A Common mis-perception by both groups: Investing in a pickleball club is investing in a court-rental business. There is a temptation to do an overly simple calculation that goes something like this:

• I have 8 courts open 14 hours a day, 3,360 hours a month
• I will charge 50 dollars per hour
• I will get 50% occupancy
• Therefore I will gross over $1 million per year
• Boom, I’m successful

If this is the essence of your model, and you build your staffing, marketing and operating strategy around it — we believe your business will struggle. Court rental will be a piece of the puzzle, but we believe it will need to be interwoven with a variety of other programming….and in fact will not even be the majority of revenue in many cases. An 8 court club can indeed reach $1 million per year and beyond, but not without a creative approach to programming, community building, offering cool experiences, and keeping players engaged.

Investing in a pickleball club means investing in your team and your strategy

Yes, you need to find a good facility, build nice courts and create an appealing space. But if you want to get off to a strong start, you’ll also need to invest in a team and an approach that builds a loyal repeat player-base. You need to convince players that have been playing for free, that they should pay. Just renting courts will not be enough to make the model work.

Pickleball Business Advisors is brothers Bill and John Pryor.  We provide a variety of consulting services based on extensive experience in fitness business development, and research into the fast growing pickleball marketplace.  To initiate a feasibility assessment for your pickleball club, or for other consulting, contact us so we can learn about your project.