Humans of Padel
Join your host Max Marsh Pickard, General Manager of Padel Art & Co founder of The Padel Outlet in a weekly entertaining dive into the world of Padel and the people involved in the industry
Humans of Padel
Turning Pickleball Dreams into Reality: Building a Business Beyond the Court
Jodi Cullity shares her entrepreneurial journey from working at the White House and Expo 2020 Dubai to founding ELEVENO Pickleball, a multimillion-dollar business combining sports, food and beverage, and entertainment.
• Building a pickleball club that generates $6-10 million in revenue through a 40/30/30 model (food and beverage, corporate events, pickleball)
• Creating community-focused experiences rather than just court time
• Using pop-up events and data collection to prove business concept and win over landlords
• Financial breakdown of pickleball clubs ($400K minimum investment, potential for $1-11M annual revenue)
• How pickleball accessibility drives growth (courts cost $5K vs $50K for padel)
• The psychology behind open-format courts creating better networking opportunities
• Strategies for partnerships with hospitals, schools, and corporate sponsors
• Importance of targeting beginners rather than advanced players for revenue
• Growth of college scholarships and professional leagues in pickleball
• Personal transformation journey that inspired her business approach
Reach out to Jodi on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/jodicullity?utm_source=share&utm_campaign=share_via&utm_content=profile&utm_medium=ios_app
if you're interested in investing in ELEVENO Pickleball or exploring partnership opportunities in the racket sports space.
Hello and welcome back to another episode of the Humans of Paddle podcast. I'm your host, max. In this episode, I'm joined by Jodie Cullity. Jodie is the founder of 11o Pickleball, a company that specializes in social events and consulting within the pickleball industry, and she's currently building her own pickleball club in Massachusetts. We discuss her entrepreneurial journey and also the financials of starting a pickleball club in the US, also the crossovers between paddle and pickleball and how we can continue to grow pickleball, paddle and all racket sports throughout the Middle East and worldwide. I hope you enjoy the episode. Have a great day. So, jodie, I'm actually very, very, very happy to have you here, because I feel like I know you without knowing you, as we've been exchanging messages on Instagram following each other's journeys. Finally, you're back here in Dubai, so let's start off with that. What brought you back here to Dubai?
Speaker 2:So I'm in Dubai for the Dubai Business Associates 10-year reunion, fortunate enough to meet His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, the ruler of Dubai, and explain my entrepreneurship journey from White House to Expo 2020, to back to Boston to now my own pick-a-ball company. So every time I come to Dubai it's very reflective. I try to come once a quarter but because of the business, I haven't been here since last year. So really excited to meet you.
Speaker 2:For those of you that don't know, I have been stalking Max on Instagram for the last two years. He was the first person that opened up Pickleball in the whole GCC area, which is a really big deal, and I would sing his praises from afar. I sent him a note. I even got your WhatsApp number. Before you even gave me your WhatsApp number, I think I messaged you and trying to make the introduction, I just knew I had to meet you and everything that you're building here. So this is definitely a long time coming and my whole trip. The reason why I'm here yes, it was because I was speaking on stage yesterday, but this podcast and experience was number two. I was like can I have my dress for my speech? What am I going to wear on Max's Cumin to Paddle podcast.
Speaker 1:Wow, I'm flattered. It's a big deal Meeting the Shake podcast. I'm very fine with that, you, I mean it's pretty close. I'm 100% fine with that and I appreciate it. I'm flattered. So tell us about your pickleball company.
Speaker 2:So my pickleball company is 11-0 Pickleball. I came up with the concept when I left Dubai, actually, so I did Expo 2020. I was leading the protocol team on behalf of the State Department and, as you can imagine, when you leave Dubai and you go back to your roots, there's just this huge gap. And any interview I took or any you know I was back with working with high-level dignitaries and delegations in the United States. I just wasn't feeling inspired. I missed that Dubai spark.
Speaker 2:And my parents my dad is a retired firefighter, my mom is an elementary school bus driver they fell in love with pickleball. It was everything they talked about, it was all their friends. They were so active and we became really close playing pickleball. And so I knew I wanted to be involved in the pickleball industry because it was booming so much. I knew I always wanted to be an entrepreneur. I just didn't know what kind of entrepreneur, what business.
Speaker 2:I was so passionate about that I would leave my comfortable job in government to take on full time, and I noticed I didn't have anywhere to play where I'm from, which is Foxborough, massachusetts, where Gillette Stadium, home of the New England Patriots play, so anytime there's a Taylor Swift concert or major league soccer game or NFL. It's at Gillette Stadium and that's three minutes from where I grew up, and so when I was figuring out, I was consulting in the pickleball space for about two years. That's why I was following your space pickleball journey heavily. I follow a Spanish group, vela Pickleball, as well fabulous group. And then I visited 60 facilities domestically in the United States, and it's the wild west in the US Are they all privately owned, or are they yeah?
Speaker 2:pretty much. There's a couple of big franchises. I've studied their market but you're seeing any pickleball facility from making a million to 2 million. If you just do like pure membership model, then if you add the food and beverage concept, 3 million to $11 million year one $11 million in year.
Speaker 1:one Revenue.
Speaker 2:Yes, so we'll talk about the financials in a second Cause. That's really what I as the bread and butter of why I decided to do the brick and mortar business, and the only reason why I'm opening a brick and mortar is because I was networking with the head of construction at Patriot Place and he said Jodi, it's so funny you mentioned Pickleball to us, because we're talking to 17 different Pickleball businesses to open here on campus. That's when my light bulb went off, because this is my hometown and if anyone's going to do Pegavol, it's going to be my company, and so that's where my concept of 11-0 started. However, as impressive as my background and I definitely went through my imposter syndrome phase where my resume was my identity of I worked for Under Armour, I worked for the White House, I worked here I often name drop to get myself in certain rooms I've been sponsored in 15 different countries. It's been amazing. They looked at my resume. This is a prime picture CityWalk and Coca-Cola Arena. It's the best of the best. You have New Balance there, established brands. They basically said Jodi, your resume is so impressive, but the elephant in the room is you've never opened up a brick and mortar business. This is our second largest building on campus and we never give it to first-time operators. So I said that's fine, let me prove it to you that I can run a business. Let me get you comfortable with my business styles. More importantly, let me lift your campus up because you're missing out on the pickleball community.
Speaker 2:So for two years I started running these pop-up concepts. So I used Pickle Roll which Pickle Roll is a great solution. It's temporary courts and so I used all my own money, transformed. I said give me an empty parking lot, I will turn it into magic. So I started kind of like the Coachella of pickleball in my own hometown. Did a sold-out tournament six courts, beer garden, all the tenants Again. Did a sold out tournament six courts, beer garden, all the tenants again at CityWalk, but at Patriot Place. I made them get involved. I didn't rely on the landlord. I said I'm going to go into all these brick and mortars and you guys are going to participate in Pickable. I don't care if it's playing in the tournament, sponsoring giving out free ice cream scoops. This is a community event and you all need to be present.
Speaker 1:But why were you so passionate about this project? Because, I mean, you took a long route to get to where you want to be right. But why did you want that so bad?
Speaker 2:That's a really good question. I think sport has always been so transformative for me. I have three older sisters and you'll often hear me when I introduce myself and my business to people. Now I don't start with my resume items. I start with my mom, my dad, my sisters and I went through a quarter-life crisis we were just talking about midlife crisis. I was not fulfilled with anything in my life anymore. Being in a lot of rooms, having a lot of access, I missed real human relationships and connections and I know you're a coach so you feel the same things that I feel. And sports was so transformative for me. And also I went through a big mental health journey the last two years and spiritual journey, meditation, breath work, you name it. I have tried it and it was just holistic for me. So the fact that I can give back through sport was really kind of the nail in the coffin for me to decide to go all in in this business.
Speaker 1:And I guess being so close to home for you made so much more sense for you to push for that, yeah, and I think the unconditional love.
Speaker 2:I'm very spiritual now. I really didn't feel comfortable in my own skin when I moved home from Dubai. I had a really tough two years of just an identity crisis, not feeling good enough or what am I going to do? I'm a very busy person. You saw me running in here changing. I overload my schedule. It's a flaw of mine. I'm addicted to socializing and I think that's a coping mechanism that I use to run away from myself.
Speaker 2:And playing pickleball brought me back to myself and I'm not trying to go pro in pickleball, by the way, and if we stepped on the court, I'm sure you're going to think I'm really great at pickleball, but I'm actually so much more enthused about making the social experience on Pickleball more impactful. And so the why and I've been getting that answer a lot this week because I'm on stage talking about different things it really came from like my ego dying truly, like even driving to my speech yesterday it's actually bawling my eyes out because a part of me is past and I have to let go of that past version of myself that lived in Dubai. It was really sad, but it's also really exciting that this new version of me, I can feel it, I feel magnetic, I'm glowing, it's starting to come out and I'm at the foundation of, like building myself, but also my company at the same time.
Speaker 1:That is exciting. That is at the same time, that is exciting.
Speaker 1:That is, at the same time, it gets so deep, very deep, very quick, very quick, which is great. I mean. Ultimately, that's the reason for this podcast, right, it's about the people behind the sports and people behind the ambition of paddle pickleball whatever the sport may be. I'm interested in the story and how you got to where you are and that's great. And it takes a lot of self-awareness also to realize the flaws that you had and how you manage your schedule and what you're doing wrong. And it's easy to you know praise yourself, but it's very hard to admit what you're actually doing wrong and it's great that you could see that. But, like you mentioned, okay, you put on these pop-up pickleball courts, you're using the pickle roll, you're doing it in a car park, you're making an event out of nothing.
Speaker 2:What was the feedback? What was the result of that event that you did and we never? Our first tournament we ran, we were negative $8,000, right, we were not looking at these events to generate revenue yes, that's the ultimate goal with the brick and mortar, of course but we were just trying to listen and learn from the community. So we were very big into data collecting, surveys, and we give away free pickleball products. So we work with a lot of sponsors to entice people to come and then share information. So our whole facility is built from our players, which is really special because I have a perspective of all the amazing padel facilities here, some in Europe, 60 pickleball facilities in America. So you bet that 11-0 is going to be the best pickleball facility you ever walk in. However, that's from my business perspective. I need to make sure that that's connected with the local community in New England. So that was the main reason I think.
Speaker 2:We also generated a lot of media interest and we were able to find our story with Patriot Place, which then, when it came down to negotiating the rent or the deal, they were like we need you here Because we called it the Patriot Place Pickleball Classic. I didn't call it 11-0. I wanted to uplift their brand and then they got all the media rights Because think about it Patriot Place is the retail arm of Gillette Stadium. Gillette Stadium is the one that's always in the news, always with the football, but the retail area that's doing so much to take care of those spectators never gets in the news. So that was my main mission again was to re-remind them.
Speaker 2:I'm here for the campus, I'm not here for my own intentions, and that's why they chose our company over the 17 different operators. By the way, these are the biggest pickleball franchises in the whole United States that have already operated and ran 30 clubs, and they still are taking a risk on Jody Cullity. So the story behind the brand was the reason why we did the pop-ups, and also we worked out a lot of kinks. I worked with people that were now no longer working together. We did programs that weren't selling. We used paddle companies that aren't a good fit for our brand. So I feel like, as a new entrepreneur, it was a risk mitigating strategy.
Speaker 1:It was a great piece of concept really, wasn't it? It was. There's two things that you said that I found really, really interesting. The first thing that touches me in a deep place is data, not sexy thing. That, like, touches me in a deep place is data not sexy, but I love that you talked about that, because it is so important collecting that data, understanding who your demographic is, the type of players that you have, what they want, what they need and how you can also, from a business perspective, optimize that and generate more revenue by, you know, catering to their needs. And the second one was that you focused on the community and you wanted to make it about the community, so they already felt part of your journey and part of this club when it does open, they feel like they were part of that journey, right, so you've already started to gain loyalty from the local community, which is amazing.
Speaker 2:And I think, like even this wall is so inspiring to me. We want the community to feel like they built this with us. So what's very popular in America and why pickleball is the fastest growing sport in America and versus paddle, we'll talk about that separately. All of the towns around us have free public parks with pickleball. So people always ask me well, why would I play in your facility and pay when I could play down the street for free? You can absolutely do that and I hope you do do that. But if you're searching for organized community where your name can be on one of the pickleball in the main grand entrance, you could say there's the town of Rentham, massachusetts, and Jody Cullity played here. Very similar to breweries in America. How you can put a pin. Oh, someone from Kazakhstan has been here. That's what we're trying to generate. Is this need of? Have you been to 11-0 yet? I heard the town of Medway is the last ball that needs to be added to the wall, like we should get the group and go. That's really what we're trying to inspire.
Speaker 2:And people ask me pickleball is getting so saturated in the US. Are you nervous if there's a facility that you know arrives down the street. Absolutely not the more facilities and the more courts that open is better for this huge supply of players, but the special sauce that we're building with our brand that others aren't thinking about. The same reason why McDonald's is next to KFC, next to Starbucks and Dunkin' Donuts. They're all the same product but they sell a different experience. And that's what Dubai does so well and that's what lacks in America in the pickleball space. It's a lot of copy-paste facilities, membership, nine courts, unlimited play, you name it. But to be attached to a brand, a brand that you're proud to wear on your chest, that's a whole other business strategy in and of itself.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I mean, we weren't the first to build a paddle club in the UAE. We came to the game a little bit late and at the time when we opened, a lot of people would say don't you think it's too late? Aren't there too many clubs, et cetera. But you can put courts in a warehouse Anyone can do that. But not everyone can create an experience and what people feel when they walk through the doors, how they feel the experience that they have playing with people, connecting with players, and I guess that's what you can create as well, to differentiate yourself from the free play, the municipal courts or whatever it's called, where there's no interface, right, it's just literally the four lines of the court and you play and then you leave. There's nothing to keep you there and there's no community.
Speaker 2:Absolutely.
Speaker 1:So when are you guys going to open?
Speaker 2:We're in the end of our capital raise, which we can talk all about.
Speaker 1:Okay, let's talk about it.
Speaker 2:We can talk about it.
Speaker 1:How much you need.
Speaker 2:Raising 3 million right now.
Speaker 1:Okay.
Speaker 2:I have. We're about halfway there. We have two people that are going to write the final checks. But it's like dating, it is exhausting. It's by the third date are we kissing or not? And that's the same with investment. Right, it's speed dating until you find your marriage, and so both of us are fun people. We're coaches. We're always on the court.
Speaker 2:A lot of my business meetings have been on the pickleball court and it gets to the point of we obviously need to build our personal relationship before you decide to invest $100,000, $500,000. However, when is the right moment that's been really tricky for me of asking like are you in or are you out? Because if not, unfortunately, I have to move on and then build this other relationships and, as great as it is taking phone calls about your kid's soccer game and are you down for this game? I have to be strategic about my, and that's why meditation is so important for me right now, because I'm always on.
Speaker 2:I always have to be this vibrant Jodi Cullity that you want to be around, because I don't know if you're an investor, I don't know if you're a partner, a sponsor, a customer, a player. Even the person at my grocery store when they bag my groceries. That's a potential customer for me, so I always am selling in a very natural, authentic way. So it's hard for me to shut off. So I'm hoping my capital closes by the end of the month so I can actually focus on the real business side of things. But it's definitely been a grind, learned a lot.
Speaker 1:So where are usually the points of friction? Let's say you're talking to a potential investor, a potential sponsor. Where does it fall through?
Speaker 2:I think two places. I think they ask is it going to be a fad? Which racket sports? In America, besides tennis, there was racket club and that's no longer a business. And with so much saturation, you really have to have a good relationship with your landlord because you just can't $30,000 USD a month to pay rent. That's not cheap. And so when you're talking about expenses that high, with $20 an hour, court reservations because, by the way, the YMCA is charging $4 an hour how do you compete? How do you get people in your door? That's been the question. It's been what is your secret sauce? So our revenue secret sauce is 40% food and beverage, 30% corporate events, 30% pickleball 40% food and beverage, 30% corporate events, 30% pickleball. This 30% pickleball will likely decrease. Our food and beverage profit margin will increase heavily and then our events business is going to increase heavily.
Speaker 2:So that is with a lot of investors who are avid pickleball players and they say well, I'm going to sweat, I just don't see myself drinking a beer or eating after I'm there for the workout. And I like to remind people we have showers by code. We have them in our facility. We are not targeting those people that are expecting to play four hours and then take a shower and go home. That are going to bring their own power bar, that are going to bring their own waters.
Speaker 2:We're targeting people that have never heard of the word pickleball, because there's nothing better than scooping up the first-time player. They want to buy the shoes, the paddle, they want to invite their sister, their friend, their brother. Can I come to your open play? Can I come to your intro class? They're obsessed. So that's our target market. So, explaining to some investors who are the avid player, it's just reshifting their perspective on, yes, court time and the height of the net is going to be perfect, but what we really need to be talking about is the food and beverage concept and how we're going to hit those revenue numbers, because the pickball is just to get people through the door.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and to be honest, I mean, we've seen it in the past almost three years of operation here there's not a lot of money at the top of the game in terms of level. The money is where the beginners are, like you said, the first time players. When we first started, we were running three times a week an intro to paddle session, which was free of charge, just to get people through the door, like learn the basics of the game, and then you put them into a funnel right, like you're a beginner, okay, now here's a beginner class for you, and then these are the matches that you can play and you should buy this racket. Just followed that journey and everything is there for them at each step of the way. They're good players. They barely spend any money, they pay their court and you know. They buy their racket in Europe and you know, like all this kind of stuff. So that's not what we focus on. I think you're doing the right thing and looking at you know that mass of people who have never heard of the sport.
Speaker 2:Yeah, for me as an entrepreneur and I say this to my investors I'm a very conservative entrepreneur and I'm always trying to capitalize in ways that don't directly derive from court reservations. So, for example, in United States, last year alone, $400 million of injuries were related to hospitals because of pickleball. So that means that many people went to the emergency room with injuries related to pickleball. They made $400 million in revenue from pickleball. So that means that many people went to the emergency room with injuries related to pickleball. They made $400 million in revenue from pickleball players. That's the hospital.
Speaker 2:So now I have a partnership with the hospital on campus because if you come in my facility and you get injured, you could potentially not be a customer of mine for the next nine months. I need to be involved in your journey. So this is where we talk about data again. So I'm going to connect you with the hospital on campus. We're going to set you up with the best knee surgeon or your ACL, achilles, you name it. Then from there, I'm going to watch you go to PT on campus, by the way, at Gillette Stadium, patriot Place Then from there, you're going to return to my facility and I have been watching you and I'm still a part of your journey back to the game, and so I'm trying to figure out how we're going to monetize that right now. It's kind of like a handoff of oh, referral, go, we have some ideas.
Speaker 1:But what about prevention? Why not focus more on prevention, so having less injured players?
Speaker 2:Yeah, so that's.
Speaker 1:So less time away from the court, right and then yeah.
Speaker 2:Because we're also trying to maximize. You know, yes, I have nine indoor courts, six outdoor courts, but that's you do the math that's less than what? 50 people, and so how can I make money off of people not on court? So I'm sure you do this with your iPad. You record their game and then you take your lesson in the coffee shop and then you guys drink coffee, just like they do in golf, and you can see it. But I'm still charging you $50 an hour, but I have a court available.
Speaker 2:So those are the type of mentalities that I'm trying to make it really holistic out, because the court takes so much real estate. Like, even this space that you have is amazing. You have not only the store, you have the cafe, you have the mezzanine space, you have a co-working space and you have the courts. These are all your revenue streams. It's not the paddle, I mean, that's the anchor right, and so that's what is. Big focus on the 11-0s. Is there a big demand for pickleball coaching? Absolutely, and the best part about pickleball and I don't know if this is in paddle, because I only know paddle at a high level everyone that plays pickleball seriously thinks that they can go pro. Is that the same in paddle?
Speaker 1:I think it used to be. I mean, people think they're a lot better than they are and they think they can achieve a level that's a lot higher than they can realistically achieve, but pro maybe not.
Speaker 2:But that's the mentality in the United States and, like my pro, for example, he's fabulous, he's kind of a content creator, he is being a coach and he's training to go pro and that is like all the pickleball coaches across the United States. Right now they're giving college scholarships for pickleball. That's massive for us. So when people always ask me, you're nervous about paddle coming, always right, it's another sport. It could take away customers. However, colleges in the Midwest primarily, which they don't have great marketing or they're not the Duke or the Harvards of the world they're saying they're calling up people on Duper so they're looking if you have a high system rated and they're saying, how would you like $20,000 in a sports scholarship to come to our little school in Ohio? Then you have this pickleball player Whoa, maybe that could help me go pro and I get a scholarship.
Speaker 2:I could say I'm an athlete. So this is now starting to happen in the United States. It's also becoming a high school sport, so that's been rumored. So I'm so again, I love the brick and mortar business, but what makes me so excited and I love the sport, it's the ecosystem Like we're at the foundation level, of not only a pro league, facility league. We haven't had this since the NBA or the NHL or the MLS was created. The one benchmark I, as as an entrepreneur, try to look at was Spikeball, which came out in the early 2000s.
Speaker 1:Yeah, but that never went anywhere really.
Speaker 2:Right never went anywhere. So it's like trying to figure out the dynamics of this whole entire industry. And we're all in the same boat, by the way the pro leagues, the facility owners. Everything I could be saying on this podcast, by the way, could be totally wrong. It's still the Wild West.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's a fast-moving space, right? You don't know what's going to happen to you, as in pickleball, I mean, what I always find interesting about American sports is how it often goes, like the franchise route where you have teams. Is that happening in pickleball as well?
Speaker 2:Absolutely.
Speaker 1:So every city has a franchise.
Speaker 2:Absolutely, and I'm so happy you brought that up, because about two years ago the investment in pickleball was, say, like $100,000. You had Tom Brady, lebron James, drake All the celebrities were investing in pickleball. Flash forward now, two years to buy a pro pickleball team is $10 million. That's one of the biggest jumps in pro sports history.
Speaker 1:Are they even competing in the league already? Oh yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2:It's called Major League Pickleball, so it's also partnered with PPA, the Pro Pickleball Association. It's owned by UPA. They finally merged. It was kind of like.
Speaker 1:Yeah, there were two, right, and then they yeah, it's kind of like Live and PGA Golf.
Speaker 2:And so now, right now we have 24 teams they're trying to move to a home home-and-away model where we would come to your facility just like the Celtics play, the Lakers Very same mentality. We're about two years away from that model. There's only one last team to purchase and that just happens to be Boston Massachusetts. So we're hopeful that 11-0 would be a part of that journey of bringing the pro team to New England.
Speaker 1:So if anyone has $10 million to spend, that could be the.
Speaker 2:That's why I'm in Dubai. Do you think that would be a good purchase? Absolutely.
Speaker 1:Really Like. If I had $10 million today, you would suggest I buy a pickleball team.
Speaker 2:No, I would suggest that we negotiate together to get that down to $5 million, and I think $10 million is a little outlandish and I think they know that too, but they're in so much debt and I won. They know that too, but they're in so much debt and I won't talk like confidentiality of the conversations we've been having with them. There's so much growth. If you go to and I'm going to invite you in September you're going to come to the Major League Pickleball event in New York City. It is overflowing with spectators. You have Gary Vee on the sidelines. It's picture NBA basketball, the amazing. You're throwing t-shirts in the crowd, rah, rah, but it's pickleball.
Speaker 1:Where do they do this? In Madison Square Garden.
Speaker 2:No, they do. It's outdoors in City Pickle, in Voland Rink, in Central Park.
Speaker 1:Oh, okay, yeah.
Speaker 2:So the best part about the Major League Pickleball you only need two courts. So we're building out our facility just in case we host it. It's not a big amateur event where you have 30,000 players. It's two courts and then you have different teams playing each other at different times. Each of the teams have mascots. They're really fun, and we're building the next MLS NBA and so if you want to be a part of that, now is the time to do it. We want to be a part of it because we don't know when a sport will roll out like this. I know paddle has a pro league, but I think….
Speaker 1:I mean they have the PPL in the US, the Pro Paddle League, and they have franchises as well. They've started that similar thing. I mean it's taking off slowly.
Speaker 2:But do you see… I mean, it's coming to the United States and I think it will be here more prominently in two years. The issue is paddle's expensive. To put in one paddle court in the United States it's around $50,000. To put in one pickleball court, by the way, could be just tape and net or it's up to $5,000 per court if you get the really really nice one.
Speaker 2:So when you look at those and then you look at the real estate prices and the availability, the glass is a little tricky, right, because you need not only the high ceilings but you need the barriers for the glass and if you want to host a pro tournament, they need to run outside the court. So it's even more space. Pickleball, a little bit same kind of size, a little bit smaller, but you don't need glass. It's easier for towns. So when I talk about paddle accessibility and I don't know how it is in Europe it's probably better. Every single town in America is building pickleball courts because it's so affordable and it's basically pavement with paint For them to put in the glass and then not only to upkeep. And again, I'm sure if I looked at your financials it would be the cleaning, the replacement. I don't know if it smashes. I don't think it does.
Speaker 1:I mean touch wood. So far we haven't had any broken glass, but it does happen.
Speaker 2:Okay.
Speaker 1:But there is. I mean, you know there's issues with the poles, the posts, like all this kind of stuff. There's a lot of mechanical well stuff that can go wrong with a paddle court, it is true, and upkeep is quite expensive, and also you can't really put paddle courts in a municipal park in the US because they'd get broken and destroyed or vandalized, right, I imagine. At least, if you did it in the UK in a public park you put a paddle court, it would be destroyed in less than 24 hours.
Speaker 2:And that's where we want to have a paddle court at our facility. We're starting with pickleball. We know it's coming and I want to support it, especially because it's very international and my mind is so international and I know it is the future. But I think for us the accessibility is where America really is right now, not only financially but physically. So just pickleball provides that more than paddle.
Speaker 1:And you already have the momentum for it.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:I mean it makes. I mean we obviously were the first to do pickleball here with the indoor pickleball facility, which was great. We had six courts, it was nice, it looked great. I mean, unfortunately, we had to close that down due to licensing issues and we were operating, I think, for about six to eight months months. Obviously, the beginning is slow. Right, You're the first. There's no momentum. But, to be honest, towards the end of it we were filling those peak hours.
Speaker 2:I loved it.
Speaker 1:All the events were going well, people enjoyed the sport. We were getting crossover from paddle to pickleball and for me, I mean, it was a bit of a heartbreak and, to be honest with you run, it's probably for the best that we didn't, because I was spending so much time focusing on that and not on the paddle side, and then we developed the outlet after that. But for me, pickleball in this region has so much potential, it's just, it's a matter of time. I mean, now there's two great indoor clubs. You know you have picklers and you have also pickle turf pickle turf exactly in Muna Rash.
Speaker 1:I mean they look great and they're doing well and you know they're now doing all that grassroots effort of trying to educate people and get players on the courts, get people playing and activating the sport. But I do believe that pickleball will take off here just because it's so easy to play.
Speaker 2:Right, and I think a lot of people can't do this a lot sometimes and that's a lot of paddle where pickleball the serve is underhand, you know A lot of. It's like I play with. There's a guy he's 82 years old, his name is Bill. He lives in Georgia. My life goal is to beat him in pickleball. I'm not even exaggerating.
Speaker 1:You might outlive him.
Speaker 2:I'm so competitive To have him dink against me In singles. No, no, no. I only play doubles because of my knee. He is so strategic when he plays I feel like I can never beat him. And that's the beauty of pickle and the diversity of the court, where you can just show up to an open play. And that's my question to you Does paddle inspire that open play mentality?
Speaker 1:No, because you have to have four players and I thought about this a lot. Right, because when we did the pickleball we had a lot of open play. You know, rotation, all this kind of stuff, but also the score system in paddle, as it's similar to tennis. The matches are longer, it doesn't. It doesn't work the same way like that, like shuffling and rotating in and out, and also the level. Obviously paddle is easier than tennis, so the difference in level doesn't matter as much, but pickleball literally, like you can have four very different levels and still you can have an enjoyable game.
Speaker 1:So that's also an issue and it's such a psychological thing that I believe is the biggest issue when it comes to paddle. It's because you have the walls and the glass so you shut yourself off from the rest of the people in the courts. You know, pickleball is so open, like everything is open. You literally walk from court to court. I feel like there's a psychological thing of like you enter the court, a paddle court you enter the court and then that's where you are. It's four people, you're in that bubble, which I think is why people like it as well. For that reason, and also networking is good, because you have that proximity with those four players, but for like the shuffling and the open play, it doesn't. It just doesn't seem to work.
Speaker 2:That's really interesting because for me so. I was traveling with the White House campaign during this election season and the days are really long, it's really grueling, and I always travel with my pickleball paddle. Even here I travel with my pickleball paddle the quickest way on work trips or even international trips for me to feel like I meet the community and go out. And this is not being on the apps, not trying to email and trying to make a schedule, it's hopping on a court and just being able to drive up to a random public park or go to the Picklers in Dubai and then automatically it's an open play. I can just fit right in, because I don't know four people to play pick a ball, unless it's you or I already had personal relationships and even when I went to the open play at Pickler's two nights ago I connected. So many people came up to me after how long are you in town, let's exchange numbers. And my friend, who's from Dubai, was there and he goes.
Speaker 2:This never happens at Paddle Like no one exchanges. I'm sure they do, but he was just saying in the groups he plays in it's very. We have four people, very competitive, we stay on our court and then it's kind of see you, let's reserve again tomorrow. And even from Pickler's Tuesday night, one of the gentlemen I met on the court, that was one of my meetings today. We were now networking and talking about doing some business collaborations and that's so great for me because besides my speech in this amazing podcast appearance, I have a pretty open schedule besides catching up on my East Coast time and so having that, I knew that was like a networking opportunity for me. And then having that relationship to then actually turn into filling my schedule with something when traveling. And that's where I'll try any sport. I'll try paddle, I'll try squash, I'll try golf, if that, you know, because I travel so much if that makes me make new friends in a community, then I'm all. We don't do that anymore, you know, just talking to people.
Speaker 1:It's true, sports is a great networking skill, and I think pickleball is one of the best ones for it. Like for you, having seen Dubai and the US from both sides of the spectrum of like sports, how do you think we can grow pickleball more here?
Speaker 2:It's a great question. That's also been on my mind a lot. I think the facilities is the first part. I think, secondly, there's so many and this is why the UAE is a sports hub there's so many great events, like the Dubai Desert Classic, like the Rugby Sevens, like F1. They are already bringing the worlds here and so I think the easiest way is just doing a pop-up and just more of that education standpoint, because there's definitely that grassroots where it starts with. We're not going to pump in a facility and expect to make EBITDA of 2 million year one. It's let's educate, let's bring into the schools. So how America has really grown.
Speaker 2:When I was growing up in elementary school, pickleball was a part of our gym class, even though it didn't get popular since after the pandemic. Yes, pickleball was from 1965. However, because of the pandemic, people played it in their driveways and became very accessible Good way to go outside. But we actually grew up learning pickleball. But I never looked at pickleball like I just played it. Okay, it was a gym class kind of thing. So I think if we were to really chat strategically about how we can grow pickleball here in the region, put it in the gym class in all the elementary schools Because, again, unlike tennis or again I don't know Pat Patel too much you put a pickleball paddle in a four-year-old's hand and then you have an adult on the other side, they'll be able to play a real game, unlike tennis, where it takes them to about nine years old to have a consistent volley or rally, where pickleball you know even senses, which is the people of determination. Orphanage here, which is fabulous. We could implement it there.
Speaker 1:Yeah, they were coming to play pickleball. They loved it.
Speaker 2:Oh, that's amazing.
Speaker 1:They were coming, I think every Tuesday, to play. I mean, honestly, we had our summer camp so the summer, where we had the pickleball here it was like the whole morning and they had lunch here, whatever two hours of paddle, and normally we'd start them off with pickleball. Just as like a warm was much easier. They weren't having to play off the glass and the distances, the rackets lighter, they loved the pickleball and the parents were getting angry as saying, like we brought our kids here to play paddle, not to play pickleball. Like, well, this is what they want to do. So you know, like we're letting the kids enjoy doing what they want to do, right? So so yeah, that was quite a, quite a surprise and I think, especially from the kids and the grassroots stuff like it's, it's so much better for kids to play pickleball than to try and start playing paddle. I mean, it's hard to get kids playing paddle.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I agree. So I think grassroots would be into schools more kids programming, and then it's going to just take popping up at these different rugby sevens. They just added paddle courts there.
Speaker 1:And so it's like just add one pickle court and just get people to try it as much as you can spread it and try it as much as you can, but who's going to back that?
Speaker 2:That's us right.
Speaker 1:Oh, that's us. We're doing that.
Speaker 2:New business Max, I hate it's happening, new business.
Speaker 2:No, that's something that you know. Part of my speech yesterday in front of the UAE leadership was where do we start? And I don't have the answer today, and maybe it's not me. I'm here to help in any way, shape or form. It has to be someone and it's not going to be one brand that does it. You know, it's a ripple effect. All these paddle companies, they each have their own specialty, but they're all helping the sport of paddle grow. So I think someone in GCC will kind of figure it out, but they're going to need a team that already has facilities. They're competitors, by the way, but there's still one team to help it grow in the region yeah, I mean at this point, any pickleball facility needs to work together to grow the sport.
Speaker 1:They can't be, you know, fighting with each other and being enemies, even in paddle. To me it's like when people tell me the new clubs are opening and it's like great, you know, more people playing the sport, more people that you know it'll keep the momentum going and people find out what they want. Some people like playing here, some people don't like playing here. You know there's a market for everybody. We offer something different.
Speaker 2:This is a question I have for you that we're considering and we've only seen a couple of facilities do it, because the elephant in the room is we know there's a paddle facility over there. We know for us there's a pickleball facility 20 minutes away, 30 minutes away, and people are like, oh, you're opening there. We don't want it to be this competition. So what we've seen is people doing facility leagues. So basically, you would work with Macho Club, you would work, say, pickle Kingdom, whatever you take five, you do a traveling league. Every Tuesday night you're playing at this location, that location, and you all split profits. And you already know people are reserving courts. And again, I don't know your model, but for our model we know that they're not coming to our facility only. We know that they're going to all the other facilities.
Speaker 1:I mean we ran myself and at the time the manager of Paddle 700, luli we ran an inter-club for two seasons which was free of charge for the players and it was taken on by the clubs just to kind of create a bit of you know Cool. But the free of charge for the players and it was it was taken on by the clubs just to kind of create a bit of you know. But the biggest issue that you've the buyer's a bit different for that. So you probably won't have this issue. But here is, people travel a lot, so getting people to commit to the same timings on a weekly basis is very, very hard. You know, a lot of people have jobs which you know force them to travel, or they're working on a flexible schedule, they go on holidays.
Speaker 1:So getting people to commit to like leagues you know leagues in Europe is everything you know there's a league for literally any sport you want. But here getting leagues off the ground is very challenging and we've tried it in paddle and we can't do it because people aren't really available for more than like six weeks at a time, like we can't do a year-long league, no. So it's uh, it's challenging for us to get those kind of longer term things in place. I think now there's probably more players. If we did try again, we could probably get that to work. But it's been a challenge that we face and it's a Dubai problem more than like a global problem.
Speaker 2:Right. So we run leagues locally at other clubs right now until we open. We found the same thing People make their reservations the night before rather than coming to a six-week league. However, we've found we make it duper rated, which a lot of people can only get that in tournaments and they want to improve. So we do six-week leagues and if they can't come, they're responsible for finding their own sub. And then if they don't find their own sub, it's fine, we'll find them a sub. So we take that burden off their plate.
Speaker 2:So we found more success by giving them a shorter six-week window. We tried it out. We said, okay, is it going to be two weeks, four weeks, six weeks, because we don't have attention spans past six weeks. That's just in general we don't. And we found that we asked them to find their own subs because we don't want our team to work extra hard and then they really weren't doing it. So then we said, okay, if you miss it, we give you your money back for that night and we'll find the sub. And then we make the sub pay $25 for like a sub appearance fee, and so that's been much healthier for us and I think we want to integrate that with a six week interclub league, like similar to what you were doing, to just kind of create that market.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I mean. The moment you start fearing competition is because you're not at the top of your game. If you're comfortable with where you are and what you offer and the services you offer, you will have demand and you will do well. Once you start looking over your shoulder and thinking, oh no, there's another club, there's another club. For me, it's the smaller clubs that suffer. It's the ones that aren't putting in as much effort to give value. As long as you give value and you give experience and people leave with a smile on their face, you're going to do great.
Speaker 2:Yeah, can I ask you a question?
Speaker 1:Sure.
Speaker 2:Can you walk me through your name? Paddle Art, and, by the way, I love your art installation downstairs, which I haven't seen in person yet, this is only from Instagram, so I'm very excited to actually see it and that's been a huge inspiration for 11.0, because any content you've posted or I've seen people post at your club, you see the gorgeous splash of that ball and all the colors and it says paddle art right in the middle. So tell me A like how did you pick the name? And then B like what was that art and design concept inspiration for you?
Speaker 1:I mean, honestly speaking, the name. At the time when we opened Paddle Art, there weren't a lot of names available because a lot of paddle clubs had already opened and one of the owners of Paddle Art is a local family from Abu Dhabi and one of them is an amazing photographer and he's into art. So he's like let's call it Paddle Art, which made sense. And then we opened the club but nothing was tying into that name. A lot of people were asking us, like why is it Paddle Art? There's no art. So then we were thinking it makes sense, we have to use this name. It's a great name. Let's try and bring in this artistic side. So actually, where we're sitting now was an art studio for a year.
Speaker 2:Wow, and I can see some of the art.
Speaker 1:Some of it's still here, where people come and do painting and all this kind of stuff. And then now we have painting in the cafe for the kids. So we're trying. You know, I think there's a big link between creativity and sports, so we always try and tie the two together. And then, in regards to the piece in the middle, you know we wanted the first thing people to walk in when they see is our brand, and you know it's important to give people something to take a picture of, you know, because if it's not on social media, it doesn't exist right right, so always have to think about is this a good place for someone to take a picture, will they like this?
Speaker 1:and always kind of try and keep things eye-catching. It's funny because now we've been open for almost three years, we've become almost one of the older clubs, so we're in the process of now renovating, so we're now redoing all our changing rooms and we're going to be redoing the whole space just to kind of freshen it up, because we don't want to fall into that complacency of like, okay, we have a good facility, we're making good money, let's sit back and relax. We want to keep reinvesting and keep providing an amazing experience to all the players that come here.
Speaker 2:That's great. I'd also like to ask, because I saw you did something with McDonald's.
Speaker 1:Yes.
Speaker 2:I'm telling you I stalked you and your business. I love it. So what I saw on social media is you guys had a bunch of McDonald's jerseys.
Speaker 1:Can you walk me through that? Was that a sponsored event? Was that a? That was actually an initiative from.
Speaker 2:McDonald's and they approached you.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so they wanted to do the McDonald's Junior Academy, which is ironic, you know, like combining fast food and sports.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:I was like you know what, if you guys want to do it and you're willing to pay for it, let's do it. You know, let's do an academy for the children. So on every Saturday morning we had two rotations of 90 minutes, all eight courts, six kids per court with a coach. So it was chaos and it was a great experience and the kids loved it. And you know it's challenging for the coaches and all this stuff because it's a lot of people and it's going on. But it was a great initiative that they had.
Speaker 1:But it's difficult when you do these things. And they made it free of charge for kids. So for a lot of the parents they just saw it as babysitting, so they just put in the kids and they don't really care about sports and whatever like okay, just go there for an hour and a half. So from a from a sports perspective, it wasn't managed the best way. In my opinion, they should have done it with kids who were actually interested or, you know, there should have been a little bit of triage and all of that. But there's a lot of companies now trying to invest in the sport and tie their name to paddle.
Speaker 2:Right. So why was the reason that McDonald's wanted to do this at paddle? Was it because of paddle and they wanted to tie their name to paddle?
Speaker 1:Yeah they wanted. I mean, paddle is the trendy sport in the UAE right now. So if any brand wants to grow their name and you know, try and be a little bit cool and you know McDonald's doesn't have the best reputation all the time. So to tie yourself to paddle is a great way to, you know, increase your brand awareness and also give a positive vibe to it.
Speaker 2:Wow, I loved seeing those pictures. Now, can I ask? Now I'm switching the interview on you, that's fine. Walk me through being a coach for the women's team. You just got back from India.
Speaker 1:Well, I came back from India last week. I went there to compete in the Asia Pacific Paddle Tour, which is the third biggest paddle tour in the world. Honestly, it was so much fun because I like the way they've done it. They've put a lot of focus on the amateur tour, so they have the pro tour, but they do the same thing for the amateurs. So when you go there to compete in the amateurs, you feel like you're playing in a real tournament. You get your lanyards it's really silly things but you feel special. The courts are branded, it's streamed on YouTube, there's proper sponsors. So it was an amazing experience, actually. So we just signed the deal with them.
Speaker 1:It should be announced by the time we release this, hopefully, otherwise I'll be in trouble. And so that was fun. And then in September I went to Kuwait to be the coach of the Thai ladies national team for the World Cup qualifiers, Honestly that was.
Speaker 2:By the way, how did you do in the tournament in India? We're not going to skip that.
Speaker 1:Well, we can skip that because my partner, john he, broke his toe in the first match, so we obviously lost in the first round.
Speaker 2:I thought you were going to say something like he tore his ACL.
Speaker 1:No, no, he broke his toe. He ran into the post and he kicked it and he broke his toe. So I had a great networking time, so you were disqualified game one yeah, so you were disqualified game one, yeah, on the Friday. So I was there till the Monday. But I mean I made a lot of new friends and you know it was good for the business and from the business side.
Speaker 2:So do you think you would have won if his towel was?
Speaker 1:I think we could have made it to like the semifinals. But I'll say yes actually, because we'll never know, no one will know the flip side of that story. But yeah, and then in September I went to Kuwait to manage well, to manage, to coach the Thai national ladies team.
Speaker 2:And who asked who? How did that relationship happen?
Speaker 1:That was quite a funny story actually, because it's the qualifiers for the World Cup and there's not a lot of money in Thai paddle, unsurprisingly. So two of the girls who play in the team. They came to me looking for a sponsor to give money to the team so they could travel. You know, cover the expenses of the team the flights, the hotels, because it's not cheap. Right, you have to go to kuwait. They have hotels, they have flights. Nothing's covered by the federation. So they were trying to raise money to cover it.
Speaker 1:So, um, we sponsored them with the paddle outlet great and then they're like, oh yeah, now we just need to find a coach. I was like, well, if you need someone, I don't have much going on and, to be fair, there's not a lot of people that love paddle enough to go to Kuwait at their own expense to coach a team that they've never met in qualifications, that they're not going to qualify through. But I just, I don't know. Know, it's one of those like movie stories that you just you just want to be part of that story. Amazing, and I loved it too. It's like I met the the team on the friday. Our first match was on the sunday, and even they'd never met each other because some were coming from spain, only two of them were coming from thailand, one was living in, so it all just got there like we had one training session before the event and we actually made history because we beat Bahrain, we won a match, so we did not come last.
Speaker 2:That's amazing.
Speaker 1:So we made history. What kind of coach, are you? I mean, are you tough? This is very different. This is different. Coaching on the bench is very different from coaching on court.
Speaker 2:Explain that to me.
Speaker 1:So on court you're going to work on more technical tactical things. When you're sitting on the bench and you've got two players coming off the court, you can't overload them with information. They're already like, stressed and you're not going to tell them change the way you hit the ball, because they're not. That's the last thing you want to be doing. The only support that you can give them is really emotional, to make them feel better about themselves. Try and get them in a positive mindset and some minor tactical advice.
Speaker 1:If you see from the outside, maybe this person is a bit weaker this shot they're missing a lot just to give them something to focus on and re-anchor them in the game. But ultimately it's more an emotional support and just giving them some peace of mind and some confidence, because none of them had really competed at that level or in that kind of environment, so they were quite nervous as well. So I was just trying to reassure them most of the time and make sure they had a good time and that they bring out the best of them wow, that's so inspiring honestly, I learned so much yeah, like as much as I went there as the coach, I feel like I came back with more knowledge than anyone else.
Speaker 2:So when's your next coaching?
Speaker 1:Well, in theory, I think there's the Asia Pacific qualifiers. I think it's in Bali, so I don't mind going for that as well.
Speaker 2:There you go.
Speaker 1:Let's see if I get the call. I'm ready If the Thai team still needs me.
Speaker 2:Coach is ready.
Speaker 1:I'm always ready Anything for the sport of paddle. I just love it.
Speaker 2:Wow, I just love it, you know? Wow, you should come be a pickleball coach.
Speaker 1:I don't think I'd be very good at that.
Speaker 2:Why.
Speaker 1:There is one thing actually I need to talk to you about pickleball and why I see a barrier for the growth of the sport.
Speaker 2:Tell me.
Speaker 1:And you can tell me if you believe this or not?
Speaker 2:Love it.
Speaker 1:I think pickleball is awful on TV.
Speaker 2:Tell me why.
Speaker 1:It's just people standing at the net and you just you can't really. I don't know if it's because of the angle and they're just. It's a lot of dinking and it's not very fast and it's not very. There's not a lot of movement to it. I find on. Maybe I just don't know the sport enough, but I find it doesn't reflect well on tv that's really interesting.
Speaker 2:you say that because I see it so differently. And the good thing about the size of a pickleball court if you're watching, it's in your Like this would be the size of a pickleball court.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:I don't have to turn my head, like tennis. I could see the whole game all in one eye shot. So that's one benefit of just psychology of the sport not having to. Is it going up, is it going down?
Speaker 1:I'm talking TV, tv. Yeah, so if I'm watching on YouTube On tennis. It's the same. It's when you're looking down.
Speaker 2:Well, pickle, you watch straight on TV the matches I've seen and this is what I love about pickleball it's slow, strategically slow, it's patient. So when you see them, wow, they're at a 60, dinking 60 times in a row. And then when that person hits it a little bit too high, then it turns into fast hands and it's like back, back, back and they're on defense. Then it becomes really fast. I think that's what makes it so unique, is that gradual excitement.
Speaker 1:I mean, I must be the weird one, because the viewership of pickleball is high on TV, right?
Speaker 2:Very high.
Speaker 1:And it's on ESPN and all the top channels and people do watch it. So maybe it's my lack of knowledge about the sport.
Speaker 2:Or maybe it's just the match and it's not you, because in America, yes, we have a lot of eyeballs on pickleball TV right now. However, if you were to ask, say, we're at a local park playing pickleball 30 people on court. If you were to ask them name one pro pickleball player, guarantee probably under 10 people would be able to name one.
Speaker 1:Similar in paddle. It's very much an amateur sport, it's very much not many people watch it. But I find paddle from a perspective spectator perspective the highlights are more impressive. You know, running out the court and like the big smashes. I find it's a lot more impressive, which is why I could see it growing more from a spectator perspective yeah, from a media perspective, I think that's.
Speaker 2:I think it's very accurate. I think the energy with pickleball that they're trying to go for is more of that NBA style of the crowd cheering the coach on the sideline. We're working towards it. But yeah, if you go on YouTube and watch kind of any random match, you're likely going to skip to the next video. But if you were to get sent the ones same with paddle right, if you were to get sent the ones with those highlight reels, it's like wow, this sport looks so incredible.
Speaker 1:We've been talking for almost an hour.
Speaker 2:Okay.
Speaker 1:Which is great, but let's make. There's one thing I need to go back on, because you said you would, because I don't forget.
Speaker 2:Oh boy.
Speaker 1:We briefly touched on the financials of the pickle club, of running a pickleball club. Yeah, break it down for me. Sure, because we need to get more people building pickleball clubs. Right, that's the plan. So if I'm going to build a pickleball club with nine courts, how much money can I expect to make?
Speaker 2:Yeah, so you can start and this is why they're popping up everywhere in the United States. To open a pickball club is under half a million dollars USD. If you do the bare minimum of paying your rent, high ceilings, the fan and then the paint on the courts so say that's about $400,000. If you want to make an elevated experience like a paddle art or like 11-0, what we're building it's at least a $3 million build. We've had some facilities raise $15 million and they're doing $11 million year one in revenue. And we've had other clubs that they put in low capital and they're reaching that one to two million.
Speaker 2:So I see the pickleball facility landscape in two different ways. I'll talk about the first way. One is your traditional membership club bare bones facility, low capital, to start under half a million dollars. You're looking at revenues anywhere from in a great year, you know minimum one million. If you program it really really well On a great year, I don't see it passing three million dollars. It's just pure pickleball, pure memberships, pure open plays, doing the bare minimum, not doing your own sales team.
Speaker 1:So you can still reach three3 million without F&B.
Speaker 2:Absolutely. Yeah, yeah, but that's active programming. Now, if you add food and beverage to the concept and we're talking alcohol when I say beverage you're now looking at revenues from $3 million to $11 million year one. The reason for that is because their pickleball numbers are low and they don't have memberships. So these clubs, if they have membership, it's very low because the unique sauce and scheduling and optimization of the courts. They can't have members paying, say, $60 a month. But then Coca-Cola comes in and says, well, we want to book out your facility next week for an event, but those are during member hours and then you're going to piss off your members and then you're going to ruin your reputation.
Speaker 2:So the flexibility of the timing and what I've seen succeed. It's not the best strategy, but what's working right now in the United States to book a court and I don't know. This is how Paddle works. If you're a non-member, it's five days in advance. You can book a court. If it's a member, you get two weeks in advance. However, they always leave at least four courts open for corporate events or other celebrity content, you name it. We are finding that those courts people have to wake up at 5 am in the morning when the court hours are released, to try to book it, and guess what? They always miss it it's already sold out. So they can't even get court time, even though they're waking up at the earliest time and the website glitches because then it's already sold out. So that's really where we are.
Speaker 2:When we talk about whether it's food and beverage or no food and beverage, that's the kind of aggression that we're seeing in the Northeast market. The South and the West could be different because the weather is better so they can play outside more, but when it talks about indoor pickleball in the Northeast, that's how it's working. The food and beverage is very interesting because what's very popular right now is and we do this at any of our tournaments it includes a free beer, because what's very popular right now is and we do this at any of our tournaments it includes a free beer. Any of the beer night leagues on Tuesday night it's coupled with you're playing. Say, it's $30 for a two-hour league, you get a free beer, but then guess what You're going to stay and have two more beers with your friends, no one has one beer.
Speaker 2:No one has one beer. So that is where you can really play with the food and beverage experience. And for us, where we drew our inspiration, like if you were to see my investor deck and you were to say our competition, slide, you would not see pickleball facilities on that slide, you would see Topgolf, you would see F1 Arcade, which is a car simulating, but food and beverage concept, you would see more of the entertainment concepts as our competitor. Because we're an entertainment business, we're not a sports facility, we're not a restaurant, we are both. And to find that marriage of sport and F&B and nail it correctly, now we're talking revenue numbers, over $6 million, and then that's where you know if you're in major cities, your minimum, like our chef at his past entertainment concept, was making $17 million in revenue year one and I won't say what it is, but in their entertainment concept and so that's kind of. We live in the suburbs, so our market's not going to be that strong, but we're very comfortable with our six to 10 million revenue.
Speaker 1:Yeah, if you get half of that, you're doing great. Yeah, I would love to see that pitch deck.
Speaker 2:Please, yeah, we'll send it to you.
Speaker 1:So I think, to finish this episode, I feel like we could do 25 of these episodes and I think we'll have to do this again.
Speaker 2:We're going to start our own company. That's already a given.
Speaker 1:That's already happened. That's been signed. We're doing that should end this, on the off chance that someone has listened to us talk this long about so many different things all at the same time, because I feel like your brain works the same way as mine and it's fireworks in the brain at the same time. If someone wants to put the remaining capital towards your three million dollars, how much is left?
Speaker 2:a million a million.
Speaker 1:If someone was to put a million dollars into 11.0, how should they do it?
Speaker 2:You can call me, text me, find me on LinkedIn and we'll talk.
Speaker 1:I'll put a link to your LinkedIn.
Speaker 2:LinkedIn would be perfect. And even if you're not an investor and you're listening to this, whether you're a partner, a sponsor, a player, I love to connect and there's so much synergy outside of our four walls of 11.0, whether it's the pro team or whether it's a new technology app that we're thinking about, or whether it's just sports diplomacy. How are we going to bring this to FIFA World Cup in 2026? How can we appease to the Argentinian fans versus the Qatari fans? That's really where this global perspective and I'm so excited for humans of paddle, because that's the beauty of 11.0. It's not. There's not one avenue, and that's what I always tell.
Speaker 2:You know, I send out a monthly entrepreneurship newsletter. 60% is about 11.0, 40% is about Jodi Cullity. I do that strategically because, whether you're from my government world, my Dubai world or my current sports world, how can I connect my past decade and my current decade to my future decade? Because this conversation, we may take this nowhere, but in three years or five years there might be an opportunity that comes up and then I think, max, that's the perfect person. So I always invite people to connect with me. Whether it's a fit for them, 11-0 or not, we'll always find synergy between our lives and human connection. Humans of paddle is what is the most important thing right now for me.
Speaker 1:Nice, jodi. Thank you so much for your time. I look forward to having many more conversations with you, wishing you all the best with 11-0, and we will be following your journey.
Speaker 2:Thank you.