Game On \u2013 Fort Worth<\/p>\n
Contact information<\/p>\n
Phone: 817-367-7800<\/p>\n
Addresses:\u00a0<\/p>\n
Game On Arena Sports \u2013 251 Settlement Plaza Drive, Fort Worth.<\/p>\n
Game On Sports Complex \u2013 2600 Alemeda St., Fort Worth.<\/p>\n
Facebook: Game On Sports Complex<\/a>.<\/p>\n Website: Game On \u2013 Fort Worth<\/a>.<\/p>\n This interview has been edited for length and clarity.<\/p>\n Ismael M. Belkoura: Can you talk a little bit about how you started the business? What was that like in the early days?<\/p>\n Trevor Armstrong: Larry and I both come from an extensive background in hospitality, from management to sales. We actually met here in Fort Worth through networking and found we had a shared passion for soccer. We formed our partnership after playing an indoor soccer game in the parking lot at Game Monitoring Sports.\u00a0<\/p>\n We wanted to leverage our really great hospitality to this industry. Larry and I are both parents. We\u2019ve experienced it both as participants as well as having kids. We wanted to bring our knowledge of the business world and hospitality to the sports arena.\u00a0<\/p>\n Larry Auth: We found that there was a need or a niche in Fort Worth that needed to be filled. A lot of families were driving east to Dallas or the Mid-Cities \u2014 whether it be for soccer, volleyball, basketball. We thought if we could build an environment or a community over here, the sports could grow and folks could still get great competition, a great learning environment, and not have to commute so much and give some time back to their families.<\/p>\n Belkoura: Talk a little bit about serving that niche. How has it been trying to fill that space?\u00a0<\/p>\n Auth: (The complex) was built in 2006. We took it over in 2012. It was one field. We took it to two fields. We added football because we knew there was a need. And we added a store component.\u00a0<\/p>\n The thing that was interesting at the beginning is most sports are played outdoors, and another small select group of sports \u2014 like basketball, volleyball \u2014 are played indoors. So the first journey was a lot of grassroots marketing. We had to go out and talk to soccer clubs and football organizations, and let them know that we existed in the area.\u00a0<\/p>\n Soccer in particular is played 12 months a year, but most of that\u2019s played outdoors. You\u2019re trying to pull folks indoors, but usually they\u2019re only going to come indoors for four out of the 12 months. So we had to make sure we communicated well and provide that.\u00a0<\/p>\n Every business that we\u2019ve seen in Fort Worth, it\u2019s usually a three-to-five year ramp up time, and so we knew that it was going to take us several years. For the first few years, to be totally transparent, we actually kept our other jobs. And then we grew this up \u2014 we grew from a team of six associates, and now we\u2019re 475.\u00a0<\/p>\n Belkoura: What are the three services that you guys serve?<\/p>\n Auth: We have, technically, four businesses. Our first business is Game On Arena Sports, where we serve soccer, football and lacrosse, if needed. Over there, we have a store called Game On Soccer Shop, where we do uniforms and apparel. We\u2019ve now expanded out to baseball, basketball, volleyball, etc. The other niche we found was in the basketball and volleyball community, so we built this facility (Game On Sports Complex) where we have basketball, volleyball, pickleball, baseball, sand volleyball, a performance center, a wellness center and golf. Then from there, folks have been approaching us over the last decade because they want to do similar facilities around the country. So we\u2019ve now expanded that to Texas and other cities where we go and help them build their dream.<\/p>\n Belkoura: It is quite rare for these sports complexes to be locally owned, locally grown, and to have the success that y\u2019all have had. When you give that advice to other people that are trying to enter the business outside of Fort Worth, what is that special sauce that you try to share with them?<\/p>\n Armstrong: We consider ourselves extremely blessed to be in Fort Worth. The community has been growing since we\u2019ve started and before, so lots of new families and folks move to the area, and that\u2019s really helped us. We grow a lot through word of mouth. That\u2019s why we concentrate a lot on hospitality, running great leagues, running great training classes, really delivering a great product for folks to continue to not only come back, but also tell others. That\u2019s really fueled our growth.\u00a0<\/p>\n So when we go into other folks that hire us for consulting, we want to understand what\u2019s special about that community and help them uncover their needs. What demands are being filled already there? What competition is there in other facilities? What\u2019s the demand for the different sports that exist? What could it be in the future?\u00a0<\/p>\n Auth: In DFW, we have more indoor sporting facilities than any place in the United States. To be transparent, we\u2019re probably oversaturated at this point. As we go into other communities and speak to them, we\u2019re going to look at feasibility, look at the market. Most of these places moving forward are going to need a subsidy of some sort from a city. We are one of the few in the country that don\u2019t have a subsidy from the city or the county, truly privately held. Most of these, as they\u2019re going up nowadays, are being either partially or fully funded by a city or county.\u00a0<\/p>\n Going back to our secret sauce, we make sure that we give a personalized touch. We bring in the hospitality component. We\u2019re going to give them honest feedback \u2014 this makes sense or doesn\u2019t make sense. We probably tell people not to build just as much as we tell people to build because we want it to make sense for them.<\/p>\n The big piece is having the right capital set aside. These are high-volume, low-revenue models. You may have 5,000 people come through the doors, but they\u2019re paying a low-revenue amount per transaction. So you\u2019ve really got to set up the community with the right sports and the right team.<\/p>\n Belkoura: On top of this being y\u2019all\u2019s dream, you identified in Fort Worth that there was this need. In 2025, how do you view this ecosystem, specifically in Tarrant County?<\/p>\n Armstrong: What people don\u2019t have an appreciation for is that sports are seasonal. For everybody that has kids, they\u2019re transitioning from baseball season to soccer. They might do two sports at once, but typically you\u2019re rotating throughout the year. So from a facility standpoint the challenge becomes, \u201cHow do you utilize the facility throughout the year?\u201d The facility is a big box. The bills don\u2019t go away just because it\u2019s a slower season.\u00a0<\/p>\n We\u2019ve found unique ways and developed additional revenue streams to fill out the whole year. That\u2019s really what we\u2019ve learned to do over the last 13 years.<\/p>\n Auth: When we first opened up it was the Fieldhouse in Frisco and us. I think there were 14 soccer facilities. Now there\u2019s close to 20. About 50% of those have already turned over.<\/p>\n Trends are going to change. Yes, basketball has been around for decades, as has volleyball, soccer. But the pickleball craze, even though it\u2019s been around for years, it\u2019s only been probably the last 10 years where it\u2019s really picked up steam. We have to continue to be innovative with new sports or take a variation of them and make it to where we do a thing called multisport camps. We do 57 camps a year. And with those multisport camps, how do you create an environment where kids who play soccer all year-round now have access to 15 sports in one camp? Some kids are good with their hands. Others are good with their feet. So we\u2019re trying to create an environment where they learn different things and figure out what their niche and their passion is.<\/p>\n Belkoura: When you guys think about the future for Game On, what are some of the things you have planned or ideas that you have that you\u2019re looking to implement?<\/p>\n Auth: Let\u2019s speak to the county we\u2019re in right now. We\u2019ve had additional land around us, and we\u2019ve had many conversations. Do we have additional volleyball and basketball courts? The capital these days for those types of ventures is considerably up compared to five to seven years ago.\u00a0<\/p>\n The other niche that we\u2019ve talked about is outdoor space. As much land as we have in Texas and DFW, we do not have enough soccer fields or baseball diamonds. It\u2019s really trying to figure out how we can help the county or the city expand in that space so we can give more offerings to the entire community.<\/p>\n Belkoura: How has that community support been? Has it grown over these last couple of years?\u00a0<\/p>\n Auth: Yes. Business each year has continued to do well. We\u2019ve been blessed there. We want to make sure that we don\u2019t lose track \u2014 with our associates and Trevor and I \u2014 that we\u2019re here to serve other people. We\u2019re true servant leaders, and we\u2019ve tried to instill that in our staff day to day, that we\u2019re here to serve a community and serve athletes from 2 years old up to 80 years old and everything in between.\u00a0<\/p>\n The community has been nothing but welcoming and growing. So we want to make sure that we\u2019re always listening to them, adjusting, whether it be our services or hospitality, whatever the case may be. We want to make sure that we\u2019re always listening to what the community needs are and adjusting the course for that. We\u2019ve been blessed from our sponsorships and partners.\u00a0<\/p>\n We\u2019ve got a wellness center with Fort Worth Concierge+, great partners. APEC, our performance center, great partners. Cook Children\u2019s, they\u2019ve been with us for years, and they\u2019re going to be with us for years. They serve the children of our community. We serve the children of our community. So that\u2019s been another great partnership. We have many wonderful club partners. Whether it be volleyball, soccer, basketball, they\u2019re running their businesses out of our buildings, so we\u2019re helping them provide jobs for coaches.\u00a0<\/p>\n We look at it as a family business on many different levels.<\/p>\n Belkoura: How important has that partnership aspect been to not just your economic stability, but also your role and position here in the county as this service provider?<\/p>\n Armstrong: We\u2019ve really invested a lot of time and energy in identifying and then nurturing great partnerships. Partnerships are critical because you\u2019re wanting to offer a great product for everybody. We have so many different offerings, it is fantastic to have professionals in each one of those areas concentrating solely on that area.\u00a0<\/p>\n Auth: I was blessed to move here four years ago to Fort Worth, and back then, what I really enjoyed about the city was everything was truly done in a handshake. Because you\u2019re looking somebody in the eye, you said you were gonna get something done, but you were also there to help them be successful. Mayor Mike Moncrief used to say the Fort Worth Way, we\u2019re all here to help each other out and help each other be successful. So Trevor and I, along with our team, the mindset is, \u201cHow do we help our partners be successful?\u201d Going back to our secret sauce you asked about, a big part of our success is the wonderful partners that we have.\u00a0<\/p>\n Belkoura: For other people that are looking to create their own business, what advice would you give to someone who\u2019s looking to start a business?\u00a0<\/p>\n Auth: As we go to other places, we\u2019ve tried to help other folks start their companies. We were taught at the beginning, surround yourself with like-minded people and people that truly have each other\u2019s back. Go into business for the right reasons. Yes, you\u2019re in it for profits. You\u2019re trying to make money. But you\u2019re also serving a niche and serving a community and serving a need. We want to make sure we always keep that in mind.<\/p>\n From a business perspective, one thing where we see many businesses not do so well is they don\u2019t put together a true business plan, a business model, and have the right capital dollars. So you start to make some poor decisions because of that. We wanted to make sure at the beginning that we truly vetted our business model in-depth.<\/p>\n In regards to capital dollars, make sure you have the right dollars set aside so you make the right decisions for the business, and not necessarily for yourself. Once that starts to play a little bit of a factor, you may make some decisions that weren\u2019t the best for the business.<\/p>\n Armstrong: One of the big things is you have to identify a need and then determine if you are an expert at fulfilling that need. Who else do you need to surround yourself with to bring that to fruition? We always try to look at everything, every decision that we make as \u201cIs this best for the long term?\u201d That goes for anything from investing in things to purchase or replace in the facilities. If we\u2019re starting a business, that\u2019s a big commitment. Are you willing to make that commitment and weather all the challenges that lie ahead?<\/p>\n Auth: For ourselves, and as we\u2019re talking to other folks, as they\u2019re building their facilities, you want to scale at the right time. There were times we could have added more and built bigger. And we could have built more facilities, but we probably would have stretched ourselves too thin and not become experts in the space we were in. We always had to go back to what was our why and what was our mission \u2014 serving the community we live and breathe in every day and work in. We wanted to make sure that we were giving the top-notch experience here before we took it to other places.<\/p>\n Ismael M. Belkoura is the health reporter for the Fort Worth Report. Contact him at ismael.belkoura@fortworthreport.org<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n At the Fort Worth Report, news decisions are made independently of our board members and financial supporters. Read more about our editorial independence policy here<\/a>.<\/p>\n \n\tRelated\n<\/p>\n Fort Worth Report is certified by the Journalism Trust Initiative<\/a> for adhering to standards for ethical journalism.<\/p>\n Republish This Story<\/p>\n
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