Too Bad, TB12, Too Bad

While acknowledging that Tom Brady is without a doubt the GOAT - Greatest of All Time - when it comes to quarterbacks, I am not a fan. I didn't particularly like him when he was doing great, glorious, and GOAT-y things for the local football franchise. And I sure as hell didn't like him once he took his ball and jockstrap and decamped to Tampa Bay.

What's not to like? Just that I found him banal and boring, which admittedly may have had plenty to do with his being guarded about revealing the real person inside when living in the eye of the celebrity hurricane, with millions of strangers wanting a piece of him. And then there was the weird: his personal fatwa on consuming white foods and nightshades.

Despite not particularly liking the guy, I nonetheless have mixed feelings abut the closing of the local outpost of TB12 "the star quarterback's sleek sports therapy facility."

The 699 Boylston St. location opened in August 2019, billing itself as a “performance and recovery center” complete with merchandise, training facilities and a “turf area,” and a smoothie bar...

“Everything that we do at TB12 is inspired by Tom and how he lives his life,” John Burns, the former chief executive of TB12, said in a 2019 interview with the Globe, “and how he prepares and gets himself ready to perform every day in football, but then, I think, also importantly, how he focuses on his recovery, so he can get back and do it again the next day.” (Source: Boston Globe)

Rather than gloat about the failure of the Back Bay TB12 and/or feel bad for the folks who were employed there who have lost their jobs, I thought I'd take a look at some of the business issues that may or may not have contributed to this outfit folding.

Location, location, location: If I were going to open a facility like this, i.e., one tied to a local sports hero that, presumably, catered to his fans, i.e., Brady Bros, I don't know that I'd have set up shop in Back Bay. I'm sure they did location analysis, and the area does have other successfulsports-related stores - largely those dedicated to runners, given the Back Bay's association with the Boston Marathon. (Boylston Street has a looser tie to the Patriots: the duck boat parades celebrating each Super Bowl win did got down Boylston.) And yet, one would think that there might have been a more natural audience in the Financial District. Not that there aren't a lot of young, male employees in Back Bay. There's insurance, consulting, and financial services aplenty. But I'm guessing that there are more of them in the Financial District.

It also may have made more sense to locate somewhere where there's parking. Just saying.

Covid, covid, covid: The timing couldn't have been worse. TB12 opened their doors in August 2019. Six months later, covid shut the city down. Whether the TB12 audience members were working in the Back Bay or the Financial District mattered not. For over a year, there was nobody working there. They were all working from home.

Back Bay is one of my walking paths and, believe me, during the height of covid, I could walk down Boylston Street, passing by TB12, and not see a living soul out and about anywhere.

So unfortunate timing.

(I will also add that, pre- and post-covid, I rarely saw anyone in TB12, and I walk by there once or twice a week, nosy enough to peek in.)

Don't let the door hit ya...Sure, there was covid, which ended up drop kicking many local businesses. But covid also coincided with Tom Brady's departure from the local scene. Many fans, grateful for Brady's greatness, and all those Super Bowls, continued to root for him. Others haven't been so forgiving, carrying on like jilted lovers.

So even if covid hadn't struck - and that's very big IF - the colossal Brady lovefest was dented big time once he left town. Did half the potential audience for TB12 turn on him when he turned on "us?" Could be.

The standalone business model: I noticed that, with the exception of flagship locations in Tampa and Foxboro, MA (home of the New England Patriots), I noted that all the TB12 locations are "partnerships." Which sounds like you're co-locating in other facilities and, thus, presumably, have lower costs. 

Anyway, the TB12 store in Boston is no longer. Too bad, TB12, too bad. It'll be interesting to see whether the company survives.