Sales at Sports Authority were flat over a decade; rival Dick’s grew 180%

The Sports Castle on Broadway is liquidating merchandise and preparing to close.

Sports Authority-watchers now have a peek at how far the retailer has slipped behind competitors since going private in 2006.

In its bankruptcy filings on April 22, Sports Authority reported $2.5 billion in net sales for its most-recent fiscal year, which ended Jan. 30. That’s down from $2.6 billion the year before.

But it’s a fraction of the revenue at publicly traded rival Dick’s Sporting Goods, which booked $7.3 billion in its fiscal year ended Jan. 30, an increase from $6.8 billion the previous year.

Two Denver-based accountants consulted by BusinessDen – Greg Critchfield of FinopGroup and Dan Scharf of DJJCPA – confirmed that Sports Authority and Dick’s Sporting Goods reported net sales using the same criteria.

Normally information about a private company’s sales is, well, private. But when a private business seeks bankruptcy protection, it has to open its books to the judge and the world.

In Sports Authority’s case, this document is among the first times that portions of its P&L have been publicly available since private-equity firm Leonard Green & Partners bought it in 2006.

Net sales at Sports Authority appear unchanged in the past decade. According to the last annual report it filed before going private, net sales were $2.5 billion. And net income was $55 million in 2005.

By comparison, Dick’s reported $2.6 billion in net sales and $73 million in net income in 2005.
Last year, its net income hit $330 million.