Start a Court Sports Facility
Space first: courts plus run-off, the column grid and clear height. Then sourced, dated cost and revenue ranges, and a break-even method you run with your own numbers.
The Five Decisions, in Order
Start with the building, because it sets the number of courts, and the number of courts sets almost everything else. Begin with the overview.
- Building: clear height first, then the building checklist.
- Courts: how many fit, columns included.
- Layout: the four layout guides, each ending in a template you can open.
- Cost: upfront cost, lease vs buy vs build and franchise or independent.
- Break-even: how the money comes in and the break-even method.
Two calculators go with the series: the court layout calculator and the facility break-even calculator. Money figures are sourced, dated ranges; nothing here is financial advice.
All Start a Court Sports Facility Guides
Start a Court Sports Facility
A planning guide for people still deciding, before a lease is signed. It starts with the floor plan: the courts, the run-off, the columns and the height. The money comes after, as sourced ranges you can check.
How Many Courts Fit in My Building?
Square footage alone won't tell you. Count playing surfaces in rows and columns, check the column grid, then leave room for the lobby. Here is the arithmetic, worked through on real building sizes.
What Ceiling Height Do I Need?
Clear height comes first, because it decides which sports a building can take. Measure under the lowest thing hanging from the roof, not to the roof itself.
What to Look for in a Building
Check the things you can't change first. Height and columns are fixed. Zoning and exits are slow. Everything else is money.
Lease vs Buy vs Build
Rent tends to follow how many courts a building fits, so the floor plan comes before the negotiation. Here are the 2026 rent ranges, a way to turn rent into cost per court-hour, and what buying involves.
Layout Guide: A 4-Court Pickleball Club
The smallest club layout most people consider. Two by two courts, a front desk you pass on the way in, and columns kept out of play.
Layout Guide: An 8-Court Badminton Hall
Eight courts take about the same floor area whichever way you arrange them. The arrangement decides the building shape, the curtains and where the lights go.
Layout Guide: A Mixed Pickleball and Badminton Hall
Same court, different nets, different height. If the building is tall enough, one floor can take both sports and you can change the mix by season or by hour.
Layout Guide: Outdoor Courts
Outdoors there's no ceiling and no column grid, but the sun, the fence and the lights take their place.
Upfront Cost: What an Indoor Court Facility Costs to Open
Published numbers run from about $200,000 to over $3 million for similar-sized clubs. The spread comes from what's included. Here are the line items, the sourced ranges and a worksheet for your own estimate.
Franchise or Independent: What the Disclosure Documents Show
Franchise disclosure documents are the best public data on what an indoor club costs to open. This page reads them as data. It doesn't recommend any brand or the franchise route over going independent.
How These Businesses Make Money
Revenue comes down to three numbers multiplied together: how full the courts are, how many people are on each one and what each person pays per hour. Here's what venues actually charged in 2025–2026.
The Break-Even Method
A formula you run with your own rent, prices and hours. We show it once with an example, labelled as an illustration. It isn't a forecast, and it can't tell you whether your club will make money.
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