Steve Nash's company to buy Fitness World
 

VANCOUVER — Basketball superstar and B.C. native son Steve Nash won an instant and significant expansion of his fitness-business empire with the announcement he is taking part in the purchase of the Fitness World chain.

The purchase is also a logical segue for Nash’s as he eases into business interests near the end of his storied National Basketball Association career.

“What we call this is brand-line extension,” Lindsay Meredith, a marketing professor at Simon Fraser University, said in an interview.

“You always want to have a logical brand extension, so Fitness World is a perfect link for [Nash]. It makes obvious sense,” Meredith added.

Nash, who grew up in Victoria, started this “brand extension” with the Steve Nash Fitness Club, a higher-end fitness centre he started with a couple of partners and just one downtown Vancouver location in 2007.

The partners subsequently opened a second location in Richmond and made plans to open a third in 2010 in the Morgan Heights development in south Surrey before announcing the deal to buy Fitness World.

“[Nash] is about healthy living, he’s about inspiring people to lead better lives,” Mark Mastrov, chairman of the New Evolution Fitness Co. and one of Nash’s partners in the venture, said in an interview.

The purchase, Mastrov, gives the Nash name 13 additional, highly profitable locations and a platform from which to grow at a hoped-for rate of two to three outlets in B.C. per year, with plans to “potentially look at other markets throughout Canada.”

Mastrov said Nash’s group partnered with Angelo Gordon & Co., a New-York-based, $19-billion private equity company, to buy Fitness World from its founder, Henry Polessky.

Financial details of the purchase were not revealed, but Mastrov described the combined Steve Nash Sports Clubs and Fitness World as a company with more than $50 million a year in revenue.

“The acquisition is pretty sizable,” he said.

Up until now, Nash has perhaps been best known for his charitable foundation, which raises money and offers support to youth-oriented initiatives.

In 2008, he expanded his business interests to include partnership in the group that brought a Major League Soccer franchise to Vancouver.

Although a two-time NBA most valuable player with the Phoenix Suns, has never been an endorsement heavyweight often eschewing big money to maintain his principles around activism and environmental issues.

Nash, over the summer, secured an additional two-year extension of his contract with the Suns for $22 million US.

And Forbes magazine, in 2008, estimated Nash’s endorsement earnings at $3 million US per year, which bring his overall income to a substantial amount.

His sponsors, Forbes reported, include Nike, which produced a “Trash Talk” line of basketball sneakers that are manufactured out of recycled materials, and a line of skin care products called Mission Product, a company that donates 10 per cent of its sales to charities its endorsed athletes support.

In B.C., Nash has been associated with BC Hydro’s Power Smart initiatives.

However, Nash’s endorsement earnings appear paltry compared with big earners such as NBA mega-star Kobe Bryant who, according to Forbes, raked in $45 million US in 2008, with some $24 million US coming from endorsements.

Still, Mastrov believes Nash will offer a powerful brand to roll out additional Steve Nash Fitness World locations across the country. The company has already scoped out a location in Toronto and one of the partners already has fitness clubs in Montreal.

Mastrov should know fitness. He helped create the 24-Hour Fitness chain, a company he said grew to more than $1.5 billion US in revenue per year, which its owners sold in 2005 for just under $1.7 billion US.

Mastrov’s other current business interests include partnering with the massively popular Ultimate Fighting Championship to create a UFC-branded chain of mixed-martial-arts gyms, and he thinks there is room in the fitness market for more name-branded fitness centres.

“We’re really trying to build something different and unique so [consumers] find a way to motivate [themselves] to get up, go out and [exercise],” Mastrov said. “That’s always the hardest thing in life.”

depenner@vancouversun.com
© Copyright (c) The Vancouver Sun

yeah got a letter from fitness world and a coupon to upgrade membership to include access to the steve nash sports club (which looks insane btw)


but ive been going to snap 24/7 fitness (which is a true 24/7 gym, bad management though)

At least he didn't get famous and check out of dodge. Nice to see him investing some of his money back in the community.

nice, good for nash!

so what about current members? same price? any new things? or less things?

I wonder if they will keep the fitness world name or rebrand?
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They are rebranding, kinda, as Steve Nash Fitness World

They are just "taking part in the purchase of the Fitness World chain".....they haven't actually bought it.....yet.

I hope they do huge renos for those gym if they did get it though......most of them are gonna fall apart soon.....

good for Nash

i agree, most fitness worlds are so ghetto. hardly worth the price of membership. hopefully things change with this!

i hope he sorts out the shady fitness world business. fuk i hate them. I was a member for a year (richmond one on gilbert) When i didnt go as much, i wanted to cancel my membership but they wouldnt let me... apparently had to either provide a doctor's note saying i couldnt work out anymore due to my health or had to provide proof i am moving away, otherwise your SOL stuck with them forever. So i showed a plane ticket i had for my trip to shanghai, they wouldnt accept it because it was a return ticket and only accepted 1 way tickets... What the fuk kinda bs is that. I then proceeded to get angry and began semi-bitching at the manager, instead of sorting something out, he told me to stfu or he'll get be thrown out by security... uh.... In the end i had to cancel my bank account that the auto withdrawls were coming out of and transfer all my funds to another bank account. My bank teller told me she had numerous complaints from clients about fitness world doing the same thing and also had to close their bank accounts as the last resort. What a scam.

i didn't bother reading the letter, but when called them last night, they answer the phone as Steve Nash Fitness World.

So for my membership it'll stay the same, but and it does say i should upgrade for free, and that i can go to any of the steve nash centres as well. so looks like win win for now

Fitness world is ridiculous, i tried working out there one time with a friend who had membership ( and i didn't ) so i used his brothers id and they caught us. They caught us because my friend who was stupid as hell, decided that he was a regular and they didn't look at the screen which popped up when you scanned the card, so fast forward, i was pulled into the little office and i told the guy i just want to try it out no hassle no nothing.

And this bastard, tries to pull a sneaky sneaky on me! He says its 20 damn bucks to drop in so I say fuck fitness world to his face and leave.
True story.

The upgrade is free? The coupon I got in the mail says it entitles me to "A Phase 1 discounted upgrade rate to the 3 Steve Nash Sports Club".

Why couldn't you just go to your doctor..tell him your back hurts really bad or you get huge headaches from working outand get a note from him that states you should stop? what type of issue with health do they need? lol

i could of i guess. but the point is any company that forces you to lock in to a membership/contract like that without allowing you to cancel at free will is stupid. If they're so good, they dont have to use this shady practice. It's because they know they are crap and charge excessive prices that they have this 'fine print' on cancelation because most ppl dont want the hassle and just continue their membership. If you have to resort to something like that, it says alot about your business... oh wait they remind me of rogers and fido =/

its not just fitness world that does it. trust me its EVERY single gym's policy. when you signed the dotted line you signed an agreement to stay 3 years, (hence the word contract).

being bought out by fgw isnt going to change a thing. all fitness worlds are going to be the same. honestly though, unless you wanna watch some tv while you run or shave your pubes with cheap bic razors, there really is no point on upgrading your membership.... as a matter of fact this is going to piss off a lot of original steve nash memberships because this is just going to make the gym more packed. but then again, this is stupid because both 24/7, davie fw, and steve nash downtown were like all walking distance from each other. i personally only used the 24/7 fw when i couldn't get a workout at sn

^ what he said

I can't believe ppl would actually think that company will let you cancel a CONTRACT anytime...i've never heard of a company that will do that...if you don't think you can stay3 years? don't sign the contract... if you got hurt..get a doctor's note to state so.

Hell, even sports teams/players can't even do that lol.

in the states you can't cancel your membership to gyms as long as one of their locations is within 20miles of you (cant remember which gym exactly) but supposedly all gyms have a rule similar to that, which is ridiculous

yah, i was at the one on Davie St, they have the Fitness world logo, and beside it is a Huge STEVE NASH Fitness world logo.

I was a member at fitness world for 2 years, total shit hole. I belong to Golds now, and live 4 mins from the brand new one in Langley, fuck is that place nice.

it stays the same, i think.

stays same but if you want to use Steve Nash gym have to upgrade membership

WTF are u :whine: about? dont sign anything you cant commit too...that's how ALL LARGE FRANCHISE fitness clubs make their money....from lazy dumb fools like you who quit working out after the first 2 months.

You had a choice to pay $500 joining fee...instead you chose to sign a 2 year contract spreading out the payments. Now your trying to weasel your way out of a signed contract. Good job.


Went into FW yesterday...slimey sales people trying to get current members to upgrade their memberships for the 3 new locations that aren't even near me.

The typical guy who weight trains has no NEED for the upgraded gyms. I currently pay $35 a month and then $19 after 2 years.....instead they want $59 a month and then $40 a month after 2 years. NO THANKS.

saw this today
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v4...91224-1459.jpg

and got this email. I gave Steve a santa hat..lol

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v4...tnessworld.jpg