2013
Industry
Survey
U
SIndoor recently
issued the results
of its 2013 Industry
Survey to the over
50 participating facility
members. Among the
findings—74% own their
facility, 33% of the business
is from rentals and 26%
offer baseball—four full pages
complete with demographics
and financial analysis, including
facility rankings, averages and highs and
lows covering key revenues and expenses–
birthday parties, staff, concessions and
leagues, just to name a few.
As designed by USIndoor's Members-Only
Committee, the survey not only helps
operators understand how their facilities
compare to others around the country, but
promotes a common language and frame
of reference to communicate better with
each other, including through USIndoor's
private Members-Only Forum on LinkedIn,
and with prospective lenders, investors
and sponsors. The survey will also enable
attendees of USIndoor's 2014 Facility
Operators Conference in Louisville next
June to delve deeper into "best practices."
Afrim Nezaj, who serves as Chair of the
Members-Only Committee, owns and
operates Afrim's Sports in Albany, New
York, and helped develop the survey. "I've
always felt like there should be standards
and measurements," says Afrim. "How do
you know if you're doing well or not?"
Afrim recalls times when he has attended
meetings, and he didn't know whether
the people who were talking were as
16
Photo courtesy of The Sports Facilities Advisory
successful as they sounded, whether the
programs they spoke about with such
authority generated $50,000, $100,000
or $900,000.
"If we find out the guy's doing $900,000,
maybe we should take a backseat and
let him talk. I think the numbers allow
us that–allow us to know what the
potential of something is. If you find out
that someone's doing $300K in a similar
market, and you're doing $50,000,
then there are things you could be
doing to get there, so I'm very happy with
the numbers."
Afrim uses the numbers to motivate
his staff. They provide a concrete way to
set goals.
Of course, the more people participate in
the survey, and the sooner they respond,
the more valuable the numbers become,
as facility operators will have even more
reliable information to compare their own
numbers to and may be able to implement
changes sooner than later.
"I'm glad the number of surveys is
increasing. The quality's increasing. I'd love
to see the day when everyone sends one
in," says Afrim.
Timeliness is also important for
planning USIndoor's annual conference,
as the numbers make clear who should
be conducting workshops and leading panel
and round table discussions.
Afrim recalls attending a SoccerTots
conference where a group of operators
were discussing their best marketing
strategies. "This kid starts talking,
rambling on for almost 30 minutes.
Everyone in the room is listening to
this kid talk, and then we find out he
had just signed on. He had only run
two classes. We didn't share numbers
at this conference."
Numbers are valuable. Facility operators
who participated in the survey will indeed
find the results useful. For those who did
not participate, results are available
for purchase at member and non-member
rates.
As more facility operators participate,
as more and better quality data becomes
available, the better we can serve our
industry and the more value facilities can
obtain from their membership.
