Destination Athlete franchise: cost, fees & unit track record
Opening a Destination Athlete franchise takes $28,300 – $108,610 all-in, per its franchise disclosure filings (data as of 2026-05). The initial franchise fee is $20,000 – $65,000. Ongoing, franchisees pay a royalty of 9% on sales plus an ad-fund contribution of up to 2%. To qualify, Destination Athlete asks for $10,000 in liquid cash and a $25,000 net worth. Anything the filings do not state is marked "Not disclosed" below — never estimated.
Destination Athlete franchise costs and fees
| Verification mark | Cost item | Low | High | Range |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Initial franchise feeOne-time, paid to the franchisor at signing | $20,000 | $65,000 | $20,000 to $65,000 | |
| Initial investment (all-in)FDD Item 7-derived range: build-out, equipment, opening costs | $28,300 | $108,610 | $28,300 to $108,610 | |
| Net worth requiredFranchisor's stated qualification minimum | $25,000 | $25,000 | $25,000 | |
| Liquid cash requiredFranchisor's stated qualification minimum | $10,000 | $10,000 | $10,000 | |
| Cash to open (all-in range) | $28,300 | $108,610 | $28,300 to $108,610 |
| RoyaltyOngoing, % of sales | 9% |
|---|---|
| Ad fundOngoing, % of sales | Up to 2% |
| Initial termLength of the first franchise agreement | 10 years |
See the full Destination Athlete cost breakdown — what's in that number and what isn't
How Destination Athlete's cost compares
A dollar figure means more with a yardstick. Here is where Destination Athlete's disclosed cost sits against the Retail category:
- Minimum startup cost of $28,300 — about 83% below the Retail median of $165,000.
- Initial franchise fee of $20,000 — about 46% below the Retail median of $36,750.
Category medians are computed from the Retail brands in our data that disclosed each figure — a benchmark for scale, not a quality judgment. See all Retail franchises
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How Destination Athlete's units have held up
Openings and closures from FDD Item 20-style unit history, 2012–2021: began the window at 8 units; 164 units opened, 10 closed, ending at 203 units. (partial records: 2017, 2018 are not in the source data — totals span the reported years only.)
What about earnings?
We don't publish per-brand earnings figures — for Destination Athlete or anyone else. The only primary source is Item 19 of the brand's own franchise disclosure document (FDD), and no law requires a franchisor to publish one, so the "average owner income" numbers circulating elsewhere are usually unsourced or survivorship-biased. Ask Destination Athlete for its current FDD and read Item 19 yourself — and if there is no Item 19, that silence is information too.
What this data can't tell you
Everything on this page comes from disclosure filings — fees, ranges, and unit counts. Four questions that matter just as much are not in any filing we can source, so we say so instead of guessing:
- The hours and the labor
- No dataset field says whether Destination Athlete is a manage-from-a-laptop business or a 60-hour week in disguise. Item 15 of the FDD states whether you're obligated to run the business personally, and Item 11 lists what the franchisor actually does for you — then ask current owners what their week looks like (validation calls), not the sales team.
- How hands-on the ownership really is
- "Semi-absentee" is a pitch, not a filing field. Treat any hands-off claim as unverified until it's consistent with Item 15 and with what multiple current franchisees tell you — what absentee ownership actually means.
- Your territory — whether it's protected, and whether it's open
- Two territory questions sit outside our data. Whether Destination Athlete grants a protected or exclusive area is set in Item 12 of the FDD and varies brand to brand — some grant none, and the carve-outs (online sales, national accounts) matter as much as the map. And filing data can't say what's open in your market this month; only Destination Athlete can confirm current availability. Ask both before you inquire, and get the answer in writing.
- What owners earn
- Covered honestly above: our dataset has no earnings fields, the only primary source is the brand's own Item 19, and here is how to read that evidence.
About the Destination Athlete franchise
Destination Athlete is a retail franchisor with 203 units at the end of 2021 (FDD Item 20-style unit history). Between 2012 and 2021, it began the window at 8 units; its filings record 164 unit openings and 10 closures, ending at 203 units (partial records: 2017, 2018 are not in the source data — totals span the reported years only). Its parent company is Harbor Endeavors, LLC.
No franchise-related lawsuits reported in the disclosure data we hold (FDD Item 3, as of 2026-05) — an absence in our sources, not a guarantee; confirm against the brand's current FDD.
From the franchisor's materials
The franchised business being offered is DESTINATION ATHLETE, providing athletes, teams and organizations with athletic apparel, sports equipment, support services and on-and-off-line merchandise specific to the geographic/program/school in which the customer lives and/or attends school.
Destination Athlete franchise: quick answers
- How much does a Destination Athlete franchise cost?
- $28,300 – $108,610 all-in to open, per Destination Athlete's franchise disclosure filings (data as of 2026-05).
- How many Destination Athlete units are there?
- 203 units at the end of 2021 (FDD Item 20-style unit history).
- How have Destination Athlete's units held up?
- 95.3% of units at risk between 2019 and 2021 did not close, per our metric recomputed from FDD Item 20-style unit history (methodology published on our verification page).