuthority.com. Retrieved July 17, 2016.
  6. Rizzo, Lillian (June 30, 2016). "Dick's Sporting Goods Wins Sports Authority Brand Name in Bankruptcy Auction". WSJ. Retrieved July 17, 2016.
  7. ""About Us"". Archived from the original on October 6, 2001. Retrieved October 6, 2001.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link). Sports Authority. October 6, 2001. Retrieved on September 15, 2011.
  8. "Kmart set to join the sports scrum for the 2nd time". Detroit Free Press. July 30, 1990. pp. 3D. Retrieved January 13, 2022.
  9. "Lauderdale Lakes city, Florida Archived 2006-09-26 at the Wayback Machine ." U.S. Census Bureau. Retrieved on September 15, 2011.
  10. ""Contact Us"". Archived from the original on November 1, 2001. Retrieved November 1, 2001.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link). Sports Authority. Retrieved on September 15, 2011. "Corporate Office THE SPORTS AUTHORITY, INC. Customer Service 3383 North State Road 4 Ft. Lauderdale, FL 33319"
  11. Steinhauer, Jennifer. "Sporting Goods Retailers Start to Consider New Lineups." The New York Times . June 12, 1997. 1. Retrieved on September 15, 2011.
  12. "Schedule 14A". Sec.gov. Retrieved April 28, 2016.
  13. Harden, Mark (May 12, 2010). "Sports Authority launching new store brand". Denver Business Journal. Retrieved July 26, 2012.
  14. Sharrow, Ryan (January 31, 2012). "Sports Authority's S.A. Elite to open first East Coast store". Denver Business Journal. Retrieved July 26, 2012. S.A. Elite was launched in summer 2010 by Englewood-based Sports Authority.
  15. Wang, Christine (February 4, 2016). "Sports Authority to file for bankruptcy: Report". CNBC. Retrieved February 5, 2016.
  16. "Sports Authority closing all 25 Texas stores, report says". Fort Worth Star-Telegram . February 17, 2016. Retrieved February 17, 2016.
  17. "Sports Authority Chapter 11 Petition" (PDF). PacerMonitor. 2016. Retrieved May 2, 2016.
  18. Brickley, Peg (April 26, 2016). "Sports Authority Abandons Hope of Reorganizing and Opts for Liquidation Report" . The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved April 26, 2016.
  19. Brickley, Peg (May 3, 2016). "Sports Authority Anticipates Buyer for 'Major Portions' of Stores" . Wall Street Journal.