My personal opinion is this, tennis clubs have everything to gain by investing in the Padel and this for the following reasons:

  • The price of one or two courts of Padel is not very high. I advise in most regions to cover the Padel outdoors.
  • The creation of a structure Padel generates almost no fixed charges for these structures. Indeed, a tennis club often has excess space and empty tennis courts to transform. In addition, there is no need to hire teachers or additional manager or secretary because the tennis teachers will take care of the training of tennis players. Padel and the secretary or manager who was already in charge of the tennis activity will also take care of the activity Padel (which will not require a lot of additional work at first).
  • Tennis clubs often have very low rents and lots of space.
  • The municipality or the leagues can financially help tennis clubs in their projects to create Padel.
  • Tennis clubs need to diversify in order to survive. The Padel is completely complementary to tennis. It is a social sport, in a team, simpler and more fun.
  • Le Padel will grow rapidly in tennis clubs as they will be able to rely on their tennis player bases to launch the dynamic Padel, moreover this sport will bring a new clientele to the clubs (it is a sport twice as feminine as tennis).

Multisports (including indoor football centers) also have every interest in getting started for the same reasons as tennis clubs. Multisports have a large customer base and often have space in their centers to develop this sport. The Padel is a good way to diversify the center and to position oneself in a sport of the future. It is a weak investment which will generate little or no fixed salary costs.

Regarding the creation of centers 80-100% Padel, my opinion is more mixed. Is it profitable a pure club Padel ? My answer is “yes but”.

At present, the pioneers who embark on the pure Padel create profitable structures because: they are of quality, they have a monopoly on the region, they offer indoor tracks when the tennis clubs offer outdoor, the prices per hour allow good profits if the rate of court occupancy is high.

So if your pure club Padel is well placed, a pioneer in its region and of quality, the structure should be profitable. My doubt for the future is how the creation of 1000 courts of Padel by FFT in 3-4 years, will affect the Padel.

Because if we do a small comparative table of a tennis club facing a private club we get that.

According to the Madison study done in Spain in 2014 (http://www.vivirdeldeporte.com/2014/04/14/informe-de-la-industria-del-Padel-en-espana/), the factors that most influence a player when choosing where to play Padel are (multiple choice quiz):

My question is: "Why would we go and play in the future in a 100% club?" Padel if in the end we can play in the public tennis club next to us for less? "

This is why I have more doubts at the moment about the creation of a pure club Padel. On the other hand, if the pure club Padel is of quality, has a monopoly on its sector, is the only one to offer indoor in its region, has created a quality dynamic within its structure with players and teachers who allow to have a pole of Padel competitive, then it can be very profitable.

Romain Taupin

Franck Binisti

Franck Binisti discovers the padel at the Club des Pyramides in 2009 in the Paris region. Since padel is part of his life. You often see him touring France going to cover the major events of padel French.

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