Welcome to Sports Facility Expert – your one-stop shop for building, running and growing your sports facility
Facing a $10K Loss, This Owner Got Creative
A few weeks ago, Harford Sports Performance Center in Maryland was buried in more than three feet of snow. Owner Danny Taylor had to close the facility’s doors from Friday through Monday – typically some of his busiest days – until they were shoveled out. Harford Sports was back open mid-week, but the local schools were […]
One Entrepreneur’s Solution to the Biggest Problem Facing Sports Academies
Jason Schofield was just 24 when he took over the management of Bobby Valentine’s Baseball Academy in Stamford, Connecticut. He had been an aspiring pro player until an injury cut his career short. So, he was excited to put his degree in the psychology of business management to use in the field he loved the […]
Easing the Pressure to Specialize in a Sport Too Early
As you know, there’s a trend in youth sports toward more intensity, more games, more competitiveness, and more elite training. So I wasn’t exactly surprised that the results of a survey of NCAA athletes found that an increasing number of athletes had specialized in their sports by a young age, influenced by parents with high […]
Building Your Own Sports Facility
Our wildest dreams of sports academy ownership often involve a gleaming new facility built just the way we want. The biggest hurdle for most of us to seeing that dream become reality is securing the funding. If you think you can raise the capital, it’s time for you to decide whether the benefits of new construction outweigh the […]
Understanding Your Sports Academy’s Competition
I was helping one of our newest clients set up his sports facility scheduling software and noticed his batting cage rental prices seemed low. I asked how he came up with his pricing, and his answer baffled me. He was undercutting what he considered to be his nearest competitor, a batting cage facility a 20-minute […]
Should You Open Your Sports Academy as a For-Profit or a Non-Profit Organization?
Most of us don’t go into sports academy ownership with dreams of making millions – our main goal is to help kids. However, most sports academies are still set up as for-profits for legal business and tax purposes. That’s because choosing between operating as a nonprofit or for-profit is actually more of an accounting question […]
Top Posts of 2015
The year isn’t quite over. However, I’ve already checked to see which SportsFacilityExpert.com posts got the most attention in 2015. The series I wrote on business plans for sports facilities late in 2013 still contains some of the the most popular material on the site, along with other posts specifically for baseball facility owners about […]
Sports Academy Holiday Promotions
I hope your first round of sports academy holiday promotions from Black Friday through Cyber Monday went well. Those deals should only have been available for a limited time, but that doesn’t mean that your holiday push for sales has to end. A Few Ideas for December Promotions One thing DNA Sports Center is doing […]
Should You Open a Sports Academy Franchise Location?
Opening a sports academy franchise location can offer powerful benefits that you can’t get when you start from scratch or even purchase an existing business, and franchise opportunities have grown quite a bit in recent years. However, not all franchisers are created equal, and owning a franchise never guarantees success – or even guarantees that […]
Happy Thanksgiving! Your Sports Academy’s Holiday Week Checklist
We sports facility owners don’t get much time “off work” – and the time off that we do get doesn’t often line up with our friends and family. For example, many of you will be busy this week running clinics on Thanksgiving Eve and/or “Black Friday.” Maybe it’s not fair to suggest a to-do list at a time when it […]
How to Host a Demo Day at your Baseball or Softball Academy
As families begin to look for holiday gift ideas, you should be offering great deals on baseball equipment that your players would love to see under the tree.
One way to make it easier for parents who may hesitate to shell out hundreds of dollars for a new baseball bat is to let their kids try the bats out for free.
It’s Time to Plan Your Black Friday Specials
When you think of Black Friday sales, you might think of hordes of consumers waiting outside of retail box stores and fighting over TVs. However, this crazy annual shopping tradition can be just as useful to sports academies as retailers. Ignore it and you risk leaving a lot of money on the table. Black Friday specials […]
Big News: I Sold My Sports Facility
If you’ve read my series on business plans for sports facilities, you know that every sports facility owner should have an exit strategy for their business. Like most of you owners, my own exit strategy for DNA Sports Center had always been to sell it when the time was right. Originally I didn’t think that would […]
Use These Tools to Polish Your Marketing Messages
You should always post event reminders on all your marketing channels. While posting is simple, a graphic designer’s work can make a big difference. If you can’t always hire one, you’ll love these free design tools.
7 Easy Ways To Remind Your Prospects About Upcoming Events
So, you’ve planned an event that you’re sure your whole network will love. And, you’ve let them all know about it at least a month beforehand.
Now why isn’t it filling up more quickly?
Many of your contacts just need an extra push to enroll. Give it to them with reminders that will catch them at the right time to buy.
How to Boost Profits by Filling Last-Minute Openings
This was the activity in my cages one Saturday morning this past winter: A few classes, rentals, and lessons – not bad – but even on a busy day, the cages are rarely booked solid. Most sports academies end up with some last-minute openings that could be filled by rentals, even when they’ve done plenty of marketing. Use […]
Why You Need an Upgraded Credit Card Terminal by Oct. 1, 2015
Maybe you thought you would get a break from hearing me talk about dangerous liability risks for your business. Sorry! Not today – there’s a big one coming up that you need to know about. After Oct. 1, you could be responsible for the cost of fraudulent credit card charges made in your sports academy if you’re using an outdated […]
Insuring Sports Facilities – Part 2
Now that you’ve read Part 1 and understand all the different ways insuring sports facilities can protect your business, it’s time to learn more about what type of policies to buy.
Insurance for Sports Facilities – Your Guide
Looking for sports facility insurance can be overwhelming. Many new owners opt for minimal or cheap coverage, but rushing the decision can have disastrous results for your business. Let’s explore the type of insurance you might need.
Why You Should Create Programs for Homeschoolers
If you’re like most sports academies, school-aged children make up a majority of your customers. As these kids start to head back to school in the late summer, you’re likely to find yourself with a much emptier facility during the day. Do you have any plans to fill those newly open time slots? Here’s one idea that has worked […]
Tips for Scheduling Rec Sports
Scheduling on public athletic fields or courts can be complicated. Make it easier with these scheduling tips In many ways, nonprofit sports organizations (parks and rec departments, rec leagues, public athletic fields and complexes, and school-based sports) have more complicated scheduling needs than private sports academies and complexes do. For-profit facilities should have a pretty simple process for reserving […]