Courtesy of BSN Sports, a SwimSwam partner.
BSN SPORTS, one of the largest direct marketers and distributors of sporting goods, footwear, apparel and branding to the school and league markets and a division of Varsity Brands, today announced that it has entered into an agreement to acquire substantially all of the assets of the Eastbay Team Sales business (“Eastbay Team Sales”) from Foot Locker Retail, Inc., a subsidiary of Foot Locker, Inc. (NYSE: FL).
Founded in 1980 and originally established to meet the performance needs of local high school and college athletes in Central Wisconsin, Eastbay Team Sales is now a leading supplier of athletic footwear, apparel and sports equipment to high school and college athletes. Foot Locker, Inc. acquired Eastbay Team Sales through its acquisition of Eastbay in 1997 to integrate an additional channel of distribution for athletic footwear, apparel, and equipment.
BSN SPORTS is a leader in the school and league markets with over 1,100 Field Sales Professionals serving coaches and athletic directors in virtually every zip code in the United States. The Company supports these Field Sales Professionals with Category Managers, Territory Managers, Customer Service Representatives and a robust marketing infrastructure and leading technology that enable the Sales Professionals to provide customers with the most complete and customized one-stop shopping experience in the team sporting goods industry.
Terry Babilla, President of BSN SPORTS, said, “We are excited that the employees of Eastbay Team Sales will be joining the BSN SPORTS family, which is dedicated exclusively to serving athletes, athletic directors and coaches who impact more lives in a year than most people do in a lifetime. This dedicated approach means that our new Sales Professionals will benefit from the best and broadest inventory selection, leading design and customization tools and support resources as they deliver the stellar service experience all customers deserve. We welcome the Eastbay Team employees to the BSN SPORTS family and look forward to a productive and rewarding integration of our teams headed into the 2022-2023 school year.”
Varsity Brands, BSN SPORTS’ parent company, is a portfolio company of Bain Capital Private Equity.
BSN SPORTS is the leading marketer, manufacturer and distributor of sporting goods apparel and equipment in the United States. BSN SPORTS has hosted more than 140 FREE instructional coaching events and webinars since March of 2020. Topics have ranged from Mental Fortitude, to Team Building, to X’s and O’s across many sports and categories. More than 75,000 coaches and administrators have registered for an event. BSN has recorded all of the content and made it available here.