Retailer Sports Authority To Sell Wii, Fitness Software

Sporting goods retailer Sports Authority has announced a retail partnership to begin selling Nintendo products, with a focus on Wii and its fitness software, beginning in Spring 2010. The retailer, which operates 450 stores in the U.S., will establish designated areas in-store to showcase products like Wii Fit Plus, and will kick off the partnership with the support of television fitness trainer Jillian Michaels -- who has her own fitness game, in Majesco-published Jillian Michaels' Fitness Ultimatum. Sports Authority president David Campisi tells the Wall Street Journal that his company sees the partnership as "an opportunity to shift the paradigm and shake up the treadmill and sporting-goods business." "We’re thinking, ‘Mothers don’t like videogaming machines,’" said Campisi. "Well, what if we set them up next to the fitness department?" Nintendo is also seeking new avenues to reach consumers with its Wii, which has seen sales decline considerably this year as compared to 2008. The company recently warned of its first annual profit decline in six years, conceding that it lacked last year's breed of surefire software lineup to drive continued growth this year.