You can hear the giddiness in John Bosa’s voice, as he takes you through his sons’ pet project. They launched it in the spring of 2021, and, as Nick went off to California to play for the 49ers and Joey to play for the Chargers, Dad became general contractor, overseeing the construction of a gym in Fort Lauderdale built specifically (and only) for pro football players.
The meticulous detail, as you’d imagine, made it that way.
“The fun thing about it is it’s 4,000 square feet, and it’s a warehouse that I painted all white, so it’s in a row of warehouses where you’d never know what it is,” Bosa says. “And you walk in, and the lobby area is where the wet area starts. You have two cold tubs. A small one is set at 38 degrees; a bigger one that has jets is set at 41. Then there’s a sauna and there’s a hot tub, and then there’s a full shower/bathroom area. And then you walk through those doors and, if you kind of picture just a big, wide-open, air-conditioned space, there’s a rubber flooring with all of the equipment for Joey; a lot of it is customized equipment.”
The elder Bosa’s not done.
“And so the whole left side of the gym is gym equipment, then right down the middle, it’s floating wood. It was actually built by the company that does NBA floors,” he continues. “So it’s a 40-by-8-foot runway of floating wood. It’s basically an NBA floor. And that’s where they do jumps—box jumps, plyometrics, warmups. And then on the right side of the warehouse, you have a full kitchen, washer/dryer, big TV, pool table. So it’s all one big space, and it’s beautiful.”
Bosa, of course, is talking about the place’s aesthetics. But to him, clearly, there’s more beauty in its mere existence than its design could ever tell you.
This, to the Bosas, is about investment. It’s about paying things forward.
When Joey and Nick first showed they shared their dad’s passion for football, he didn’t want to coach them, even though he was a 1987 Dolphins first-round pick himself. Instead, he pledged that he’d pour into them by getting them the very best at every turn, so they could be their best. The kids got the best coaches, trainers, programs, financial advisers, agents—whatever it was, he gave his gifted offspring that edge.
This physical building, completed for the 2022 offseason, is the manifestation of the philosophical next step. Now, it’s the sons’ investing into themselves. John didn’t pay for the warehouse. Joey bought it and Joey brought to life a blueprint the brothers and their trainer, Todd Rice, had for the perfect environment to become better football players.
Joey could do that precisely because such investments made in him paid off, as he became the No. 3 pick in 2016, then got a five-year, $135 million extension signed with the Chargers three summers ago. In a few months, Nick, the No. 2 pick in ’19, should be able to pay his brother back, and then some, with what the 49ers are bracing to give him on a new deal.
Put the two together, and you have a pretty remarkable story—one that shouldn’t go unnoticed this summer, ahead of the brothers’ taking the field again, and with it their place among the NFL’s best players, a result of paying the price, both literally and figuratively, to get there.
