Is Affiliation Worth It: What Are You Really Buying?

In the fitness industry, affiliation is everywhere.

Many gym owners pay to use brand names in their business title or for specific programs. It’s a powerful move.

Putting “CrossFit” on your door tells the world exactly what you do—and often brings instant recognition.

The same goes for other brands: Putting up a Hyrox sign shows you train people for and host Hyrox-style competitions. These affiliations give immediate clarity to prospects.

Here are a few of the best affiliations for microgyms:

• Hyrox—At US$130 a month, it’s very easy to make a great return by offering a special Hyrox program or running Hyrox events.
• CNU Stretch—After you make a minimal investment to train your coaches, the return on this affiliation is enormous—it’s similar to buying a StretchLab franchise, but you can bolt this right onto your existing gym. Listen to our podcast with CNU Stretch founder Evans Armantrading here!
• Parisi Speed School—If you want to train youth athletes, a Parisi affiliation is the gold standard—and these are very profitable gyms.

Larger gyms might also license one of these brands:

• Zumba—Lets you run branded dance-fitness classes with licensed instructors.
• Les Mills—Known for Bodypump, Bodycombat and other choreographed group fitness formats.
• TRX—Functional fitness equipment and programming, often licensed to gyms for specialized classes.

I want to be clear: Nothing listed here is a franchise. These companies offer license agreements that let you use a brand in your gym. You can “bolt them on” to whatever you’re currently doing.

In some cases, the affiliation creates more revenue than the gym was generating on its own. But none of the agreements require you to name your gym a certain way or carry another brand over your own.

They also come without business support—that’s what Two-Brain is for.

Affiliates are different from franchises. Franchises are expensive to start, with ongoing royalties paid to the franchisor. And many aren’t the business-in-a-box that franchises used to be. In decades past, franchises offered:

• A proven business model with a full playbook.
• A dedicated territory where competitors couldn’t open nearby.
• Access to a strong brand identity and national recognition.
• Equipment and marketing support.
• Training and certification in delivering the brand experience.

Fitness franchises such as F45, Fit Body Boot Camp and Orangetheory offer these promises—at a cost. Here are approximate franchise fees, which do not take into account ongoing royalties, brand or ad fund payments, buildout/set-up costs and other factors:

• F45: $50,000.
• Fit Body Boot Camp: $49,000.
• Orangetheory: $60,000

These high prices once made sense: You were buying near-guaranteed success.

But today many of these franchises behave more like licensors. You pay to use the name, you pay ongoing royalties, and you follow their restrictions, but you don’t always receive the robust playbook or support that’s promised.

In contrast, affiliates are licensees. You pay to use the name but get minimal support or instruction. There’s no guarantee of success.

However, you’re not heavily restricted, either.

Let’s line these options up for a quick comparison:

As you can see, there’s a sliding scale from pure licensing to full franchise control.

So how do you decide what’s best?

In the next post in this series, I’ll go deeper on the value of paying for a brand.