How Much SHOULD A BJJ/MMA Gym Cost?

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JakeTKD

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This might be a old topic, but so far the only ones I've seen are how much you DO pay a month for a gym membership. But my question is how much you think a Jiu Jitsu/MMA school SHOULD cost based on your opinion and experience?

Also how long SHOULD (if any) the contracts be (3 months, 6 months 1 year)? And how much the price should be based on those months.

Should a gym use the classic "30 days free" or just have a weekfree or one day free?

Should a gym always have "intro classes" for new students or just invite them to watch a class? Or just throw them in?

Should a gym train their staff to also be salesmen and go out marketing? Or just use word of mouth?

This question is mainly for students though who pay money to a gym, not to owners of a school or coaches because obviously they might be a little bias based on the fact they are getting paid lol.
 
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Disclaimer:
I do not own an MMA/BJJ gym or anything like that, although I am a marketing graduate who works for a local business and does a lot of sales and marketing.

JakeTKD said:
This might be a old topic, but so far the only ones I've seen are how much you DO pay a month for a gym membership. But my question is how much you think a Jiu Jitsu/MMA school SHOULD cost?
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This question is impossible to answer, because there are too many subjective and unknown factors. I believe the price should reflect the quality, but even if you have a high quality product, market dictates price...

I guarantee you that even if my gym offers superior instructors and facilities in Wisconsin, it will still be less expensive than 98% of gyms in New York City.

JakeTKD said:
Also how long SHOULD (if any) the contracts be (3 months, 6 months 1 year)? And how much the price should be based on those months.
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I don't think there should be obligatory contracts at any schools - although I COMPLETELY understand why there are.

Gyms should offer at least two prices in my opinion: 'non contract' and 'contract'. Obviously a contract monthly price would be much lower than a non contract price because the turnover rate would be drastically higher if a person were legally obligated to pay their fees (which honestly wouldn't be a problem for most people who attend gyms/schools for years out of loyalty and commitment to the art).

JakeTKD said:
Should a gym use the classic "30 days free" or just have a weekfree or one day free?
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Most places that I see offer three free classes, which I think is fine. If you can't figure out if you like something after ~6 hours of doing it, it might not be for you.

JakeTKD said:
Should a gym train their staff to also be salesmen and go out marketing? Or just use word of mouth?
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I think this depends on the market. There isn't anything wrong with marketing your product, its just when it becomes too aggressive and personal is when it becomes problematic and uncomfortable for potential customers.
 
it's such a broad question. the cost depends on a lot of factors such as location, instructor credentials, gym amenity (showers, wifi, etc.), how many classes in a week, etc.

If you live in my area expect to pay anywhere between $120-$180/month for unlimited BJJ
 
Edit: there were no replies when I wrote this but you can ignore mine and read the first one instead :p


Should always depend on location. Gym I go to charges maybe 150 a month, 400 for 3 months and so on (unlimited access to classes and gym equipment).

This isnt cheap compared to other martial arts in this country (though on par with bjj), but the gym is great and doesn't have much local competition so they seem to be doing really well at this price point.

Should always have free trial (preferably more than once if its mma so you get a feel for striking and grappling).

Long contracts that offer discounts are nice, good for the dedicated student and the school gets some more money when people flake out (in the past I've done this several times and feel fine about them getting my money since it was a fair deal).

Gym i go to lets you pause your contract if you are travelling, sick, injured etc as long as you let them know. I used this twice when injured and once when travelling for a couple weeks, but dont use it for like colds or what not (which is why im writing such a longwinded post as im stuck in bed and feeling crap )
 
Toothless King said:
it's such a broad question. the cost depends on a lot of factors such as location, instructor credentials, gym amenity (showers, wifi, etc.), how many classes in a week, etc.

If you live in my area expect to pay anywhere between $120-$180/month for unlimited BJJ
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I'd say that range covers most places just about anywhere.
 
Toothless King said:
it's such a broad question. the cost depends on a lot of factors such as location, instructor credentials, gym amenity (showers, wifi, etc.), how many classes in a week, etc.

If you live in my area expect to pay anywhere between $120-$180/month for unlimited BJJ
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I have also noticed that popularity plays a roll in this naturally. For an example I live in Denver CO and I could train at the top schools such as Zingano MMA, 303 Training Center, or Easton. However, I honestly cannot afford schools loans and $160 plus a years contract. But I totally understand contracts and it is hard to get around for a bigger school anyway. Usually a 3 month contract or better yet a punch pass can cost roughly $200 a month. It can certainly be a rich mans game. But I have also noticed there are harder to find gyms that can be anywhere from $50 to $100 without a contract and black belts certified by the Gracie's themselves.
 
How much SHOULD they cost? As much s they want to charge. You don't have to pay it.
I think gas is too expensive but who am I to say? If I want cheaper gas I need to figure out an alternative or explore, drill and make my own gas guess.
 
JakeTKD said:
I have also noticed that popularity plays a roll in this naturally. For an example I live in Denver CO and I could train at the top schools such as Zingano MMA, 303 Training Center, or Easton. However, I honestly cannot afford schools loans and $160 plus a years contract. But I totally understand contracts and it is hard to get around for a bigger school anyway. Usually a 3 month contract or better yet a punch pass can cost roughly $200 a month. It can certainly be a rich mans game. But I have also noticed there are harder to find gyms that can be anywhere from $50 to $100 without a contract and black belts certified by the Gracie's themselves.
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$160 for a year contract?

i pay a little less than that training with the Mendes Bros in a super expensive place like Southern California
 
If it's just BJJ, then it can be free. No woman should be raped.

If it teaches striking, marketable fee applies.
 
30 days free? That's a long freakin trial period and I've never seen one that long before. I'd say a week free should be enough to see if you want to pay or not.

Personally I think ~140$/month should be the upper limit in a place with average rent cost, and i'd hope this would be for top notch "unlimited" instruction, i.e. up to 2 classes a day every day.
 
Lol I'm assuming the rest of the US and Canada is around 120-160 maybe even less if you're not in an urban setting. However NYC is ridiculous, I inquired about Renzo's and they charge 230 a month not including tax and registration fee! And that is for a contracted price. Non contracted I didn't even want to look at.

I called Canada MMA gym in Toronto cuz I was gonna be traveling and they were 270 for 3 months and 100 a month...

I do feel that these prices are right for their location and facilities but I don't like it when a no name MMA place with not so great facilities NOT in NYC charges 180+ which I've seen
 
CouchPro said:
If it's just BJJ, then it can be free. No woman should be raped.

If it teaches striking, marketable fee applies.
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So you have a bjj gym (example: Gracie Barra on every corner) and the building owner's rent for the the location is $4000 per month which is pretty close to most 2000 to 3500 sqr/feet gyms....

How is gym owner going to pay that rent? Insurance? CAMs,? etc. if memberships are free???

Sherkids are funny.
 
Depends on what you consider "top notch training"

Around here almost every single BJJ place charges over 100 dollars a month, some dont even have a free trial period. Now, thats to train with BB's who are not prestigious champions, nor are they well known. Thats not to say that they are not great grapplers who are totally legit and able to teach you a solid game. Certainly top notch in the sense that they have solid Jiu-Jitsu. However, i still think that price is too high.
 
Once again, impossible to give a blanket statement.

A big commercial gym with state of the art S&C equipment, brand new mats, saunas, showers, in a nice clean and new building will cost a lot more than a black belt renting warehouse space with a few old used mats.

The warehouse fight club should have a way different cost than the bright and beautiful super gym. Each have pros and cons, each have different needs and over head. I wouldn't expect to pay $50 a month at the super gym, but I wouldn't pay $200 to the dirty warehouse club either.
 
As much as people is willing to pay, BJJ is a non-essential, private industry.

There is no SHOULD cost because you can live perfectly without it (unlike food and housing) and it doesnt receives government assistance (its 100% private and they pay their taxes fairly).
 
So many factors to consider: location, facility, instructor, instructor/student ratio, classes offered/week, etc

When you combine all the factors together and all of them are excellent, you can get something very expensive - for example Marcelo's school in NYC I think is about 250/month and Rickson's is like 300/month? But those are extreme examples. On the other end you might have a lower-belted lead instructor with a distant affiliation who runs more of a community center-type gym out in the country with only a few classes per week that might be only like 50-60/month or even less. Most are somewhere in between.
 
100 bucks.

And the places that offer "30 days free" are Actually offering to not charge you for a month IF you sign a year contract after the month is up. (Lloyd Irvin 101)
 
DoctorTaco said:
100 bucks.

And the places that offer "30 days free" are Actually offering to not charge you for a month IF you sign a year contract after the month is up. (Lloyd Irvin 101)
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The improved version of this trick is to offer the 30 days free, but charge an "initiation fee" that costs more than 30 days.

Then when the guy comes in for the 30 day free trial, offer to waive his "initiation fee" if he signs up today. Of course, the deal is so good that you can only offer it right then and there...

MMA Millionaires baby! Only real ballers need apply. You got to push all your chips to the middle to get in on this one.
 
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