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Franchise · SBA lending record

Play It Again Sports: how 49 SBA-financed owners actually did

Sporting Goods Retailers · 116 units financed with SBA 7(a) loans since 2010 · 62 lenders have funded this brand.

Defaults run at or below comparable brands

1 of 49 seasoned units charged off — 1.1%.

Units financed
116
SBA 7(a), 2010 onward
Old enough to judge
49
loans at least 7 years old
Defaulted
1
charged off within 7 years
Default rate
1.1%
Typical loan
$299k
$50k–$560k

How this brand compares

share of loan dollars charged off within 7 years
Play It Again Sports
1.1%
All SBA 7(a) loans
2.1%

Franchise disclosure documents are not required to tell you how many owners failed. This is computed from the federal record of every SBA loan made to this brand, so it is the outcome, not the pitch.

Source SBA 7(a) FOIA, franchise field Released 2026-06-30 Sample 49 loans at least 7 years old Method dollar-weighted, grouped by year approved

When owners got into trouble

share of failures by year
Year 5
83%
Year 6+
17%

Failures usually cluster once the opening cash is spent and the first rent increase lands. Plan working capital for that window, not for month one.

Who still lends on it

last two fiscal years
LenderUnits funded
The Huntington National Bank3
Live Oak Banking Company3
U.S. Bank, National Association2
Brightbridge, Inc.1
Summit CU1

Fewer active lenders means less competition on your rate, and a harder time if the first bank declines.

Each year's owners, as they aged

cumulative % of loan dollars charged off

Not enough history yet to build a triangle.

Each row is one year's crop of new owners. Read across to watch them age; read down a column to compare different years at the same point in their life. Blank cells are simply too recent to know.

Before you sign anything

This page tells you how past owners fared with SBA debt. It does not tell you whether this brand suits you, what the territory looks like, or how the franchisor behaves. Ask for Item 19, talk to at least five current franchisees and two who left, and run your own numbers.

Check whether the numbers work → What the SBA Franchise Directory is →