Profitablilty of Indoor Facilities

[tominct]

OK, so this may not a thread for this category, but I have to ask, because curiosity is killing me. I have found that the indoor facilities close to me are lacking in terms of being "quality businesses." This says nothing of the instruction one can receive from the folks in them, just that from a business perspective they are lacking in one or more areas. I am a teacher, looking for a way to supplement my income, and my wife is not interested in continuing her hour commute to work each day, so I'm thinking here.....humor me please.

The place my son goes to hitting league is a tiny out of the way place, which is in itself not big deal, but the chief instrcutor's wife pretty much runs the place, and her mode of transportation ought to be a stick with some goat hair tied at the end, if you catch my drift. She's giving me cause to pull my kid and never go in the place ever again. She has called my house on occasion and ticks my wife off each time. She is simply a disagreeable person and I can't imagine the business can survive with her for a vey long time.

Another facility a few towns away is an absolutely ideal location. Right off the highway, large facility, big rec area for kickball, hoops, volleyball, etc. really great potential....but its about as inviting as Boo Radley's place! (ya know, Harper Lee, To Kill A Mockingbird) Its dark, dreary, and dirty. they have a game room area and half the games are busted, just not a well maintained place.

Now, are these kinds of places profitable enough to consider aquireing one, given an owner is willing to sell? Or Staring up one to compete with those with serious the flaws? Again, I'm not talking about "well, you cna't have your head up your butt about baseball, becasue that is what people are going there for..." I'm simply talking about the nature of profitability in these business.

Your thoughts

[wogdoggy]

of course its very very seasonal and i would think they are a better bet in cold climates.we have 3 facilitie near me and they are all similar but really lack top top quality instruction.we have the chicago sox trading academy in town which has better instruction but cost more and rental time is high.Most of these place around us have seperate batting cages with indoor infields as well.THE BIG money is made in organizing leagues.The one academy runs a fall ball league with well over 40 teams playing at 1000 plus per team,his cost fields and umps.then he runs a basketball league as well and when thats over he rolls out the turf for baseball infield.if you have the population and can run leagues thats where you'll make the cash.if your gonna think you can survive of tokens and batting cages ...good luck.btw the infield rents for about 120 an hour and is booked 7 days a week at night.

[Jake Patterson]

.." I'm simply talking about the nature of profitability in these business.
Your thoughts

I researched this some time ago and found there is a wide variety of facilities ranging from the huge multi sports complexes to a couple of cages thrown up at rented space at an old mill. The successfull ones, at least the ones that I've seen are run by former qualified teachers of the game or ex-pros. We have a place here in town that has three cages run by two guys who once coached Little League. They try to bring in qualified coaches to teach, but they struggle as the qualified coaches do not have a vested interest in the facility.

I looked at a self-entry facility. Set up cages and equipment and let the customers come and go on their own. Hitters would log on to a site and schedule their own time. Billing would be based on usage and there would have been a membership fee. Similar to many exercise facilities. Cameras could have monitored the facility. I think it was doable- I was scared off by the liability and insurance....

I own a business and rent an office at $10.00/Square ft (NE CT). In CT you could probably get a better deal in one of the many open old textile buildings available.

Some basic numbers:
1. 7000' Sq Ft. (Small place 4 cages) @ $8.00/ FT Sq. = 56,000/yr
2. Elec and Heat @ $200.00/mo = $2,400
3. If you are open 40 hours per week and just have someone man the desk = $10.00/hr X 1.35 (Taxes and Benefits) = $28,080
4. Phone...
5. Insurance
6. Maintenance
7. Supplies...

So far we're probably at $125,000 in expenses for the first year and we haven't purchased equipment....

At $70.00/hour in the cage (our cost here) this would mean the 4 cages would have to operate at 85% efficiency to break even...

Very rough numbers....

[tominct]

I researched this some time ago and found there is a wide variety of facilities ranging from the huge multi sports complexes to a couple of cages thrown up at rented space at an old mill. The successfull ones, at least the ones that I've seen are run by former qualified teachers of the game or ex-pros. We have a place here in town that has three cages run by two guys who once coached Little League. They try to bring in qualified coaches to teach, but they struggle as the qualified coaches do not have a vested interest in the facility.

I looked at a self-entry facility. Set up cages and equipment and let the customers come and go on their own. Hitters would log on to a site and schedule their own time. Billing would be based on usage and there would have been a membership fee. Similar to many exercise facilities. Cameras could have monitored the facility. I think it was doable- I was scared off by the liability and insurance....

I own a business and rent an office at $10.00/Square ft (NE CT). In CT you could probably get a better deal in one of the many open old textile buildings available.

Some basic numbers:
1. 7000' Sq Ft. (Small place 4 cages) @ $8.00/ FT Sq. = 56,000/yr
2. Elec and Heat @ $200.00/mo = $2,400
3. If you are open 40 hours per week and just have someone man the desk = $10.00/hr X 1.35 (Taxes and Benefits) = $28,080
4. Phone...
5. Insurance
6. Maintenance
7. Supplies...

So far we're probably at $125,000 in expenses for the first year and we haven't purchased equipment....

At $70.00/hour in the cage (our cost here) this would mean the 4 cages would have to operate at 85% efficiency to break even...

Very rough numbers....

Well, I'm thinkning there is added money in such things as camps, birthday parties, hitting leagues, clinics, sponsored trips, AAU teams, tournaments, etc, maybe an after school program for academics even, I am a CT certified teacher k-8 with over 10 years in the classroom and on the field coaching. I don't know Jake, I'm not the Walker boys, but I am a teacher, and information I can aquire, the teaching skills I already possess.

[wogdoggy]

all those things are great but the money is made by running the leagues be it baseball fall ball or basketball.renting out infields to teams is another lock for cash with a contract.lessons wont make you money and neither will the batting cages

[Jake Patterson]

all those things are great but the money is made by running the leagues be it baseball fall ball or basketball.renting out infields to teams is another lock for cash with a contract.lessons wont make you money and neither will the batting cages

Good point, depends on the area. I live in a very rural area, I think we talked about this before. Our graduating HS class was less than 100 students last year. Off season leagues are difficult here because the athletes are ususally playing others sports

[tadlock11]

This is probably one of the best multi-use facilities I've ever seen...and there's two near me [business link], [business link]

I believe this is a chain and they are pretty good (not sport related) but to better the athlete. If it is a chain, you may be able to inquire about getting one: [business link]
and then just for grins, this place opened up around the corner from me last week: [businesslink]

I wish there were more to do around here...

[tadlock11]

[business name]
[link to business]
[link to business]
[link to business]

[address]
[business telphone number]

[tominct]

Frozen Ropes?

Ok, all good points.

then there's Frozen Ropes. You look at the website of tihers and it all loks very high speed. They were takeing franchise application some time ago, but I believe they no longer are. Anyone know anything about them? I receall their frnachise fee being rather high, and they required a percentage of the GROSS, and it was single digits!

Tom

[tominct]

Ok, all good points.

then there's Frozen Ropes. You look at the website of tihers and it all loks very high speed. They were takeing franchise application some time ago, but I believe they no longer are. Anyone know anything about them? I receall their frnachise fee being rather high, and they required a percentage of the GROSS, and it was single digits!

Tom

By the way, there were two FR in CT one time, one in Danbury and one in Monroe, I believe the one in Monroe has closed.

[wogdoggy]

we have them here in chicago as well..my take,,,they are just as susceptible to BK as an independent.Their name around here means nothing.

[tominct]

Ok, all good points.

then there's Frozen Ropes. You look at the website of tihers and it all loks very high speed. They were takeing franchise application some time ago, but I believe they no longer are. Anyone know anything about them? I receall their frnachise fee being rather high, and they required a percentage of the GROSS, and it was single digits!

Tom

I mean was NOT single digits!

[WonderMonkey]

I own (part ownership) two facilities.

Here is a link to the baseball/softball only site: http://www.beahitter.com . That's actually the old website but you get the idea. As you can see from the site it's not all shiny and new but it's what we took over from previous ownership and we are improving it as we go along.

The other one is a multi-sport facility. The basball portion of it consists of renting out the indoor soccer field for practices, running actual leagues (12 and younger) out of the indoor soccer field during the winter, and an 8 diamond complex that we are opening in the spring. Here is a link to the outdoor ball fields portion: http://www.GatewayBallFields.com .

I'll post more in a second.....

[Bluesteve32]

OK, so this may not a thread for this category, but I have to ask, because curiosity is killing me. I have found that the indoor facilities close to me are lacking in terms of being "quality businesses." This says nothing of the instruction one can receive from the folks in them, just that from a business perspective they are lacking in one or more areas. I am a teacher, looking for a way to supplement my income, and my wife is not interested in continuing her hour commute to work each day, so I'm thinking here.....humor me please.

The place my son goes to hitting league is a tiny out of the way place, which is in itself not big deal, but the chief instrcutor's wife pretty much runs the place, and her mode of transportation ought to be a stick with some goat hair tied at the end, if you catch my drift. She's giving me cause to pull my kid and never go in the place ever again. She has called my house on occasion and ticks my wife off each time. She is simply a disagreeable person and I can't imagine the business can survive with her for a vey long time.

Another facility a few towns away is an absolutely ideal location. Right off the highway, large facility, big rec area for kickball, hoops, volleyball, etc. really great potential....but its about as inviting as Boo Radley's place! (ya know, Harper Lee, To Kill A Mockingbird) Its dark, dreary, and dirty. they have a game room area and half the games are busted, just not a well maintained place.

Now, are these kinds of places profitable enough to consider aquireing one, given an owner is willing to sell? Or Staring up one to compete with those with serious the flaws? Again, I'm not talking about "well, you cna't have your head up your butt about baseball, becasue that is what people are going there for..." I'm simply talking about the nature of profitability in these business.

Your thoughts

Have you thought of officiating?

Some supplimental income, fun on the field, you can work more than one sport, and a great way to stay in the game and not have to worry about fund raising like coaching must do at times.

Youth Football this season and I normally get between $700-900 wokring on mostly Saturdays for about 9 weeks or so. HS football we gat anywhere between $55-65 a game and often work three games a week. I know guys who make 4K just working youth baseball.

[WonderMonkey]

Each of the two facilities were purchased from a previous owner. What does that tell you? It COULD tell you that the owners were looking to cash out and their investment had paid off. Or it could tell you that they were not able to make it work, the business was dwindling, and they had to sell when the opportunity came up. Option #2 is the correct answer here.

The baseball only site is in an old 84 Lumber building, if you know what those are. Actually occupies half of it. We are trying to get the other half as well and would turn it into a place to have a full infield and partial outfield for some good indoor leagues. We took over the business when it was losing money. Right now we are able to profit yet are rolling the money back into improving the place so in reality net profit is zero. Fine by me.

The multi-sport complex was purchased from another owner and was losing about $200,000 a year when we took over. Again it is now profiting and we are in our first phase of expansion which is the 8 diamond complex.