Sales of pickleball facilities are rising in the United States, and asking prices are being cut more deeply. Industry outlet The Dink reported on September 11 that figures from the IAPPF (International Association of Pickleball and Padel Facilities), which tracks facility brokerage, show nine facilities cut their asking prices over the past 10 weeks, by an average of 39%. Two were marked down by more than 50%. With an overheated US market moving into a phase of sorting by profitability, Japan, where permanent courts are only now being built in earnest, can read what has already happened elsewhere.<\/p>\n
David Johnson of The Dink compiled the listings on the business sale site BizBuySell that cut prices between late June and early September. The average cut, close to the median, was 39%, meaning prices were re-listed almost 40% below the original asking figure. A market that was still in a construction boom a year ago is tilting from seller's market to buyer's market.<\/p>\n
Johnson frames this not as an industry collapse but as an adjustment toward realistic levels. A facility is valued not by what it cost to build but by EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization). A venue that is not producing steady profit is hard to sell, and when a buyer does appear, the price comes in below what was spent on the walls, courts and lighting.<\/p>\n
The specifics are stark. An indoor club in Florida cut its asking price from $1.5 million (about 225 million yen at 150 yen to the dollar) straight to $600,000 (about 90 million yen). Four facilities in Florida, Maryland, Michigan and South Carolina all started at $1.5 million, but once the financials were disclosed they scattered to $600,000, $860,000, $915,000 and $1 million. The same sales pitch, priced again on actual profit, spreads this far apart.<\/p>\n
The Pickleball Academy, with five locations, went from $4.5 million to $2.15 million; an eight-court facility on Staten Island from $699,000 to $399,000; a club in Harris County, Texas from $150,000 to $95,000. Large or small, prices are converging on what the business actually earns.<\/p>\n
| Facility and location<\/th>\n | Original price<\/th>\n | Revised<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<\/thead>\n |
|---|---|---|
| Florida indoor club<\/td>\n | $1.5 million<\/td>\n | $600,000<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| The Pickleball Academy, 5 locations<\/td>\n | $4.5 million<\/td>\n | $2.15 million<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Staten Island, 8 courts<\/td>\n | $699,000<\/td>\n | $399,000<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Harris County, Texas<\/td>\n | $150,000<\/td>\n | $95,000<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n Source: The Dink (IAPPF data, September 11). Dollar figures are the original and revised asking prices.<\/p>\n What Japanese facility investment can learn from a market that moved first<\/h2>\nIn Japan, facility building is accelerating instead. Mitsui Fudosanopened Tokyo's first permanent courts in Toyosu<\/a>, and among local governments,Kodaira is turning a former pool site into courts with an operating partner<\/a>, so idle space is being put to use. The US adjustment is less a damper on that investment than a model for designing for profitability, because it forces a shift from stacking an asking price on top of construction costs to working backward from utilization and earnings.<\/p>\n |