Padel, at all latitudes, is living its magic moment. In its young history it had never reached the current peaks of interest and notoriety.
All those involved – players, clubs, producers, circuits, media – are benefiting from the extraordinary growth of the Movement.
Italy is the leader in this vertical trend.
Practitioners and fields are multiplying at a rapid pace.
And more and more, small and large entrepreneurs are deciding to invest in the opening of new Circles.
The current scenario, ideal for those who want to enter the Padel business, however, also hides some pitfalls.
Today’s unbalanced relationship between supply and demand acts as a “blinker” and hides behind it the danger of strategic initial mistakes and management gaps that will soon emerge, when the final customer – the player – will have more choices.
For us at Padel Travel Costa del Sol Group, it is a “movie we have already seen” here in Spain.
Here, then, are the main reasons to avoid “do-it-yourself” if you want to make Padel a profitable business in the medium to long term:
Little knowledge of the subject: many of the people who decide to invest do not know the world of Padel in depth. They are not very familiar with either the “business of the field” or the management aspects that revolve around it.
High economic risk: the opening of a Padel Club involves an investment of thousands of euros. Choices dictated by instinct or by “hearsay”, wrong indications from alleged “experts” can mean for an entrepreneur an increase in the initial investment up to +30% compared to what is really necessary as well as a growth in operating costs up to +25%.
New competitors: every day dozens of new Padel Clubs are born. Wherever you want to open, you will have to deal with a growing and increasingly qualified competition. The initial strategic choices will define the future of the Center. If it is not consolidated as “más que un club” (more than a club), the war will soon be exclusively about price.
Missed opportunities: the “do-it-yourself” approach and the current scenario (“the courts fill themselves up”) lead to a “lazy” approach, often a legacy of management linked to tennis or soccer, sports with a very different logic from Padel. This does not allow the club to maximize revenues by taking full advantage of all complementary services and products, with a potential loss that often exceeds 20%.
Investing in Padel
An experienced professional in the field, on the contrary, supports the entrepreneur in the main actions and strategic decisions that precede the start-up of a Padel Center and that will define who and what that Center will be “when it grows up”:
Project analysis: definition of the perimeter and horizons of the project to make it sustainable and consistent with expectations.
Analysis of the context and competitors: analytical investigation of the main parameters to verify strengths and weaknesses, threats and opportunities of the area in which you want to invest and in-depth analysis of the main competitors present and those coming.
Costs and revenues forecast plan: the “green light” to the Project! Start-up costs, current year expenses, revenue sources, amortization plan.
Analysis of these numbers can rectify or confirm the initial size and ambition of the project.
Choice of location: definition of the indispensable parameters for a correct choice of the “House of Padel”.
Choice of the field: deepening “super partes” on all the many aspects that must be considered in the choice of a playing field
Marketing & Sponsorship: marketing strategies to attract the different Padel audiences and a sponsorship plan to approach the main companies in the area and beyond.
THE SOURCES OF REVENUE ARE NOT ONLY RELATED TO THE RENT OF THE FIELD!
Analysis of company constitution and choice of affiliation: support in understanding the different solutions of sports companies and their pros and cons both from the fiscal and management point of view.
Licenses and permits: definition of the necessary procedure for the start-up of the activity with relative indication of the professional figures to be involved in the project.
What will be the scenario for a “do-it-yourself” club in 5 years?
What will be the “life expectancy” and the difference in revenues compared to a Club created and managed in collaboration with professionals?
SPAIN, WHICH STARTED 30 YEARS AGO, HAS ALREADY GIVEN US MANY OF THESE ANSWERS!
in collaboration with Alessandro Di Stefano (Padel Travel Costa del Sol)
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