.png/fcc0a523052b41aa.webp "Bringing CSL to Your City — How the Licensed Training Center Program Works")
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We get a version of this question fairly often: "Is there a CSL location near me — and if not, how would I start one?" Here's an honest look at how CSL's Licensed Training Center program works, for anyone considering it.
The first thing worth understanding is what kind of relationship this is. CSL's growth model is a license — a Licensed Training Center operates under the CS Combat Sambo League™ name, brand assets, curriculum, and certification system under an agreement with AK Legacy INC, rather than purchasing a franchise in the more familiar retail-franchise sense. In practice, this means a licensee gets access to a complete operating system — the Standards & Safety Manual, the Youth and Adult Combat Sambo curricula, the Instructor Standards Manual, the certification system, and brand assets — and operates under CSL's standards in exchange.
You don't need a martial arts background to consider this. What matters more is the ability to operate a facility that meets CSL's standards and to staff it with qualified, properly certified instructors. CSL provides the curriculum, certification system, and training methodology; a licensee provides the facility, business operations, and qualified staff. This means the program is genuinely open to people with an operations or business background who see value in bringing a structured program to their community, as much as it is to experienced martial artists who want to formalize and grow what they're already doing.
A licensed location gets access to CSL's brand assets (logo, color palette, signage templates), the full curriculum library (Youth Combat Sambo Program, Adult Combat Sambo Program, Standards & Safety Manual, Instructor Standards Manual), the CSL certification system, and — for locations that develop them — pathways for athletes to participate in officially organized CS Combat Sambo League™ competitions, which continue to be organized centrally by AK Legacy INC.
Licenses are structured around exclusive territories — typically defined by state or region — so that licensees aren't competing against other CSL locations for the same local market. Florida, as CSL's home territory, is treated distinctly within this structure.
In exchange for access to the CSL system, licensees operate under CSL's core standards documents, pay license and royalty fees structured around the location's CSL-branded program revenue, and participate in CSL's ongoing quality assurance process — periodic reviews intended to make sure the standards that make the CSL name meaningful continue to be met everywhere it appears.
The process begins with an initial conversation about fit — facility, market, and goals — followed by a review against CSL's licensing criteria, and if approved, an onboarding process that includes initial training covering the full curriculum and standards library before a location's CSL programming begins.
If you've been thinking about this, the best next step is simply to reach out and start the conversation — there's no obligation in asking questions early.
This article is part of CSL's free educational content library, available to coaches, parents, athletes, and organizations at combatsamboleague.com