Many entering the youth sports business scene may think itโs all fun and games.
Matt Kanne, founder and chief executive of Anaheimโs Open Gym Premier, a provider of camps, club teams, leagues, tournaments and training for youth basketball and volleyball players says: think again.
โThereโs a seriousness, intensity and commitment to our mission of helping young athletes,โ Kanne told the Business Journal.
โThereโs so much attention on school, [yet] sports are pretty transformative and impactful in the way kids are raised,โ he said. โIt almost doesnโt get enough attention.
The seriousness of Open Gymโs work is evident at the companyโs sprawling basketball and volleyball sports facility just off the Santa Ana (5) Freeway, next to the new Radisson Blu Anaheim hotel.
The environment at the space, large enough to hold 9 basketball courts, along with meeting space and other amenities, is fast-paced. That makes sense given the Open Gym full-time team of over 60 only has three daysโexcluding flex Mondays and Fridays and weekend eventsโto complete their work for the Monday-to-Friday week.
Still, โat the same time, thereโs a lightheartedness, thereโs a joy,โ Kanne said.
โThereโs a balance.”
Along with Open Gymโs unique policy of a three-day highly concentrated workweek, the company provides a host of team building events, as well as unlimited vacation and sick days.
The companyโs culture of trust and flexibility has scored it a spot in the Business Journalโs latest list of Best Places to Work, the centerpiece of this weekโs print edition.
Open Gym ranks No. 7 among the Midsize Companies categoryโwhich includes companies with over 50 but less than 250 U.S. employees (see list, page 46).
Itโs fun to work here, Open Gym Senior Director of Operations Christine Nguyen said.
โIt doesnโt feel like a job.โ
Overcoming Obstacles
Open Gym is in growth mode. It earned about $5 million in revenue last year, plans to hit $8 million this year and could double that amount in 2023, officials say (see story, page 37).
Its success wasnโt a sure thing as of two years ago, when the pandemic presented a handful of obstacles for Open Gymโs events-based business.
The company shut down for eight months starting in March 2020, furloughing all its staff. Another related sports facility company that Kanne was involved with, American Sports Centers, closed for good.
In the throes of COVID-19, โthe approach was never like โwhy? Why is this happening?โโ Kanne said.
โWe were more focused on what we were going to do to come backโhaving that NorthStar of rebuilding [the company]โ and growing it.
However, the uncertainty of the crisis also worked in the companyโs favor.
American Sports Centers, which subleased a large portion of its nearly 240,000-square-foot Anaheim building to Open Gym, exited its contract. The surviving company renegotiated its portion of the complex.
โIf it wasnโt for COVID โฆ we [wouldnโt be] able to assume full control over the Anaheim facility and, ultimately, over another facility [in Oakland],โ Kanne said.
Open Gymโs Anaheim sports facility runs 89,000 square feet. Its Oakland facility, which the company took over last year, runs 30,000 square feet.
When Open Gym reopened after its COVID shutdown, it retained nearly all its existing staff.
The company then tripled its headcount from about 30 to nearly 100 to meet the demands of its increased programming, such as summer sports camps, events and national tournaments.
Hybrid Model
As the pandemic gave rise to discussions over remote work and hybrid models, Kanne surveyed his employees to get a sense of their work-life preferences.
What he found prompted him to implement the companyโs current three-day workweek schedule with flex Mondays and Fridays.
โThere was overwhelming desire to return to the office,โ he said.
โWith that, there was a very strong response to continue or even expand upon the flexibility within that structure.โ
Although debates about remote and in-person work point to either-or, Kanne sees the solution as a combination of both.
โPeople want an office, they want consistency, they want a place where they can go get work done. They want the team building, the camaraderie, the easy communicationโthey need all of that human interaction,โ he said.
โThey also definitely want flexibility and the freedom to make their own schedule. They want to have the ability to focus on certain projects from home.
โThereโs so much conversation about these rigid, black and white [work models] โฆ I think the answer is clearly in the middle.
โTo me, the hybrid, compromised structure is most effective.โ
Notable Guests
The companyโs facility has become the training grounds for a handful of pro athletes and celebrities, including the late Kobe Bryant.
Bryant trained regularly at Open Gym during the last five years of his career, Kanne said.
One early morning, when Bryant arrived at the Anaheim Open Gym facility, Kanne spotted another man with him dressed in an oversized hoodie.
Kanne, who says he isnโt a knowledgeable music fan, didnโt think much of Bryantโs guest when he let them both into the building.
It was only after his co-workers blurted out โoh my gosh, thatโs Kanye West,โ that Kanne realized who he had just let into the gym.
While he trained at Open Gym, Bryant also brought in NBA stars Russell Westbrook and Tracy McGrady, among dozens of others.
The company worked with Bryant to develop a summer workout program in 2015.
Today, the Anaheim Open Gym facility serves as a training spot for the womenโs USA Volleyball team.
Adidas Partnership
Open Gym has inked a handful of notable partnerships.
The companyโs flagship partner is adidas America Inc. The clothing brand provides the company with product and signage while Open Gym uses it to generate more visibility for the brand.
Open Gym is one of 15 members of the Jr. NBA Flagship Network. It landed a partnership with the NBA Summer League for this year.
The companyโs other partnerships include San Clemente-based underwear manufacturer Ethika Inc. and SIQ Basketball, a maker of a โsmart basketballโ that tracks and analyzes ball movement to improve shooting.
Tech Ramp Up
Although Open Gymโs core businesses are its sports tournaments, camps and club teams, the company has recently begun to ramp up on its technology, which it calls the Passport.
The Passport is an online profile for youth sports players and teams. It stores live stats for the more than 10,000 basketball games Open Gym operates every year, as well as playersโ birth certificates and report cards.
โThink of a passport on steroids that allows you to archive your youth sports career from both a player and team perspective,โ Kanne said.
Open Gym monetized the Passport last September.
Kanne noted the company is currently hiring for more web programmers to expand the companyโs tech.
โWeโre working to have new features coming out regularly,โ he said.
Most recently, the company launched a feature that allows Passport users to upload their own pictures and videos to player and team profiles, rather than only the company being able to do so.
Chapman Alum, Gym Rat Scores a Growing Business
Matt Kanneโs initial vision for Open Gym Premier was more facility-focused than it is today.
He founded the company in 2009 while playing basketball as a business major at Chapman University.
โI really like basketball and I wanted to play it all the time,โ he said.
In college, โI wanted to put in the work and grow as a player [but] I couldnโt find an open gym.โ
When his frustration with the lack of practice spaces โreached a boiling point,โ Kanne vowed to himself: โIโm going to open a gym and Iโm going to call it โOpen Gym.โ Everybody and anybody is going to be able to come and play.โ
He spent about three years writing a business plan and raising money to build and operate a gym in a warehouse.
After realizing heโd โgotten nowhereโ close to opening his own gym in those three years, he pivoted to providing basketball training, events programming, and creating leagues for teams to play.
In 2011, he launched Open Gym and โgot it off the ground quickly with a lot of guerilla marketing.โ
Two years later, the company began to host tournaments and camps, which now make up most of its business.
In 2015, Open Gym expanded its events arm beyond California into โevery state west of Texas.โ
Not long after, the company started to replicate its programming in basketball with volleyball.
Today, it serves over 50,000 players and 5,000 teams every year in programs and events across California, Washington, Arizona, Oregon, Nevada, New Mexico, Hawaii, Colorado, Utah and Texas.
Open Gym generated over $5 million in revenue last year and is on target to reach $8 million in revenue by the end of this year. It aims to generate $10 million in revenue in 2023.
โKaitlin Aquino
