We are seeing the development of 100% padel centers, multi-sport centers including 5-a-side football centers that include padel, or even tennis clubs offering padel... So what are you more into?

Multi-sports (including indoor soccer centers) have every interest in getting started for the same reasons as tennis clubs. Multi-sports have a large customer base and often 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 on padel is more mixed. Is a pure club profitable? Padel ? At present, the pioneers who embark on the Padel generally create structures that are almost profitable because: they are of high quality, they have a monopoly on the region, they offer indoor tracks when tennis clubs offer outdoor activities, the prices per hour allow an interesting turnover if the court occupancy rate is high.

So if a structure Padel is well placed, a pioneer in its region and of quality, the complex should be profitable. The 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.


The question is, "Why would we play in the future at a 100% club?" Padel if in the end we can play in the public tennis club next to us for less? ".

Response to the problem :

Thus, in France, the main means of development is to build padel courts in tennis clubs with the support of the FFT. Padel needs significant visibility with a loyal clientele but who need to be surprised or to try new practices. From now on, it will be necessary to focus on developing training to introduce the youngest to this new practice.

For people who do not play tennis but are sports enthusiasts, private complexes are a very important area of ​​development. This allows you not to pay a yearly subscription and above all to play and promote new sports such as padel or futsal in particular. A sport like badminton is more present in private structures because it is a sport that many people like but to play once in a while.

There are more doubts at present about the creation of a pure structure 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. Unfortunately, in Lyon, Padel Central Lyon had to file for bankruptcy after 2 years for lack of resources and profitability.

The real question for 100% complexes Padel seeing which multi-sports complexes have had to struggle financially is how to deal with off-peak hours. Whatever sport is not yet anchored in the genes of the French, the private structure will find it difficult to make profitable these off-peak hours.

This is why many external players are involved in the development of padel such as brands with the organization of many events or tournaments. Brands must, for emergence, develop a larger range of products, especially for children. Why not have the same strategy as in Spain? Brands offer a very quantitative and qualitative market unlike our country. In addition, the media related to padel allow news and information to be relayed.

Further information :

  • Information is drawn from the expertise of Romain Taupin:
  • http://www.fichier-pdf.fr/2017/04/30/etude-sur-le-marche-du-padel-francais/?a=captcha#dl
Antoine Sarroste

Antoine Sarroste studied padel. He offers us his expertise on the development of padel in France.

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