Pickleball Democratized Racquet Sports. Padel is Commercializing Them.
By Ed Shanaphy, CMAA
I think back to my parents playing tennis in the early 1970s. We would go to the town park in Lewisboro, NY. There were four courts, and on a Sunday morning young parents would basically put their racquets on the net as a marker — a marker to play the next set against whomever won the present set.
As the years passed, my parents would try to take over a court and play with players closer to their own level. They would jump on with Frank and Marian, friends in town who were both solid players and at roughly the same level as my parents.
It was inexpensive. It was social. And it was accessible. Pickleball has followed much of that same tradition. Public courts were its breeding ground. It attracted an older, largely non-junior demographic initially, and almost everyone played with everyone else. Beginners mixed with intermediates. Clinics incorporated multiple levels. Open play really meant open play.
That is changing. Open play is gradually disappearing, or at the very least becoming much more organized by level. At one of our managed properties – Arrowhead in Edwards, Colorado – we are seeing that evolution firsthand. For the first time in four years, players have essentially divided themselves into three distinct clinic groups: beginner, intermediate and — new this year, at their request — advanced.
Of course, there is one constant in racquet sports: most players tend to give themselves the benefit of the doubt when assessing their own level. Almost overnight, some of our beginners became intermediates and some of our intermediates became advanced players — at least in their own minds.
But underneath that familiar bit of self-promotion is an important change in the sport. Pickleball players increasingly want to play with people of similar ability. The great melting pot of open play is beginning to separate into levels, ratings and established groups. Pickleball is starting to follow the same path tennis traveled decades ago when my parents preferred to play with Frank and Marian.
Pickleball established itself first as a parks-and-recreation amenity and then moved into the country club. Over the past decade, clubs that once debated whether to paint pickleball lines on a tennis court have built dedicated pickleball facilities. Pickleball moved upmarket.
The difference is that padel is starting upmarket and play, through apps and the tradition of Mexicana and Americana tournament and round-robin play, is already mainly by level. And that distinction may completely change the economics of racquet sports. If padel becomes a positive revenue source for clubs and country clubs, tennis may follow in years to come, but pickleball will always be difficult to monetize.
Padel Learned From Pickleball
Padel watched pickleball explode.
It saw the social component. It saw how doubles could create community. It saw that a sport could be easier to learn than tennis while still being incredibly difficult to master. It saw the value of shorter matches, organized play, leagues, ratings, events, food and beverage, music and an atmosphere surrounding the court. But padel also appears to have learned something else from pickleball: Don’t give away the product too cheaply.
A pickleball paddle can be inexpensive. A pickleball court can be painted onto an existing hard court. Four players can show up at a municipal facility with paddles and a few balls and play for practically nothing. That accessibility has been one of pickleball’s greatest strengths. From a club operator’s perspective, however, it can also be one of its limitations.
Padel is different. The court itself creates scarcity. I harken back to my time at the London School of Economics – supply and demand. Low supply, creates high demand, creates higher prices. You can’t simply paint some additional lines and call it a padel court. There is glass, steel, turf, lighting, foundations and significant construction involved. In many locations, real estate becomes an equally important part of the equation. That expense creates a barrier to entry.
And, somewhat counterintuitively, that barrier may be one of padel’s greatest commercial advantages.
The Court Is the Product
There is a real value to court time. In major cities, particularly, padel players have become accustomed to paying significant amounts to reserve a court. Four players split the cost. The expense becomes part of the experience rather than an impediment to it. And now, padel operators are layering other streams of revenue: food, instruction, and membership dues.
Monthly dues at $525 per month, that’s $6,300 per annum, are now being added on top of court time fees, as is now the case at City View Racquet Club in New York City. Interestingly, tennis court time is included in the membership fee. Miami is the most mature padel market. It’s leading padel club, Reserve Padel in Miami’s Design District, is now offering a $500 per month membership offering lower court fees. But even reduced, court fees are still rather high. Although other cities, such as Los Angeles might show a slightly lower court fee per hour, it is still significant.
Compare that with pickleball. Imagine telling four experienced pickleball players that their regular two-hour game will now cost them a substantial court fee every time they play. In many markets their first reaction may be to find a public court. The padel player often doesn’t have that option. That is an enormous difference.
Padel Clubs Aren’t Really Selling Padel
The smartest padel facilities are selling something much bigger. They’re selling belonging. This emanated from pickleball. Tennis is the outlier here… elite, longer learning curve, and full of cliques – yes on both the men’s and women’s sides!
Walk into many of the newer padel-only clubs and you quickly notice that the courts are only part of the product. There is a bar. There is food. There is music. There are leagues, ladders, tournaments, corporate events and social evenings. People don’t necessarily leave immediately after they play. That matters enormously. A pickleball court generates revenue while somebody is paying to use the court. A well-designed padel club can monetize the customer before the match, during the match and for two hours afterward while also enjoying a court fee.
Suddenly we aren’t discussing court utilization. We are discussing revenue per member visit. That is a much more interesting number for a club operator.
Country Clubs Should Be Paying Attention
For private clubs, the economics become even more compelling. Pickleball has unquestionably added value to country clubs. It has created programming, attracted new players and brought members to the club who may not have been tennis players. But pickleball is frequently expected to be included in the membership experience.
Padel has arrived with a different expectation.
Members understand that it is a premium amenity. Clubs can create padel-specific memberships, guest fees, tournaments, instructional programs and events around it. Even clubs that include court usage within dues can use padel as a membership acquisition and retention tool. More importantly, padel has cachet.
For now, at least, there is something aspirational about it. That is important in the private-club business – and, for both equity and commercial clubs. Country clubs have always sold more than golf, tennis or swimming. They sell community, exclusivity, access and experience. Padel fits naturally into that model.
What Clubs Should Be Asking Themselves
Pickleball will always win the participation race. And I don’t think padel needs to beat it. Pickleball’s sheer participation numbers in the United States are extraordinary. It is inexpensive to start, easy to understand and increasingly easy to find.
Padel has a much steeper infrastructure challenge. It has a bigger learning curve. It’s not as accessible.
But perhaps we are measuring the wrong thing. Instead of asking: How many people play, club operators, management and governors should be asking how can we use club real estate more profitably? What would be the economic activity per member with padel added. Would it add lifetime value to each member household?
That is where I believe padel may ultimately win. Pickleball democratized the racquet-sports industry. Padel’s case history is one of premiumization. One sport grew because almost anybody could play almost anywhere. The other is growing by making people want access to somewhere they cannot play without paying for it.
And for private clubs, developers and racquet-facility operators, that difference could make padel one of the most important revenue-producing amenities we have seen in decades. Padel learned plenty from pickleball. But perhaps its most important lesson was knowing what not to copy.
Ed Shanaphy is President and CEO of SBW Associates, Inc, the parent company of BeyondTheBaselines.com, one of the nation’s leading management consultancies to private member clubs and racquet facilities. A graduate of Duke University and The London School of Economics, Shanaphy has led clubs from both within as a member, president and governor at over a dozen clubs, and from outside as General Manager and Chief Operating Officer. He is an avid tennis player, but more recently has been seen more often on the padel court.
