FranchiseVerdict
Athletes HQ logo
FV-00196·MODERATEExcellent86

Athletes HQ

Health & FitnessFranchising since 2023Website
Investment
$179K – $330K
31st pct Health & Fitn…
Avg revenue
$888K
45th pct Health & Fitn…
Royalty
Units
3
16th pct Health & Fitn…
SBA default

Bottom line

  • Total investment $179K – $330K including a $25K franchise fee.
  • Average unit revenue of $888K/year.
  • Rated MODERATE with a risk score of 60/100.
  • Emerging franchise — only 3 years of franchising with 3 units. Early-stage systems carry higher risk but may offer better territory availability.

Item 1 · who you're contracting with

The Franchisor

Legal entity
Athletes HQ Systems, Inc.
Incorporated in
Illinois
HQ
500 Lake Cook Road, Suite 475, Deerfield, Illinois 60015
Auditor
Sassetti
Audited financials
Franchisor revenue
$29K
vs $37K prior year

Yale framework · single-unit ROIC

Returns Analysis

Pulls Item 7 (investment) and Item 19 (revenue) from this brand's FDD into the Yale unlevered-ROIC formula. Override any input to stress-test it against your own assumptions.

The model · Yale framework

What would one Athletes HQ unit return on the cash you put in?

Revenue · per unit, per year
$
FDD Item 19 reports $887,543
Franchisor take · royalty + ad fund
Royaltytyp 68%
%
Ad fundtyp 35%
%
Operating costs · category default: fitness
COGS
%
Labor
%
Rent / occupancy
%
Other operating
%
Total invested capital · what you actually put in
Initial investment
$
FDD Item 7: $179K–$330K
Working capital
$
FDD reports $4K–$9K

Unlevered ROIC · per unit

99%

Above typical band (30–60%)

0%30–60% Yale band80%

Store EBITDA · annual
$257K
EBITDA margin
29.0%
Total invested
$261K
Payback
12 mo
Unit-level only. A multi-unit portfolio gives up roughly 5–15% of this to shared services (corporate G&A) before reaching the ~10-unit break-even Yale describes.

Levered LBO scenario · Yale Crease Capital framing

What would 25 Athletes HQ units return on equity?

Edit assumptions

Equity IRR · 5-yr

29.8%

3.69× MOIC

Year-1 DSCR

2.70×

EBITDA ÷ debt service

Equity required

$8.7M

on $19.5M purchase

Total debt

$10.9M

SBA $5.0M + senior + seller note

SBA 7(a) request ($9.8M) exceeds the $5M program cap. Excess capped automatically; backfill via conventional or equity.

Overview

About

Athletes HQ franchisees operate sports training, coaching, or athletic facility centers serving youth and adult clients. Day-to-day responsibilities include managing coaching staff, scheduling classes/sessions, member retention, facility maintenance, marketing to build client base, and handling administrative/billing operations.

CEO
Jordan Dean
Founded
2022
FDD year
2025
States available
1

Item 7 · what it costs

The Vitals

Total investment
$179K – $330K
All-in to open one unit
Liquid capital
$4K – $9K
Cash you must have on hand
Franchise fee
$25K
Royalty
$300 per week for first 52 weeks; $500 per week for remai…
Ad fund
n/d

Item 19

Financial Performance

Avg gross sales
$888K
Per unit, per year
Median gross sales
Item 19 type
Historical Gross Revenues
Sample size
2 units
vs category median 12 · small
Range (low → high)
$484K$1.3M
Cohort dispersion
Transparency
3 / 5
vs category median 4 / 5 · below
Revenue rank45th
vs Health & Fitness peers
Investment cost rank31th
Lower investment ranks lower (better)
Royalty rate rank69th
Lower royalty = lower percentile (better)
Unit count rank16th
vs Health & Fitness peers
Risk score rank45th
Lower risk = lower percentile (better)

Item 20 · unit dynamics

The Growth Chart

Total units
3
Opened
1
Last reporting year
Closed
0
Turnover rate
0.0%
Company-owned
1
Corporate units in the system
% franchised
67%
vs corporate-owned
Net growth (yr3)
+100.0%
Net unit change last year
2023
2+1
Franchised units
2024
1
Franchised units
2025
0
Franchised units

Year-over-year franchised unit counts and net change. Source: FDD Item 20.

Item 12 · 1 state reported

The Territory Map

FDD Item 12 reports the state count, but the specific list isn't in our current data. The map will appear once we re-extract from the FDD or enough franchisee contacts are available.

1

states with franchisees (per FDD Item 12)

Government records

SBA Loan Data

Aggregated from SBA 7(a) loan disclosures, public data unique to FranchiseVerdict.

No SBA loan data available for this brand.

FranchiseVerdict rating + FDD Items 3, 5, 6, 12, 17

Risk & Legal

60
Risk · 0-100
MODERATE60 / 100

Early-stage sports franchise with minimal unit count, undisclosed profitability metrics, and a suspicious royalty ramp structure that misaligns franchisor-franchisee interests.

Score breakdown · what drove the 60 / 100 rating

  1. 01MEDNet income not disclosed in Item 19 — unable to verify actual profitability despite $887K average revenue claim
  2. 02MINOROnly 3 units in system with 100% YoY growth appears artificially inflated (1→2→3 is small sample size, not market validation)
  3. 03MINORRoyalty structure is unusually low ($300/week) initially then doubles ($500/week) — incentivizes early exit after year 1
  4. 04HIGHGoing Concern flag is FALSE but typically franchisors disclose this voluntarily — lack of transparency raises questions
  5. 05MINORFranchise fee ($25K) is low relative to investment range ($178-330K) — suggests high capex with unclear ROI
  6. 06HIGHNo litigation disclosed but only 3 units limits exposure history and complaint visibility

Severity inferred from the FDD text · not a regulatory classification

FDD Items 5, 6, 12, 17 · continued from Risk & Legal

Contract & Territory Detail

Territory
Radius
Protected territory
Yes
Initial term
10 years
Renewal term
10 years
Online sales rights
Restricted
Franchisor can compete
Yes
Hire a manager?
Allowed
Litigation count
0
Right of first refusal
Yes
Franchisor can buy back on resale
Mandatory arbitration
Yes
Jury trial waiver
Yes
Non-compete
2 yrs
Post-termination restriction
Owner-operator
Optional
Governing law
Illinois

Item 11

Training & Operations

Classroom training
11 hrs
On-the-job training
13 hrs
POS system
Square
Operating tech stack

Item 20

Franchisee Contacts

Phone numbers extracted directly from this brand's FDD Item 20. After purchase, you'll also receive a list of validation questions tailored to this brand.

Franchisee contacts

18 numbers

Locked
(410) 576-••••
IL
(360) 902-••••
IL
(804) 371-••••
SD

One-time purchase · CSV download · Validation questions included

FDD download

Athletes HQ · FDD (2025) PDF

Single-page checkout · instant download · CSV export of contacts available separately above