A basketball coach couldn’t get his son off his video games, so he turned real basketball into one: now it’s a $20 million business

Getting kids away from screens and video games can be a daily battle for many parents. Craig Moody decided not to fight it but instead build an idea around it and turn real-life basketball into a game.

Moody, a longtime high school and college basketball coach, found his son’s seventh-grade teammates inside playing video games instead of using the family court. “Why don’t you guys go outside on our court and play?” he asked them, according to what he recalled in an interview with Forbes.

Their answer was they’d rather keep playing. Moody walked into the next room and told his wife: “If I could build a gym like a video game, I think we’d have something special.” A few weeks later, he woke up, drew the first facility, and started working on the plan.

The basketball court idea that changed everything

From that starting idea, he launched Shoot 360 in 2012. The first location cost between $300,000 and $400,000, which he paid for with his savings and retirement money, cashing out his 401(k).

The company is a tech-powered, gamified basketball training franchise that now generates over $20 million in annual revenue, according to Entrepreneur.

How does the Shoot 360 “video game gym” work?

Shoot 360 uses big screens, sensors, and software to train shooting, passing, and ball handling. Players get instant feedback with progress tracking in an app and can compete in real life against people in other cities and countries.

“If you are in New York and I am in Portland, we can play each other in real time,” Moody explained. Members have to pay $120 to $160 a month, similar to a gym membership.

What started with one gym turned into a million-dollar franchise

After opening four company-owned locations over the years, Moody began franchising in late 2019. Today, Shoot 360 has about 60 locations and many more in development.

Opening a Shoot 360 franchise costs between $600,000 and just over $1 million.

For Moody, success comes down to effort. “You should be prepared to work harder than you ever have,” he said. “It is not really about the number of hours. It is about doing what needs to get done.”