Nicola Ceresoli is CEO of NXPadel, the ‘game-changing’ Italian company which is revolutionising the padel court industry with its unique Fibreglass and ComfortGlass solutions. He shares some thoughts for industry newcomers on choosing the optimum location for a padel club.
Know your audience
When it comes to seeking a location for your padel club, urban, suburban and rural locations all have their advantages and disadvantages.
Generally speaking, in my experience, people in the city will be less willing to travel long distances to play than those in the countryside. It’s more complex for someone to travel five miles in the city than it is to travel the same distance in a less populated area. It will take some pretty great marketing to persuade someone to travel from south to north London for a game of padel!
However, in London, for example, it is easier to find people who want to play, with high footfall, generally higher expendable income and a multicultural population, many of whom will already know about, or play, the sport (outside the city, you may need to work harder to explain what padel is first!). The down side of an urban club, of course, is that rent and other costs will be far higher.
If you build a court at a university campus, for example, your players are unlikely to want luxury surroundings and a fancy bar. They want to turn up and go for a cheap price. Knowing your audience is key.
Check out the competition
Research is crucial. Playtomic and Monitor Deloitte’s Global Padel Report 2023 is a very useful guide for market analysis and assessing saturation of padel venues in your locality. It may tell you there’s a padel club just down the road, but if it has only two courts, does that still leave you with an opportunity?
If there’s a local padel club catering for the more high-spec, luxury end of the market, with spa, lounge bar, restaurant and so on, you may want to aim for more affordable facilities to target a slightly different ‘turn up and play’ demographic.
Evaluating the strengths and weaknesses of your nearest rivals, and offering an alternative on price, types of services and business model, could be vital.
Indoor or outdoor?
In a big well-maintained warehouse, you can host players 365 days of the year and don’t have to think about rain, wind or noise and light pollution. You can even play until midnight. But, as any prospective padel club owner in the UK will tell you, it is super difficult to find these venues, with lots of competition.
A warehouse must be empty, without any cumbersome support pillars in the way, and must be in good condition. And the big issue is cost. With such huge ground rents and overheads, you’re not going to see a return on investment any time soon.
Personally, I prefer playing padel outside. I’m a big lobber and like to play them high! When I play indoors, I feel inhibited by the roof. Outdoor clubs require a smaller investment. There is always the option of establishing the business for a year or two, then adding a canopy later on to protect players from the elements.
Outdoor courts are when NXPadel’s Fibreglass courts really add value. Unlike traditional iron courts, Fibreglass is unaffected by rust, so no amount of rain, salt, sand or wind will damage its structure.
Check out the neighbourhood
Indoor courts immediately reduce the issues you might get from your neighbours. You don’t have to close at 8.30pm for fear of getting complaints from people living nearby about the noise and floodlights.
Even if you’ve managed to overcome the initial hurdle of securing planning permission, you may still face those worries with outdoor facilities.
This, again, is when NXPadel’s Fibreglass and ComfortGlass solutions are hugely advantageous. The noise of balls hitting the mesh and glass are vastly reduced compared to iron structures – keeping the neighbours happy and making your club a more comfortable environment to hang out in.
