Today's news...12/8/04

Cabela's TIF Bonds Validated By Court

Judge Donald Cosby of the 67th Judicial District has entered a judgment validating the creation of a tax increment financing zone by the Fort Worth City Council and authorized the issuance of up to $32 million in bonds to help pay for the development of the Cabela's destination retail store planned for the city. The court also entered a permanent injunction prohibiting any further actions challenging the validity of the bonds and dismissed all claims vs Cabela's in the previously disclosed lawsuit challenging the validity of the real property tax increment financing.

The rulings by Judge Cosby are subject to appeal. The Fort Worth store, to be built on a 50-acre site at the interchange of Texas Highway 170 and Interstate 35W, will encompass approximately 230,000 square feet and is expected to open in May.

"Because of the destination status of our large format stores and the huge traffic they generate, Cabela's believes communities realize significant incremental economic increases in areas where they are located," said Mike Callahan, Cabela's SVP/retail operations and marketing. "This incremental economic benefit provides valid reasons for communities to continue to offer incentives to persuade Cabela's to locate one of its large destination retail stores in their community. We look forward to resuming our original construction schedule in Fort Worth, which should allow us to open and serve our Texas customers in May of 2005."


Sport Supply Lines Up Team Dealers

Sport Supply Group lined up approximately 50 independent team dealers in the US. They have joined the company's Platinum Team Dealer Program. SSG believes the team dealers participating in the Platinum Team Dealer Program have a combined road sales force of over 300 people. This is seen as a reaction to Collegiate Pacific's recent acquisition of two team dealers and negotiations with a third. Both companies were originally strictly catalogers selling the schools and institutions. Collegiate, whose stock went down with SSG's news, immediately sent out a redundant release that it was still pursuing an acquisition strategy. SSG at one time bought several team dealers, but discounted the worth of their road salespeople, who quit. Current management of SSG closed down these operations.


Accidental Firearm Fatalities At Historically Low Levels

A report from the National Safety Council shows that accidental firearm-related fatalities continue to decline and are at the lowest level in the history of record keeping. Statistics in the council's "Injury Facts 2004" reveal a 54% decrease over a 10-year period ending in 2003.

Last year, 101,537 U.S residents died in accidents of all types. Less than 1%, 700, involved firearms. The most common deadly accidents involved motor vehicles, falls and poisonings, claiming 72% of all accidental deaths. "The continuing decline is good news that's attributable to a number of factors, but certainly the overarching theme is increased awareness of gun safety and responsibility," said Doug Painter, president of the National Shooting Sports Foundation, the trade association for the firearm industry. NSSF directs a number of initiatives focusing on safety. The most visible is Project ChildSafe, which, in cooperation with the US. Department of Justice, has distributed more than 20 million free gun safety information kits, including gun locks, across the country.

Other new findings from the National Safety Council include: Accidental firearm-related fatalities have been consistently decreasing for many years; preliminary statistics show accidental firearm-related fatalities declined by 13% between 2002 and 2003; over the past seven years, accidental firearm-related fatalities among children (under 14) decreased 60%; firearms are involved in less than 2% of accidental fatalities among children; and firearms are involved in less than 1% of all accidental fatalities.


German Coffee Chain Expanding Sporting Goods Presence

Hamburg-based coffee retailer Tchibo plans to expand its sporting goods sales. Tchibo is already very aggressive with low-cost non-food goods. It now plans to offer sporting goods in not less than 50,000 outlets all over Europe…Sport Sohn, one of buying group Sport 2000's largest members, will stop selling Jack Wolfskin. Sohn is based in Ulm where Jack Wolfskin just opened its 63th (in Germany: 51st) franchise store. The extensive franchise policy of the outdoor brand has always been criticized by many sporting goods retailers, but very few have declined to work with the brand. Christoph Holbein, managing director of Sohn, criticized the extensive advertising exclusively for the franchise stores, that ignores the traditional retail store partners, and the fact that the Ulm project was not offered to local dealers.


Vote For This Year's Trendsetter Awards

Cabela's, Academy Sports & Outdoors, Modell's and Dick's Sporting Goods head the list of nominees for the 2004 SGB Trendsetter Awards. All four stores have been nominated for the Retailer of the Year Awards, which will be presented Monday, January 17th in Orlando, the opening night of The Super Show.

For the fourth consecutive year, industry members will vote on nominees in six categories: Retailer of the Year, Retail Executive of the Year, Team Dealer of the Year, and Supplier of the Year in Apparel, Footwear and Equipment. Two other awards, The Michael S. Modell Award and the Horizon Award, presented to an innovative retailer with annual sales of less than $10 million will be selected by a special Trendsetter panel of judges. Voting is open to any industry member with a valid e-mail address. Votes can be cast by downloading a ballot from the SGB website at www.sportinggoodsbusiness.com

Piper Jaffray downgraded both Deckers and Gander Mountain from outperform to market perform.