These NFL-Branded Fitness Centers Are Adaptive Re-Uses of Big Box Space
The 2023 NFL season begins tonight in Kansas City, Missouri when the hometown Kansas City Chiefs take on the Detroit Lions in the 2023 NFL Kickoff Game.
As it happens, the Chiefs are one of six NFL franchises that operate branded fitness facilities in their hometowns.
There are currently 13 NFL-branded fitness facilities that total over 500,000 square feet and operate across seven markets.
Most of these NFL-branded fitness centers are adaptive reuse conversions of Big Box retail buildings and shuttered gyms.
ChiefsFit is a partnership between the team and Mark Mastrov of M6 Football, New Evolution Ventures, and formerly of 24 Hour Fitness.
The first ChiefsFit opened in 2021 at the site of a former Michaels craft store that was located in the Regency Park Shopping Center in Overland Park, Kansas.
This 37,000 square foot ChiefsFit facility includes cardio equipment, Chiefs-branded weights, an indoor turf field, a recovery facility that features cryotherapy treatment, hydromassage machines, full-amenity locker rooms and a Chiefs retail shop.
This ChiefsFit site was so successful that it led to a second location.
And an even more unique adaptive reuse.
That would be the Chiefs Fit Country Club Plaza, a 40,000 square foot, multi-level fitness center that is part of the $45 MM+ redevelopment of the historic Jack Henry building.
This ChiefsFit site is located adjacent to the Country Club Plaza shopping and lifestyle destination in Kansas City and was the former home for 83 years of the Jack Henry clothing store.
The ~40,000 square foot, multi-level fitness center offers similar amenities to the initial ChiefsFit location in Overland Park - as well group fitness classes, personal training services and a unique rooftop terrace and turf training area.
NFL-branded fitness facilities in other markets also feature successful adaptive re-uses such as:
BearsFit which is a repurposed Sports Authority in Vernon Hills, Illinois;
49ersFit, located in a former Hancock Fabrics retail store in San Jose, CA;
TexansFit which operates in three former 24 Hour Fitness gyms in Houston;
BrownsFit which took over a vacated 20,000 square foot fitness facility in Flats of Downtown Cleveland development;
And then there is Dallas - home to the most NFL-branded gyms of any city.
CowboysFit operates 5 locations in the Dallas/Ft. Worth Metroplex - several of which are repurposes of former gyms.
But the flagship CowboysFit gym is a 60,000 square foot, state-of-the-art facility on the 90+ acre Dallas Cowboys HQ campus known as The Star in Frisco, Texas.
With the success of the current 13 NFL co-branded fitness centers, the continued recovery of the fitness industry after COVID-19 and new site availabilities from the closures of Big Box retail stores and gyms, expect to see even more NFL branded fitness facilities in the coming years.