A-Star Sports and Sports Xtra merge franchises to “take both brands forward”

A-Star Sports, featured in the Startups 100 index, has announced that it is to merge with competitor children’s sports franchise Sports Xtra in a deal which will enable both chains to enhance their franchise offering, working under the parent company of Sports Xtra (Franchising) Ltd).

Members of the British Franchise Association (bfa), the merger will see Sports Xtra’s managing director Rob Oyston and A-Star Sports co-founders Gary and Sharon Bassett form the new senior management team to “take both brands forward”.

Founded in 2011, A-Star Sports runs a range of kids sports clubs for children and has been backed by Theo Paphitis and Lord Young. Sports Xtra, founded in 2002 but launched as a franchise in 2008, offers a similar service with 400 coaches across the UK.

As a result of the merger, the franchise will now combine a range of popular children’s physical activities ‘Xperiences” alongside the A-Star Sport multi-sports programme for children aged three to 12 years-old.

The sports chains says the merger will enable the existing and prospective franchisees to benefit from “two strong brands, a wider product range, a knowledgeable call centre, an industry-specific data management system, award-winning social media, marketing and PR and a head office team with more time and expertise to support them.”

A-Star Sports’ Gary Bassett explained: “With our joint portfolio appealing directly to families, there is a lot of scope to work with other high profile brands to inspire and develop new, innovative ways to engage children. The aspiration to continually motivate and support young children to be the best they can be physically, emotionally and socially through high quality coaching and a commitment to exceptional customer service remains core to our business.”

Oyston of Sports Xtra added:

“With a joint network of over 40 franchise territories and a growing support team, this is an exciting opportunity to reach out more widely to families with our unique products.”