Foot Locker has acquired the premium domain name Champs.com from P. A. Gordon, who has owned the domain name since at least 2001 (oldest whois history record) but likely longer. The domain name has been registered since June 26, 1997.
Foot Locker Retail Inc. owns Champs Sports, which is a sports retail company and uses the domain name ChampsSports.com currently but I would expect them to switch to only Champs.com in the near future. Champs.com redirects already to ChampsSports.com .
Champs.com was listed on domain name aftermarket service Sedo.com, with a “make offer” and it was indicated that 1 offer had been made on the domain listing , but the domain likely did not sell directly on Sedo, because the listing still remains. The domain name has transferred into domain registrar MarkMonitor, so they may have played a role in helping Foot Locker secure the domain name.
How much did it sell for? This is very likely the highest domain name sale of 2015 so far and the highest currently reported is $800K for 345.com sold by Mike Berkens of MostWantedDomains.com . I am speculating on the price paid for the Champs.com domain clearly, but when you have a large company like Foot Locker, a great premium generic domain name that has been owned for a very long time by one individual that knows domains.. the recipe is there for a very large sales price! This is a high six of seven figure sale IMO!
I have reached out to P. A. Gordon to see if he is able to share any details of the transaction, but I haven’t heard back yet at time of posting but I will be sure to update if I hear back. Many of times, these types of deals are under NDA’s so the price doesn’t come out, if ever. I always like reporting “price” with any domain sale, but many times these sales remain hush and the sellers think I’m a creep for even noticing the sale!
If it is seven figures or more, we may see reference to it in FL’s next quarterly filing.
I would be very surprised if “champs.com” sold for seven figures. It’s not that great of a domain name. Sure it’s their brand, and that’s important, but who else would have bought it?
@J,
As with any domain sale, the “want” factor can drastically raise the price and I suspect Foot Locker really wanted this domain for its Champs Sports. I’m sure this isn’t the first time they have tried to buy the domain and great domains are not getting any cheaper. It may not have sold for seven figures, but it clearly holds the potential. With “champs” relating to champions, it’s a great brand name and one that Champs Sports likely really wanted to protect. There are a lot of companies called “champs” and I’m sure most of them would have loved to owned the domain. BTC.com sold for a million, QNB.com for a million, Check.com for a million. QNB.com isn’t that great of a domain either but it sold for a million in 2014 and I’m sure that surprised a lot of people. BTC.com and Check.com both surprised people at $1 Million as well. I’m sure many more “unreported” domains sold for a million that would surprise us as well.