Play It Again SportsFranchise Cost, Revenue & Review 2026
Data from FDD filing + SBA 7(a) records
FranchiseVerdict summary · 2026
A Play It Again Sports franchise requires a total initial investment of $346K – $460K, including a $25K franchise fee and an ongoing 5.0% royalty[2]. Per the 2026 FDD, average unit revenue was $1.2M[2]. SBA 7(a) loans show a 6.0% charge-off rate across 114 loans[1]. Verdict grade: A. Run a live ROI scan →
Data last verified June 18, 2026 · figures per the 2026 FDD issuance
Overview
- Investment
- $346K – $460K
- 34th pct Retail
- Avg gross sales
- $1.2M
- 15th pct Retail
- Royalty
- 5.0%
- 6th pct Retail
- Units
- 309
- 36th pct Retail
- SBA default
- 6.0%
- system-wide median varies by category
Quick verdict · Retail · color = vs category peers
Green = >15% above Retail avg · No shading = within ±15% · Red = >15% below avg · Source: FDD filings + SBA 7(a)
Data from public FDD filings and SBA records. Not financial advice. Methodology
Franchising since 1988. Systems this mature have refined operations and brand recognition.
Bottom line
- Total investment $346K – $460K including a $25K franchise fee, 5.0% ongoing royalty.
- Average unit revenue of $1.2M/year (median $1.0M).
- Verdict A (Top Quintile) with a risk score of 46/100. SBA loan charge-off rate of 6.0% across 114 loans (near or below the 16% franchise average, based on all SBA 7(a) franchise lending, 2010–2024).
Item 1 · who you're contracting with
The Franchisor
- Legal entity
- Winmark Corporation
- Incorporated in
- MN
- HQ
- 605 Highway 169 N, Suite 400, Minneapolis, Minnesota 55441
- Auditor
- Grant Thornton LLP
- Audited financials
- Franchisor revenue
- $81.3M
- vs $86.1M prior year
Independent franchisee associations
- Franchise Advisory Council (FAC)
Franchisee-led councils or alliances disclosed in Item 20. Indicates operator voice.
Overview
About
Play It Again Sports franchisees operate retail locations specializing in new and used sporting goods, equipment, and apparel. Day-to-day operations include inventory management (buying, selling, trading used equipment), customer service across both retail and buyback programs, and managing tight margins in a competitive sporting goods market dominated by larger chains.
- CEO
- Brett D. Heffes
- Headquarters
- MN
- Founded
- 1988
- FDD year
- 2026
- States available
- 46
FDD Item 7 · 2026 filing · 15 line items
Initial investment breakdown
| Line item | Low | High | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Continuing Feenot refundable | — | — | |
| Marketing Feenot refundable | $2K | $2K | |
| Cooperative Advertisingnot refundable | — | — | |
| Local Marketing Expensesnot refundable | — | — | |
| North American Ad Fundnot refundable | — | — | |
| Transfer Feenot refundable | $10K | $10K | |
| Audit Expensesnot refundable | — | — | |
| Renewal Feenot refundable | $10K | $10K | |
| Software Feenot refundable | $295 | $295 | |
| Technology Feenot refundable | — | — | |
| Remodeling Expensesnot refundable | — | — | |
| Insurancenot refundable | — | — | |
| Inventorynot refundable | — | — | |
| Interest Expensesnot refundable | — | — | |
| Costs and Attorneys' Feesnot refundable | — | — | |
| Total initial investment | $22K | $22K |
Line items extracted from FDD Item 7. Ranges reflect the franchisor's stated low and high per line. Total is the sum of line-item lows / highs — actual costs may fall outside this range depending on market and build-out scope.
Single-unit · estimated
Returns at a glance
Indicative numbers using FDD Item 7 / Item 19 inputs and category-benchmarked cost ratios. Full single-unit, 25-unit portfolio, and LBO models (with every input editable to stress-test your own scenario) live on the financials page.
Store EBITDA · annual
$82K
7.0% margin
Unlevered ROIC
18%
EBITDA / total invested capital
Payback
5.5 yrs
cash-on-cash, unlevered
Item 7 · what it costs to open + operate
The Vitals
- Total investment
- $346K – $460K
- Better than avg vs category
- Liquid capital req'd
- $40K – $50K
- Better than avg vs category
- Franchise fee
- $15K – $25K
- Better than avg vs category
- Royalty
- 5.0%
- Gross Sales · typical 6–8%
- Ad fund
- -n/d
- Total fee load
- 5.0%
- vs 9–13% typical
Ongoing fees · Item 6
| Fee | Amount |
|---|---|
| Royalty | 5.0% of gross sales |
| Technology fee | $0 |
| Transfer fee | $10K |
| Renewal fee | $10K |
| Total fee load | 5.0% of rev |
A 5.0% total fee load is unusually lean. More of each revenue dollar stays with the franchisee.
Financial Performance
- Avg gross sales
- $1.2M
- Per unit, per year
- Median gross sales
- $1.0M
- Item 19 type
- Average Annual Sales and Gross Profit
- Sample size
- 287 units
- vs category median 49 · large
- Range (low → high)
- $223K→$7.1M
- Cohort dispersion (min → max)
- Quartile band
- $533K→$2.1M
- Bottom 25% → top 25%
- Reporting year
- 2025
- Fiscal year the figures cover
- Transparency
- 6 / 5
- vs category median 2 / 5 · above
Compared against 304 Retail brands
vs Retail averages
How Play It Again Sports Compares
Unit growth
Item 20 · unit dynamics
The Growth Chart
- Total units
- 309
- Opened
- 15
- Last reporting year
- Closed
- 8
- Turnover rate
- 2.6%
- Company-owned
- 0
- Corporate units in the system
- % franchised
- 100%
- vs corporate-owned
- Net growth (yr3)
- +2.3%
- Net unit change last year
- 3-yr CAGR
- +5.1%
- Compounded over last 3 years
3-year detail · Item 20
- Transfers (3yr)
- 7
- Transfer rate
- 4.3%
- Owners selling to other franchisees
Year-over-year franchised unit counts and net change. Source: FDD Item 20.
Item 20 · 12 states with active franchisees
The Territory Map
Derived from franchisee contact records. Shows states with at least one current operator. Not where the franchisor is registered to sell new units (that data is re-extracting in a future refresh).
States derived from franchisee contact records (FDD Item 20). Shows states with at least one current operator on file. Full state registration data (Item 12) will appear on a future FDD refresh.
SBA loan performance
Government records
SBA Loan Data
Aggregated from SBA 7(a) and 504 loan disclosures, public data unique to FranchiseVerdict.
- Total loans
- 114
- Loan volume
- $35.6M
- Median loan
- $278K
- 50th percentile
- Charge-off rate
- 6.0%
- rates vary by category · see methodology
Historical SBA 7(a) lending data, not predictive of future performance. How SBA charge-off rates are calculated
- Repayment rate (PIF)
- 94.0%
- 5-yr charge-off
- 0.0%
- Loans approved 2021+
- Active lenders
- 61
- Defaults
- 3
Vintage analysis
Play It Again Sports charge-off rate by loan vintage
Explore lender portfolios on Bank Reports or regional data on State Reports.
Premium insight
SBA Lending Report
Deep-dive into Play It Again Sports's SBA lending history: lender network, geographic footprint, interest rates, and more.
SBA Lending Report
- Principal loss rate and NAICS industry benchmark
- 10 lenders with concentration factor
- Per-state charge-off rates across 15 states
- Startup risk premium and job creation velocity
- 15-year lending trend
- SBA 504 real estate/equipment data
Instant access. No subscription.
Risk analysis
FranchiseVerdict rating + FDD Items 3, 5, 6, 12, 17
Risk & Legal
Play It Again Sports presents moderate-to-cautionary risk: slow unit growth, undisclosed profitability, and high capital requirements relative to revenue potential warrant deep financial due diligence.
Litigation (Item 3)
0 case reference(s): 0 pending, 0 settled.
Bankruptcy (Item 4)
None disclosed
Audited financials (Item 21)
Yes · Grant Thornton LLP
Franchisor revenue (Item 21)
Franchisor entity revenue (not unit-level)
Supplier relationship · Items 8 & 16
- Franchisor sells you products: Yes
- Kickbacks from required suppliers: Yes
- Must buy proprietary products: Yes
- Restricted to system-approved products: Yes
- Can negotiate own supplier terms: Yes
Score breakdown · what drove the 46 / 100 rating
- 01MINORMinimal unit growth (2.3% YoY) indicates market saturation or declining franchisee interest in a mature system
- 02MEDNet income not disclosed in Item 19 prevents ROI verification and suggests weak profitability metrics
- 03MINORHigh initial investment ($346,300–$459,700) relative to modest average revenue ($1.17M) yields thin margin potential
- 04MED309 units is relatively small for an established brand, suggesting limited system strength and bargaining power
- 05HIGHNo going concern statement is positive, but combined with slow growth raises questions about system viability
Severity inferred from the FDD text · not a regulatory classification
FDD Items 5, 6, 12, 17 · continued from Risk & Legal
Contract & Territory Detail
| Initial term | 10 years |
|---|---|
| Renewal term | 10 years |
| Territory type | Radius |
| Protected territory | Yes |
| Online sales rights | Restricted |
| Franchisor can compete | Yes |
| Hire a manager? | Allowed |
| Owner-operator | Required |
| Non-compete (years)ℹ | 2 years |
| Right of first refusalℹ | Yes |
| Termination notice | 30 days |
| Mandatory arbitration | Yes |
| Jury trial waiver | Yes |
| Litigation count | 0 |
View Item 3 litigation summary
0 case reference(s): 0 pending, 0 settled.
Items 10, 11
Training & Operations
- Classroom training
- 42 hrs
- On-the-job training
- 34 hrs
- Training location
- On-site and at franchisor location
- Franchisor financing
- Offered
- Item 10
- POS system
- POS System
- Operating tech stack
Items 5 & 11
Franchisor Support
Technology: POS System
Item 20 · call current owners
Franchisee Contacts
99 owners to call
Name · phone · city · state. Extracted from FDD Item 20
FDD download
Play It Again Sports · FDD (2026) PDF
Frequently asked questions
Frequently Asked Questions
How much does it cost to open a Play It Again Sports franchise?
The total investment to open a Play It Again Sports franchise ranges from $346K – $460K, with an initial franchise fee of $25K. This includes real estate, equipment, inventory, and working capital as disclosed in their Franchise Disclosure Document (FDD).
What do Play It Again Sports franchise owners earn?
According to Item 19 of the Play It Again Sports FDD, the average gross sales per unit is $1.2M. The median is $1.0M. Note: this is gross revenue, not profit. Actual owner earnings vary based on location, operating costs, and management.
What is Play It Again Sports's franchise failure rate?
Based on SBA 7(a) loan data, Play It Again Sports has a charge-off rate of 6.0% across 114 loans, meaning 6.0% of franchise loans were charged off. Charge-off rates are one proxy for franchise risk, though they do not capture all closures. This data comes from FOIA-sourced SBA lending records.
How many Play It Again Sports franchise locations are there?
As of their most recent FDD filing, Play It Again Sports has 309 total units in the United States, including 281 franchised units and 0 company-owned units. 15 new units were opened in the latest reporting year.
Is Play It Again Sports a good franchise to buy?
FranchiseVerdict rates Play It Again Sports as a A-grade franchise with a risk score of 46 out of 100, based on our analysis of investment costs, revenue data, SBA loan performance, and growth trends. Our rating is based solely on publicly available FDD and government data; we recommend speaking with current franchisees before making any investment decision. This is not investment advice.
Data sourced from public FDD filings and SBA 7(a) FOIA records. Not financial advice.
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Data extracted from public FDD filings and SBA 7(a) loan disclosures (FOIA). This information is provided for research purposes only and does not constitute financial, legal, or investment advice. Verify all figures with the franchisor's current Franchise Disclosure Document before making any investment decision.