Private market structures have real autonomy in their decision-making. Unlike tennis clubs for which the Tennis Federation "keeps an eye" on them, private centers have a certain freedom. As mentioned previously, they obviously cannot benefit from subsidies.

They basically have a very specific objective. We conducted interviews in two private centers in the metropolis of Lille. The first is a 100% center padel while the second is a franchise of a large indoor sports group in France, which offers football and now padel in its center.

The first has an offer therefore turned exclusively on the padel. Victor, the co-partner of this structure believes in strong concepts, and that is why he wanted to propose that padel. He even said during the interview " Today we are really identified on a niche »[1]. They decided, with his partner, to base all their offer and their communication on the padel and with the high point of offering quality services, such as a very welcoming clubhouse, good quality of the pitch, online reservations, numerous events, etc. Indeed, they have decided to offer many events all year round " There are plenty of tournaments, entertainment for the recreational practitioner, practicing competition. In fact it's really part of the services we want to bring, and it's also the expectation of customers. So suddenly clearly we organize a lot of events on different themes. »[2]. They have short labeled, and can therefore organize competitions recognized by the FFT. Moreover, from 24 to 26 August 2018, they will welcome a P500 men and a P100 women in their infrastructures.

The second center interviewed does not have exactly the same offer. At first they only proposed football, however they were integrated into the padel several years later. Their primary goal was to diversify the offer, an objective also recommended by the center brand to which they are attached: “ we had a part of the warehouse that was untapped. And it was a wish on behalf of this brand of center, to develop in each of their complex in France an activity annexed to football, as far as possible, in the centers where there was space »[3].

Jean, development manager padel in this center, informed us of its intentions to develop products. The product under development is adult courses. However, it takes time to set it up, especially since they are lagging behind their competitors, especially the first center mentioned just before. They had already tried the experiment, but the product was not sufficiently successful for it to work well. They were also confronted with the high costs of teachers, a feature that we will see in section 5.4.1.3.

So to sum up and compare these two centers, one is 100% padel and has focused its offer on a strong life around events, especially around official competitions, while the second offers football and padel and is more on an offer padel for recreational practitioners.

[1] Page 89: Victor interview

[2] Page 83: Victor interview

[3] Page 96: interview with Brice and Jean

Pierre Lemonnier

Pierre studied STAPS, and validated a master's degree in sports management, after studying in Reims, Frankfurt and Lille. I discovered the padel in 2014 during my Erasmus year in Frankfurt thanks to a Spanish friend. Damn it is good padel !

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