Your Sports Facility’s Business Plan: The Operations

This is the third in a series of posts on creating a business plan for a sports facility. In the past weeks, we discussed creating a sports facility business objective and creating a marketing plan. In the upcoming weeks, we’ll discuss how to add details on finances and an exit strategy to your sports facility’s business plan.

Since you’ve already established the summary of your business objectives and the details of how you plan to introduce your sports facility to the community, it’s time to describe exactly how you want your facility to operate. This part of the plan has two parts: the physical building and equipment, and facility’s human resources, or staff.

Part 1: Infrastructure

The Space – Describe the physical building that will house your sports facility, including details such as square footage. Include a few sentences about what makes it ideal. List the costs in both time and money of the purchase or rental and maintenance of your physical facility, including cleaning, estimated repairs, and utility costs. If you don’t have your site finalized yet, you can put estimates into this section. (You can use this post on choosing a facility location to get more specific.)

The Equipment – Describe all of the equipment you’ll need to run the facility, and discuss how you’ll use it. List estimated costs, both upfront and ongoing as the equipment needs to be replaced, including taxes, shipping and installation. (Here’s a post that goes into more detail on how to choose equipment.)

Here’s an example of an introduction to the infrastructure portion of your operations plan:

DNA Sports Center’s facility features an open turf field that can be split into various pitching tunnels and batting cages. It also features a weight room for strength training, an office for staff, and a wireless internet enabled waiting area for parents. Since we are operating out of a previous fitness facility, our physical costs will be kept to a minimum by taking advantage of the resources already available. The following equipment will need to be purchased and installed: (add a list of equipment and costs here)

Part 2: Staff

Describe the the staff positions at your facility. List the job titles and descriptions, including their specific duties. Discuss the hours each person will work each week and describe how each staffer will be paid.

Also briefly note your sports facility’s regular hours of operation, and describe when services would be offered to maximize revenue.

Here’s an example of an introduction to the staff portion of your operations plan: DNA Sports Center will hire qualified candidates for the following positions: Office Manager, Speed and Agility program director / Sales Director, Director of Baseball Operations, Director of Midwest Prospects (an elite baseball team). The rest of our staff, including sports-specific instructors, will be considered contractors. (add the list here.)

If you have any questions, contact me directly. Otherwise, let’s go to the next step: The Finances.