Watch This Before Opening A Pickleball Facility

welcome to the first episode of a new series where we deep dive into the business of pickleball facilities. The objective is to uncover the stories behind these thriving businesses, explore each facility’s ingredients for success, and what makes them unique. In July I made my first stop to San Diego to visit Pat Rolfes, co-founder of The HUB
thehubpickleball.com/the-hub-san-diego/
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Chapters
00:00 intro
00:39 first time we met
01:04 location, background
04:55 gathering experience before opening a facility
06:08 location location location
07:35 knowing a good deal vs a bad one
10:17 analyzing debt, deals
13:11 mall vs club
13:56 large scale & court vs club
14:43 competing w free (parks)
16:16 overhead costs
18:18 opinion on franchises
21:12 what to look for in a franchise deal
24:40 leave emotion out of it
25:35 key critical first hire
28:25 virtual pro shop, pickleball superstore
33:59 closing
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[@buildingpickleball]

what did you think of this series? what questions do you have for facility owners? if you want to give pique a try: piquelife.com/bpickleball

[@SteveBoyer10]

You can tell that Pat really knows what he's talking about. I'd love to come out and visit one of The Hub facilities when I get the chance.

[@buildingpickleball]

100%. Hope more facility founders see this.

[@scottbouck7700]

Diving into some entrepreneurial endeavors myself so I’m pumped for this series! So much to digest in this episode. Keep them coming! Top tier content!

[@buildingpickleball]

nice! what are you working on? Awesome, so glad this is helpful!

[@scottbouck7700]

I’m a livestream engineer and I’m building out the infrastructure of what will be a live production company geared toward providing live-streaming/live recording services for events. It’s pretty fun!

[@buildingpickleball]

Oooo interesting. So basically what some PPA needs? Lol. What industry you looking at?

[@scottbouck7700]

Lol, yes! I’m actually in talks with Boxcar Productions. Potentially going to help them stream PPA in Vegas at the end of the month! Super stoked! Honestly, streaming pickleball would be a dream! But while I build, I’m looking at corporate events/conferences.

[@ipopfun]

This is amazing!!! We are on our way to creating our first facility as well and this is a great resource

[@buildingpickleball]

thats awesome! Hopefully this is helpful

[@sebastianaccetta4819]

Your videos are so literally so good such a pleasure to watch!

[@buildingpickleball]

Much appreciated! Thanks for watching and supporting the channel

[@LBhoodlums]

Pat is the best !!! What a legend

[@rolfesfamily]

❤

[@kimleith1378]

Would love for Pat to build a North County (Club). San Marcos, Escondido, Valley Center, is my hood. Beautiful hills, lots of open land. Just expensive to own it. PIKLR is doing pretty well with the franchise end. Riggs is nice,, but parking is the issue. Barnes has expanded and doing ok I think.

[@buildingpickleball]

Hadn’t heard of this Barnes spot until you and another person commented about it

[@shookumm9759]

Barnes has decent place but nothing special

[@boblorincz]

Great stuff! Where can I find more information about Pickleball Superstore's virtual pro shop program?

[@buildingpickleball]

Email Steve (co-founder) [e-mail]

[@pickleballtechdude]

9:23 "Pickleball grew up from the streets" goes astronomically hard. Need an out of context Metro Boomin transition using that clip.

[@buildingpickleball]

😂

[@houinbaseball]

This is great info, so San Diego is a large market with lots of people could you do an interview with a successful facility in a small market??? Say 50-100k people?

[@buildingpickleball]

Yeah that’s a great point. Right now I have some Austin spots next on my list. Not all are downtown either, some further up north in smaller towns. There is this one spot in Michigan, talked briefly to the guy managing that one and he’s trying to get me out there once they open up. If you have any suggestions or people you know, please send them my email: [e-mail] Love the comment btw

[@houinbaseball]

@@buildingpickleball thanks! That would be great to hear, we are trying to build a place in Missouri so looking for all the insights we can get.

[@ThePickleballDojo]

The SD facility is a vibe 🔥

[@buildingpickleball]

Let’s dojo storm the open play

[@ThePickleballDojo]

@@buildingpickleball just tell me when!

[@antimatter76]

Good video. I had to subscribe to the channel.

[@buildingpickleball]

Welcome aboard!

[@gintu05]

Damn, Did I miss the building pickleball San Diego meetup?! ;)

[@buildingpickleball]

I’ll fire up the bat signal next time. Was only there for a couple hours!

[@Yellowshelf22]

Pat, the hub San Diego looks awesome … Please bring the hub to Australia 🇦🇺

[@jennifersilletto179]

Any chance he is soing this in Las Vegas? We dont have currently many indoor courts. We have more and more players. Ive had to look at playing in community centers but during the summer, its limited due to camps for kids. I olay once a week because its too hot to be outside! 90 degrees at 8am amd 106 degrees at 8pm is a no can do for me outside.

[@buildingpickleball]

Dunno if it’s in his plans but def reach out to him and suggest it! Take a ticket though bc I want him to come to Austin first haha

[@jennifersilletto179]

@@buildingpickleball I sent this to a real estate developer I met. He is from Georgia but he has been asking me about pickleball. I sent his this video to watch.

[@JogBird]

its basically a social club with pickleball courts

[@frabriziovelazquez22]

Members should get more of a discount for the ladders and the courts need more space, can't hit an ATP 90% of the time

[@roberthughes9773]

I can’t believe they didn’t put dividers between each court to stop balls from rolling into another court during play. Even my municipal courts have that.

[@Everheartt]

Do Barnes tennis center! And Bobby rigs! Would love to see which you like the most

[@buildingpickleball]

Yeah would love to give them a visit! Appreciate the recs

[@craighill8974]

Where is the new Jacksonville facility with outdoor covered courts going to be?

[@buildingpickleball]

Not sure, you might be able to DM Pat on IG

[@JAH5927]

Looks like they are building at the old Orange Park Country Club tennis facility.

[@robertallen4694]

Has Ryan ever owned or operated a successful business? Serious question.

[@buildingpickleball]

Brian? Me? No, I have not owned or operated a successful business before. This content creation venture is my first.

[@gilbertamthor5098]

It is crazy how this has grown. It reminds me of the snowboarding explosion. Both sports are so easy to learn and retard could go out and play PB the very first day , I have played 2 times and we smoked a 4.0 (they said they were 4.5 ???). Noone could ever do this in Tennis or sports that take time and talent to play. That hub place looks so cool. I might have to break down and start playing .

[@shookumm9759]

Good luck playing real 4.5s which you’ll find there

[@gilbertamthor5098]

@@shookumm9759 i will keep up posted. Lol.