authority of india . tsa stores inc. former type private industry retail fate chapter 11 bankruptcy successor dick s sporting goods founded november 1987 ; 28 years ago 1987 11 as the sports authority fort lauderdale florida u.s. defunct july 28 2016 2016 07 28 headquarters 1050 west hampden avenue englewood colorado u.s. 80110 number of locations 450 at the time of closure key people michael foss ceo paul gaudet coo jeremy aguilar cfo products apparel sports equipment footwear exercise equipment owner leonard green & partners 2006 2016 dick s sporting goods 2016 present 1 number of employees 14 250 2011 2 website http www.sportsauthority.com redirects to dick s sporting goods website sports authority inc. formerly the sports authority was a sports retailer in the united states headquartered in englewood colorado 3 which operated more than 460 stores in 45 u.s. states and puerto rico . the company s website was on the gsi commerce platform and supported the retail stores as well as other multi channel programs . in addition a joint venture with on co. ltd. operated sports authority stores in japan under a licensing agreement . on march 2 2016 sports authority filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy . on may 18 2016 the company s stores were sold to a group of liquidators and on may 25 ceo michael foss announced that all of the stores will close by the end of august 2016 . 4 5 on june 30 2016 dick s sporting goods won the auction for sports authority s brand name and intellectual property . 6 on july 15 2016 the online store closed operations . as of july 21 2016 the purchase of sports authority s intellectual property by rival dick s sporting goods has been approved and as of july 28 2016 the sports authority website redirects to the dick s sporting goods website . contents 1 history 1.1 gart sports 1.2 sportmart 1.3 oshman s 1.4 sports authority 1.5 gart sports merge with sports authority 1.6 copeland s sports 1.7 2006 leveraged buyout by leonard green & partners 1.8 s.a. elite 2 bankruptcy ceasing of operations 3 brands 4 sports authority field at mile high 5 competition 6 references 7 external links history edit gart sports edit sports authority store at liberty tree mall in danvers massachusetts in november 2012 gart sports began in 1928 when denver post newspaper carrier nathan gart started the company with 50 in fishing rod samples . in 1971 gart sports company opened the sportscastle superstore in denver colorado at the corner of 10th avenue and broadway . the 1980s marked a period of substantial growth for the company through a series of acquisitions . these mergers included hagan s sports ltd. 1987 and stevens brown of salt lake city 1987 . in the fall of 1992 leonard green & partners acquired thrifty and became the company s largest shareholder . sportmart edit at the same time that gart sports company opened the sportscastle the hochberg family and the cantor family opened their first sportmart in niles illinois . the company grew to 60 stores in nine states . gart sports and sportmart merged in 1998 . sportmart briefly operated in canada in the 1990s before closing down their operations after two years . oshman s edit main article oshman s sporting goods oshman s sporting goods was founded in houston texas in 1919 by jake oshman . by 1965 oshman s had become the largest sporting goods chain in texas operating 43 oshman s supersports usa stores and 15 traditional stores ; the company merged with gart sports in 2001 . citation needed sports authority edit the sports authority inc. was founded in lakes mall in lauderdale lakes florida by a syndicate of venture capital groups and several key founding executives . jack a. smith formerly coo of herman s world of sports ceo ; roy m. cohen senior vice president and general merchandise manager ; richard lynch senior vice president and cfo and arnold sedel vice president of stores operations were the founding executives . the venture capital syndicate was led by william blair venture partners and included first chicago venture partners bain capital phillips smith venture partners marquette venture partners and bessemer securities . the sports authority inc. opened its first store in november 1987 in fort lauderdale florida . in 1990 kmart acquired the company . 7 five years later the sports authority had expanded to 136 stores in 26 states and was spun off from parent kmart . its headquarters were in lauderdale lakes 8 9 near fort lauderdale . 10 gart sports merge with sports authority edit interior of a sports authority in daly city california gart sports which also operated oshman s and sportmart completed a merger of equals with sports authority on august 4 2003 . at the time of its merger with gart sports company the sports authority was the largest full line sporting goods retailer in the united states and had 205 stores in 33 states . the combined company took the sports authority name . with the merger each share of sports authority was exchanged with 0.37 shares of gart sports which gave investors in each about 50 % of the new merchant . the new company was based in englewood colorado which was the home of gart sports . as of may 2006 the remaining stores that were not operating under the sports authority name were re branded to the sports authority name . there are no longer any stores operating under the name of gart sports sportmart or oshman s. copeland s sports edit in august 2006 copeland s sports headquartered in san luis obispo california filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy and on november 17 2006 sports authority through a wholly owned subsidiary assumed the leasehold interests in seven former copeland s sports retail store locations . 2006 leveraged buyout by leonard green & partners edit in january 2006 sports authority agreed to be purchased in a leveraged buyout by affiliates of leonard green & partners a private equity investment firm in a transaction valued at 1.4 billion . 11 shareholders approved the deal in may 2006 . upon completion of the merger sports authority ceased to be a publicly listed stock . thus no public bonds are outstanding and sports authority no longer files financial statements with the sec . s.a. elite edit sports authority launched new store brand s.a. elite in mid 2010 based on consumer research and testing . these stores are smaller than typical sports authority outlets and carry high end sports apparel and accessories . 12 13 bankruptcy ceasing of operations edit a sports authority store in tanasbourne oregon on may 20 2016 with sign announcing closure of the store . another sports authority store this one in flemington new jersey as seen on may 28 2016 . this location also has signs announcing the store s impending closure . on february 4 2016 it was widely reported that sports authority was set to declare chapter 11 bankruptcy due to debt problems . 14 later that month the dallas morning news reported that the company planned to close all 25 of its stores in texas . the report did not specify a date for the closures . 15 on march 2 2016 sports authority filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy . 16 after considering restructuring sports authority announced that on april 26 they would sell all of their assets including all of the remaining store locations . 17 earlier in april reuters reported that academy sports outdoors and dick s sporting goods had expressed interest in purchasing sports authority s assets . on may 3 2016 the company notified the us bankruptcy court that it would not reorganize its debt but would auction its assets . contrary to media reports the company announced it would not be liquidating its assets but would be auctioning off its stores and operations with the intended goal of keeping all of its stores open . 18 on may 18 however it was announced that the effort to avoid liquidation was unsuccessful and the stores would in fact be closed . 4 as of july 28 2016 the sports authority website redirects to the dick s sporting goods website . brands edit sports authority sold different brands of sporting goods from many different vendors . the company also sold products under its own private labels including alpine design seasonal clothing and outdoor goods sims seasonal clothing and snowboards aspire women s sportswear sa gear men s sportswear and fitness equipment tommy armour and ram golf parkside outdoor games and trampolines and bodyfit by sports authority fitness accessories . many of these products were made by other manufacturers and branded with the sports authority private labels . sports authority field at mile high edit sports authority owned the corporate naming rights to sports authority field at mile high a stadium in denver colorado which is the home of the denver broncos . despite sport s authority s liquidation and closure the sports authority name is still being used on the stadium for the time being . competition edit map of sports authority stores prior to the company s chapter 11 bankruptcy filing . sports authority s major competitor stores included academy sports outdoors big 5 sporting goods city sports dick s sporting goods mc sports modell s references edit sullivan vince . sports authority gets ch . 11 approval for ip lease sales . law360.com . retrieved 2016 09 04 . 127 sports authority . forbes.com . retrieved 2016 04 28 . sportsauthority.com terms and conditions of use . sports authority . retrieved on september 15 2011 . 1050 west hampden avenue englewood co 80110 a b sports authority s stores have been sold to a trio of liquidators all will close consumerist . consumerist.com . 2016 05 17 . retrieved 2016 09 04 . about us . sportsauthority.com . retrieved 2016 07 17 . rizzo lillian 2016 06 30 . dick s sporting goods wins sports authority brand name in bankruptcy auction . wsj . retrieved 2016 07 17 . about us at the wayback machine archived october 6 2001 . sports authority . october 6 2001 . retrieved on september 15 2011 . lauderdale lakes city florida . u.s. census bureau . retrieved on september 15 2011 . contact us at the wayback machine archived november 1 2001 . sports authority . retrieved on september 15 2011 . corporate office the sports authority inc. customer service 3383 north state road 4 ft. lauderdale fl 33319 steinhauer jennifer . sporting goods retailers start to consider new lineups . the new york times . june 12 1997 . 1 . retrieved on september 15 2011 . schedule 14a . sec.gov . retrieved 2016 04 28 . harden mark may 12 2010 . sports authority launching new store brand . denver business journal . retrieved july 26 2012 . sharrow ryan january 31 2012 . sports authority s s.a. elite to open first east coast store . denver business journal . retrieved july 26 2012 . s.a. elite was launched in summer 2010 by englewood based sports authority . sports authority to file for bankruptcy report . cnbc . retrieved 2016 02 05 . sports authority closing all 25 texas stores report says . fort worth star telegram . february 17 2016 . retrieved february 17 2016 . sports authority chapter 11 petition pdf . pacermonitor . pacermonitor . retrieved 2 may 2016 . sports authority abandons hope of reorganizing and opts for liquidation report . the wall street journal . retrieved 2016 04 26 . subscription required . sports authority anticipates buyer for major portions of stores . wall street journal . subscription required . external links edit colorado portal miami portal companies portal sports portal wikimedia commons has media related to sports authority . official website v t e dick s sporting goods subsidiaries