About Us - Our History

62 Sports started in August of 1993 in Carbondale, Illinois with a modest plan; make a little side money for company owner Matt McSparin while he pursued a Ph.D. in Sport Management. Well you know what they say, “the best laid plans of mice and men can go astray” and so he did. Instead of teaching sport management at some college in the U.S., he spent the last 14 years building the company from $13,000 in sales in that first year to over 3 million in 2007.

Some major crossroads for the company included landing event marketing business for Exxon in the early years that kept things going. The Sports Authority chain was another major step in the mid 90’s when they were relying on 62 Sports to produce grand openings for them all across the country.

“There would be five grand openings on the same weekend so we had to buy a lot more equipment to keep up which helped us grow,” said McSparin.

Further growth came when the company moved to St. Louis in 1995 and new relationships with the St. Louis Blues and St. Louis Cardinals were formed. At this time the company grew to service more than just sports related events. Schools, churches, festivals, colleges and corporations all started to discover 62 Sports Group as a resource for events.

“The Cardinals started us in the catering business as they asked us to provide services for BJC Hospital in 1997 including feeding them and providing games and activities for a pre-game party. Since that time, 62 Sports has offered catering as another extension of our services and boy do we serve a mean hot dog and hamburger!”

We have served some of the biggest companies in the St. Louis area including Mastercard, BJC Hospital, Boeing, Enterprise Rent-A-Car, SSM Hospital, Chrysler Plant in Wentzville, Hersheys and many more. We are a regional business serving the Midwest and have strong ties in Chicagoland including the Chicago Bears, Chicago White Sox, Chicago Cubs, and others.

In 2004 62 Sports Group made a major commitment to add over $500,000 in new inflatables, the world’s best trackless train, rock walls and various other event equipment that fueled the company’s meteoric rise in business. Providing new equipment each year has been the halllmark of the company.

Recently, the company built a new, 8,400 square foot building in 2005 and added an additional 3,600 square feet in 2007. The acquisition of over $200,000 of new interactive equipment in early 2007 gives 62 Sports Group the largest inventory in the Midwest. 62 Sports Group will start it’s 15th year in business in August of 2007.