Excel Shooting & Training Gym

This is a new business idea. There is no current income. This is the business idea for Excel Shooting & Training Gym in Salt Lake City, Utah.

I am wanting to provide a basketball gymnasium with  6 wood-style courts, one of which would be a stadium-style main court for a high-end playing experience, here in the Salt Lake valley of Utah, to provide court space for youth basketball teams to conduct practices, hold high-level league play and tournaments for the surrounding region's teams and clubs,  allow local trainers a site to conduct their training sessions with their clientele, and have open gym for aspiring individual basketball players that want to work on their craft to make the team!

There are over 400 registered youth Club and High School Bantem (pre-high school feeder program) teams, along with the largest youth basketball program in the United States in Junior Jazz Basketball, and the court availability to conduct practices, play games, and hold tournaments and clinics, are not available for consistent court availability. With being a former basketball player from this region, I have built strong relationships with current coaches of programs in Utah, this facility would be utilized to full capacity in a short period of time.

Facility: Ideal location would be based right off the I-15 / I-215 freeway system (Salt Lake City towards central valley to Murray / Midvale) for easier access to and from their respected city. The current traffic conditions within the region keeps growing more difficult to navigated and get to in a timely fashion if the facility is located in the western portion of the Salt Lake valley (which is in a population boom!), I want to have all potential clients to have a travel time of 30 minutes or less. The facility would be based in an existing warehouse complex that can accommodate 4 to 6 full-sized basketball courts. 1 of these courts would be the highlighted 'Main Court' which would be used for the high-end talented teams to compete in a setting that would resemble top-flite high school gyms and small colleges, and host the championship games for league and tournaments. High School style stands for spectators in the main gym would be in the range of 50 - 100 individuals.  There would be 2 locker rooms for both Men and Women teams, 2 conference rooms for teams and clients to use for whiteboard coaching sessions, and a proper waiting room / front foyer with a welcome desk for payments to the facility, with ample space for teams to relax in and not have to wait in the stands or in their cars for their next game.  Ideal space size would be 40,000 - 60,000 square feet.

Customers: With what was stated at the beginning, the Wasatch Front of Utah is one of the largest concentration of youth basketball players within the country. This region is currently in a housing boom with the tech industry coming from the west coast, healthcare, and warehousing / distribution companies making Salt Lake City and  the Provo / Orem area their main western terminal location for faster transit times across the United States, Utah is their new corporate headquarters or extension site. Families are constantly coming in every single month with a higher level of family income than the median levels in Utah / United States, which increases the potential of a higher level of profitability on a short-term and long-term projections.

Teams needing to practice would have choices of same day time slots (the highest costs), weekly slots (middle costs), and slots on a monthly scheduled basis (most cost-effective and able to have the team sign up for a monthly renewal program for retention).  This would be available during the weekdays on 3 courts only.

Individual players that want to work out on their own time throughout the week would have 1 court available at any time, and just 1 court available on Saturdays. Court availability may fluctuate if demand is high enough and no tournament is taking place. For these individual players, they would have the same set up as teams; same day, weekly, or sign up for monthly program to where they can come work out as much as they want.

Basketball trainers that want to have a court space or individual basket to work out their clientele would have 1 - 2 courts with 2 - 4 baskets available Monday thru Friday and have the same set up as team practices. All trainers that have their own business license to conduct training for profit must fill out a Liability Waiver and income earned in the facility would have a 10% - 15% fee of their hourly charges paid to the facility for usage.

All other entities / individuals may inquire about renting gym space for usage of their own. Number of participants and length of time would determine pricing.

League play would be for the following age groups; 3rd / 4th Grade, 5th / 6th Grade, 7th / 8th Grade, and 9th thru 12th Grade. Goal is to have 8 to 10 hand-selected teams to participate in a Round Robin-style league play format, then have them enter in a Single Elimination Tournament to determine the league champion! Each grade would play on Saturdays and TBD during the weekday(s) if scheduling conflicts arise. Each league would last each season of the year (Summer, Fall, Winter, and Spring).

Tournaments would be conducted either on a monthly or bi-monthly basis.  Number of teams allowed to register for the tournament(s) to be determined, but the goals is to have a minimum of 50 total teams, spanning across all listed age groups within the Club, Bantem, and High School teams within the region, to have maximum capacity and profitability per tournament. To work the best for scheduling and team availability, I envision to have each type of category play every 3 months (Club, Bantem, then High School) and play a Round Robin team placement for higher level teams and lower level teams on Friday night, then all day Saturday to determine the champion.

Adult Men's / Women's Basketball Leagues would have just 1 night a week to participate in. I will only be selecting the teams that are from a higher level of competitive play since Salt Lake County Parks & Recreation provides these types of leagues for all levels of players. Anyone that is not of at least an All-Region or All-State, collegiate, professional player, may not participate in this league.

Myself would have my own 2 - 3 club teams under the Excel Shooting name. I have had my own sole-proprietor entity for a number of years and trained aspiring basketball players as a part-time job. This was not about earning high income, but giving back to the community of what was provided by my father to become a great basketball player. I attended clinics and training sessions provided by some of the most respected coaches, trainers, and former players within the high school, collegiate, and professional levels. This is the quality of training and instruction I personally received throughout my playing career and I want to provide the same instruction and knowledge to players that want to be coached / instructed as such.

Marketing: This would be managed by me on all three main social media sources; Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram. Along with this, I would be conducting phone calls, emails, and personal visits to all elementary, middle schools, and secondary education institutions about the facility and their available programs for their students. Lastly, I will be keeping up communications with existing coaches with club programs and parents / players that practice and or play at other facilities that would not have the quality of amenities as Excel Shooting & Training Gym. 

Staff: I would be the manager / director of the facility. I will facilitate and distribute the schedule for all usage until the clientele base grows large enough to hire a full-time staff member to oversee said responsibilities.  Maintenance and upkeep of floors, baskets, and rooms would be conducted by myself and the staff that I hire on to run scoreboards and the front desk during league nights and weekend tournaments. For all games, I will be hiring  part-time workers (usually students in high school or college to earn some income) to work the scores table. They would be paid cash and be given a 1099 for tax purposes. Each game would have 2 basketball referees which I would select from a list provided by the Salt Lake Basketball Officiating Association, which I am a previous member of and have a great relationship with to provide quality officials. Any  mechanical maintenance for the facility will be discussed with the company that I'd be leasing from for optimal operations. Lastly would be the hire of an account to oversee incoming revenue, payments, and taxes for operations. I have a personal friend that has been in the accounting realm for over 20 years and would be a valuable asset to keep all numbers accurate.

Overview: Basketball in the Salt Lake City region is extremely popular and competitive! This is a place where numerous former professional players have created their own basketball club programs, and current collegiate / professional players stay during the off-season to do their training.  My goal in the short term is to have a facility fully operational by the fall of 2021, with pre-paid participants for gym use.  Full utilization of basketball courts on a daily basis is to be met by the spring of 2022. After participants see the quality of the facility and play from all, there would be more demand to where we would expand court capacity by the 3rd to 5th year of operation.

I thank you for your time and consideration for investment in my business idea.

Brian Stalker
Excel Shooting & Training