Entertainment
Sky Zone Franchise
An indoor trampoline park franchise built around wall-to-wall trampoline courts, foam pits, dodgeball, and climbing attractions -- one of the category's original brands, opening its first park in 2004 before the indoor-trampoline format became common. The current franchisor entity is a Missouri LLC organized in 2008 that began offering franchises in January 2009; now part of the CircusTrix/Trampoline Acquisition Corp. family (Palladium Equity Partners-backed), the same ownership group behind the DEFY brand also checked for this batch, and Rockin' Jump, a sibling brand that stopped franchising in 2023. Carries a large and fast-growing company-owned footprint (26 to 114 parks over 2022-2024) alongside its franchised locations, unusual among this dataset's entertainment entries; franchised unit count declined in the most recent reported year after two years of growth.
Every franchisor has to file a document called an FDD before they can legally sell you a franchise. Buried in it are the two things a sales rep won't volunteer: what you'll actually spend to open, and whether existing locations are opening or closing. That's what's below, pulled straight from Sky Zone's own filing.
What it costs to open
From the filing's investment breakdown -- not a "starting at" number a sales rep quoted you.
Franchise fee
$75,000
Total to open
$2,330,960–$5,175,460
Ongoing royalty
6% of gross sales
What you'd actually spend, over time
The upfront cost is only part of it. Plug in what you expect a location to bring in, and see the real total once royalties over a few years are added on top.
Defaulted to a rough entertainment industry average, not a figure from Sky Zone's own FDD -- change it to your own estimate.
Total cost of ownership over 5 years
$2,510,960 – $5,355,460
Startup investment
$2,330,960–$5,175,460
Royalty per year (6%)
$36,000
Total royalty, 5yr
$180,000
When would you break even?
Revenue alone doesn't tell you this -- it depends on what's left after rent, labor, and everything else. Sky Zone's FDD doesn't disclose a reliable profit figure (most franchisors don't), so this starts from a typical entertainment profit margin (~12%) and applies it to the revenue you entered above -- adjust the percentage to your own realistic estimate.
Defaulted to a general entertainment industry benchmark, not a figure from Sky Zone's own filing -- this is a starting point to adjust, not a promise about what franchisees actually make.
At that profit, you'd break even in about
32.4–71.9 years
Weigh that payback period against what you already know: Sky Zone is currently losing locations. A long payback period on a shrinking brand is a very different bet than the same payback period on a growing one.
Is Sky Zone actually growing?
Franchisors have to report, every year, how many locations opened, closed, or changed hands. Most franchise sites never show you this. Here it is:
Locations opened vs. closed, by year
ShrinkingFrom Item 20 of Sky Zone's FDD, the section franchisors use to disclose real openings and closings.
| Year | Franchised units, start | Franchised units, end | Net change |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 117 | 118 | +1 |
| 2023 | 118 | 126 | +8 |
| 2024 | 126 | 120 | -6 |
Most recent year (2024): lost 6 franchised units, ending the year at 120 total.
How Sky Zone compares to other Entertainment franchises
Across the 3 entertainment franchises we've hand-verified so far, the typical range to open runs $1,911,473–$3,827,460, with royalties averaging around 6.7% of gross sales (based on the 3 of them that charge a flat %-of-revenue royalty). That's still a small sample -- treat it as a rough starting point, not an industry-wide benchmark.
Sky Zone Franchise FAQ
How much does it cost to franchise a Sky Zone?
Based on Sky Zone's own FDD, total initial investment to open one location runs $2,330,960–$5,175,460, including the $75,000 franchise fee. Directly verified against the real filed FDD: Sky Zone Franchise Group, LLC's Franchise Disclosure Document, Issuance Date April 22, 2025 (PDF read directly, cover page, Item 1, and Item 20 Table No. 1 checked in person). Also confirmed as an active California DFPI-registered franchisor (DFPI entity ID 654430) via the DFPI franchise-registry search. Item 1: organized as a Missouri LLC on 11/18/2008, began offering franchises January 2009; principal address 86 N. University Avenue, Suite 350, Provo, UT 84601. Item 5: $75,000 initial franchise fee. Item 7: $2,330,960-$5,175,460 total investment for a standard Park (16,000-50,000 sq ft); separate, lower figures apply for rebranding an existing park from an affiliated brand ($166,750-$463,250) or a Multi-Unit Development Agreement's first Park ($2,433,060-$4,290,060) -- the standard single-Park figure is used here. Item 6: 6% royalty on Gross Sales plus a separate 2% national and up to 4% local advertising requirement. Item 20 Table No. 1, Systemwide Outlet Summary, franchised outlets 2022-2024 (117 to 120, dipping in 2024 after two growth years); company-owned outlets grew sharply over the same window, 26 to 114, partly from 25 Parks rebranded from the DEFY/Rockin' Jump brands during the reporting period. Founded year (2004) reflects the brand's well-documented public founding date (the FDD itself only describes the current entity's 2008 formation) -- worth an independent spot-check if precision matters, same caveat this dataset applies to Massage Envy's entry.
What is the Sky Zone franchise fee and royalty rate?
The initial franchise fee is $75,000, and the ongoing royalty is 6% of gross sales, per the filing on record.
Is the Sky Zone franchise growing or shrinking?
Shrinking. Across 2022–2024, Sky Zone lost a net 3 franchised locations, per its own annual FDD filings.
Keep going
- Sky Zone and Urban Air Adventure Park are both entertainment franchises; Sky Zone's total investment starts about $780,449 lower than Urban Air Adventure Park's. Urban Air Adventure Park Franchise
- Sky Zone and Fantasy Claw Arcade are both entertainment franchises; Fantasy Claw Arcade's total investment starts about $2,038,910 lower than Sky Zone's. Fantasy Claw Arcade Franchise
Where this came from: Directly verified against the real filed FDD: Sky Zone Franchise Group, LLC's Franchise Disclosure Document, Issuance Date April 22, 2025 (PDF read directly, cover page, Item 1, and Item 20 Table No. 1 checked in person). Also confirmed as an active California DFPI-registered franchisor (DFPI entity ID 654430) via the DFPI franchise-registry search. Item 1: organized as a Missouri LLC on 11/18/2008, began offering franchises January 2009; principal address 86 N. University Avenue, Suite 350, Provo, UT 84601. Item 5: $75,000 initial franchise fee. Item 7: $2,330,960-$5,175,460 total investment for a standard Park (16,000-50,000 sq ft); separate, lower figures apply for rebranding an existing park from an affiliated brand ($166,750-$463,250) or a Multi-Unit Development Agreement's first Park ($2,433,060-$4,290,060) -- the standard single-Park figure is used here. Item 6: 6% royalty on Gross Sales plus a separate 2% national and up to 4% local advertising requirement. Item 20 Table No. 1, Systemwide Outlet Summary, franchised outlets 2022-2024 (117 to 120, dipping in 2024 after two growth years); company-owned outlets grew sharply over the same window, 26 to 114, partly from 25 Parks rebranded from the DEFY/Rockin' Jump brands during the reporting period. Founded year (2004) reflects the brand's well-documented public founding date (the FDD itself only describes the current entity's 2008 formation) -- worth an independent spot-check if precision matters, same caveat this dataset applies to Massage Envy's entry. You can pull the same filing yourself from the California DFPI's public franchise search. Filed 2025-04-22. None of this is investment advice -- get the franchisor's current FDD and talk to a real attorney or accountant before you sign anything.
If you see a different unit count elsewhere: franchisors only have to refile their FDD annually, so the numbers here can run 6–18 months behind a franchisor's own real-time marketing claims -- which often aren't independently verified, and sometimes count signed-but-not-yet-open locations. A gap isn't necessarily an error on either side; it's two different snapshots in time from two different sources.