Sports Authority, Inc. (formerly The Sports Authority) was an American sports

retailer Retail is the sale of goods and Service (economics), services to consumers, in contrast to wholesaling, which is sale to business or institutional customers. A retailer purchases goods in large quantities from manufacturing, manufacturers, dire ...

. At its peak, Sports Authority operated 463 stores in 45 States and

Puerto Rico Puerto Rico (; abbreviated PR; tnq, Boriken, ''Borinquen''), officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico ( es, link=yes, Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico, lit=Free Associated State of Puerto Rico), is a Caribbean island and unincorporated ...

. The company's website was on the

GSI Commerce eBay Enterprise, Inc. (formerly GSI Commerce, Inc.) was a multinational e-commerce corporation that specialized in creating, developing and running online shopping sites for brick and mortar brands and retailers. The company also provided a varie ...

platform and supported the retail stores as well as other multi-channel programs. A

joint venture A joint venture (JV) is a business entity created by two or more parties, generally characterized by shared ownership, shared returns and economic risk, risks, and shared governance. Companies typically pursue joint ventures for one of four rea ...

with

ÆON , commonly written AEON Co., Ltd., is a Japanese multinational holding company of ÆON Group. It has its headquarters in Mihama-ku, Chiba, Chiba Prefecture.Japan under a

licensing agreement A license (or licence) is an official permission or permit to do, use, or own something (as well as the document of that permission or permit). A license is granted by a party (licensor) to another party (licensee) as an element of an agreeme ...

. 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. On June 30, 2016, Dick's Sporting Goods won the auction for Sports Authority's brand name and intellectual property. 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 Intellectual property (IP) is a category of property that includes intangible creations of the human intellect. There are many types of intellectual property, and some countries recognize more than others. The best-known types are patents, cop ...

by rival Dick's Sporting Goods was approved.

History

Gart Brothers

Gart Brothers, or Gart Bros. began in 1928, when ''

Denver Post ''The Denver Post'' is a daily newspaper and website published in Denver, Colorado. As of June 2022, it has an average print circulation of 57,265. In 2016, its website received roughly six million monthly unique visitors generating more than 13 ...

'' newspaper carrier Nathan Gart started the company with $50 in fishing rod samples. In 1971, the Gart Bros. Company opened the "Sportscastle" superstore in

Denver, Colorado Denver () is a consolidated city and county, the capital, and most populous city of the U.S. state of Colorado. Its population was 715,522 at the 2020 census, a 19.22% increase since 2010. It is the 19th-most populous city in the Unit ...

, 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 Leonard Green & Partners ("LGP") is an American private equity investment firm founded in 1989 and based in Los Angeles. The firm specializes in private equity investments. LGP has invested in over 95 companies since its inception, including Petc ...

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 Niles is a village in Cook County, Illinois, United States, located in the townships of Maine and Niles, directly neighboring the City of Chicago's far northwest border. Per the 2020 census, the population was 30,912. The current mayor of Niles ...

. 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.

Sports Authority

The Sports Authority, Inc., was founded in

Lakes Mall Lakes Mall was an enclosed shopping mall in Lauderdale Lakes, Florida. Opened in 1972, the shopping center initially featured Jefferson Ward and Britt's discount stores, and later included the first locations for the retail chains Office Depot a ...

Lauderdale Lakes, Florida Lauderdale Lakes, officially the City of Lauderdale Lakes, is a city in Broward County, Florida, United States. As of the 2020 United States Census, the city's population was 35,954. It is part of the Miami–Fort Lauderdale–West Palm Beach Metr ...

, by a syndicate of venture capital groups and several key founding executives. Jack A. Smith, formerly COO of

Herman's World of Sporting Goods 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 s ...

, 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 Bain Capital is an American private investment firm based in Boston. It specializes in private equity, venture capital, credit, public equity, impact investing, life sciences, and real estate. Bain Capital invests across a range of industry se ...

, Phillips-Smith Venture Partners, Marquette Venture Partners, and

Bessemer Securities Bessemer Trust is a private, independent multi-family office that oversees more than $140 billion for over 2,500 families, foundations and endowments. Founded in 1907, the firm has its headquarters in New York City, with 19 regional offices elsew ...

. The Sports Authority, Inc. opened its first store in November 1987 in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. In 1990,

Kmart Kmart Corporation ( , doing business as Kmart and stylized as kmart) 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 inc ...

acquired the company. At the time of acquisition, Kmart had opened two sporting goods stores in

Metro Detroit The Detroit metropolitan area, often referred to as Metro Detroit, is a major metropolitan area in the U.S. State of Michigan, consisting of the city of Detroit and its Southeast Michigan, surrounding area. There are varied definitions of the a ...

under the Sports Giant name and converted these stores to the Sports Authority name. 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, near Fort Lauderdale.

Gart Sports merges with The Sports Authority

Gart Sports, which also operated

Oshman's Oshman's Sporting Goods Inc. was a sporting goods retailer in the United States. Their headquarters were in East End, Houston, Texas.

2006 leveraged buyout by Leonard Green & Partners

In January 2006, Sports Authority agreed to be purchased in a leveraged buyout by affiliates of

, a private equity investment firm, in a transaction valued at $1.4 billion. 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.

Bankruptcy/liquidation

On February 4, 2016, it was widely reported that Sports Authority was set to declare Chapter 11 bankruptcy, due to debt problems. Later that month, ''

The Dallas Morning News ''The Dallas Morning News'' is a daily newspaper serving the Dallas–Fort Worth area of Texas, with an average print circulation of 65,369. It was founded on October 1, 1885 by Alfred Horatio Belo as a satellite publication of the '' Galvest ...

'' reported that the company planned to close all 25 of its stores in Texas. The report did not specify a date for the closures. On March 2, 2016, Sports Authority filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. After considering restructuring, Sports Authority announced that on April 26, they would sell all of their assets, including all of the remaining store locations. Earlier in April, Reuters reported that

Academy Sports + Outdoors Academy Sports + Outdoors is an American sporting-goods store chain with corporate offices in the Katy Distribution Center in unincorporated western Harris County, Texas, United States, near Katy and west of Houston. For 74 years, it was a priva ...

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. 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 A retail apocalypse is the closing of numerous brick-and-mortar retail stores, especially those of large chains worldwide. It began around 2010, and was severely exacerbated by the mandatory closures during the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2017, over ...

. 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 Thomas Dickson Armour (24 September 1896 – 11 September 1968) was a Scottish-American professional golfer. He was nicknamed The Silver Scot. He was the winner of three of golf's major championships: 1927 U.S. Open, 1930 PGA, and 1931 Open C ...

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

Sports Authority owned the corporate naming rights to

Sports Authority Field at Mile High Empower Field at Mile High (previously known as Broncos Stadium at Mile High, Invesco Field at Mile High and Sports Authority Field at Mile High, and commonly known as Mile High, New Mile High or Mile High Stadium) is an American football stadiu ...

, a stadium in Denver, Colorado, which is the home of the

Denver Broncos The Denver Broncos are a professional American football franchise based in Denver. The Broncos compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) West division. The team is headquar ...

. 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 Empower is a retirement plan recordkeeping financial holding company based in Greenwood Village, Colorado, United States. It is the second-largest retirement plan provider in the United States. History Empower was created in 1891, when parent c ...

took over in September 2019.

Competition

Sports Authority's major competitor stores included: *

Big 5 Sporting Goods Big 5 Sporting Goods is a sporting goods retailer headquartered in El Segundo, California with 434 stores in Arizona, California, Colorado, Idaho, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Texas, Utah, Washington and Wyoming. Steven G. Miller is the chairma ...

* City Sports * Dick's Sporting Goods * Steve & Barry's *

MC Sports 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. History MC Sports b ...

Modell's Modell's Sporting Goods is an American online sporting goods retailer that had locations in the Northeastern United States. Modell's carries both sporting goods and related apparel. Modell's had more than 150 retail locations in ten states and th ...

* REI

References

External links

Official website
(Archive) {{Sears Holdings Defunct retail companies of the United States Clothing retailers of the United States Sporting goods retailers of the United States Companies based in Englewood, Colorado Defunct companies based in Colorado American companies established in 1987 Retail companies established in 1987 Companies that filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2016 Retail companies disestablished in 2016 1987 establishments in Colorado 2016 disestablishments in Colorado Private equity portfolio companies Kmart