The paddle boom in recent years may not have escaped anyone. In the spring, Göteborgs-Posten reported that the occupancy in the paddle halls in Gothenburg had decreased significantly as the number of halls in the city went from nine to 35 between 2021 and 2022.
The over-establishment of halls is now beginning to have consequences. The Swedish major player PDL Padel United chooses to close 15 of its halls in Sweden.
– This is because we do not see profitability in either the short or long term in some places, says Rikard Hellqvist, co-founder of Padel United, which merged with PDL Group in April.
In total, the company haswhich is the world’s largest paddle player, 120 halls in Sweden.
– In some places we compete with ourselves where both PDL and Padel United have previously established themselves. Regardless, it is of course sad to have to close several halls, he adds.
Some of the 15 halls that are now closed are in Linnarhult, Rosersberg, Gillinge and Norrtälje. Despite the closures, Markus Hellqvist is not worried that more people will follow.
– Sometimes you hear that there is talk of a paddle death but it is really wrong. More people play paddle in Sweden today than ever before and the number of booked hours is increasing. We get more and more cooperatives and can invest more in children and youth activities.
The booking service Matchi confirms that the bookings of paddle times are higher than ever, but the development has stabilized since 2021. However, the occupancy of the halls has decreased as more and more halls have been built.
If the booking rate is still so high and the sport is still growing, how can you have to close the halls? Has growth been overestimated so grossly?
– When you sign the lease for a hall, it takes about 18 months before it starts. If several players do the same thing in the meantime, it will be a completely different competitive situation and you get an over-establishment.
In 2020, there were a total of 1,600 paddle courts in Sweden. By 2021, they had more than doubled to 3,500. A striking example of the over-establishment is the small town of Stenkullen outside Gothenburg with just over 2,000 inhabitants, which GP be the first to report on. There are four paddle halls in the resort, a total of 37 courses for residents to share. Of the 15 halls that PDL Padel United is closing down, one is located in Stenkullen.
What happens to the 15 empty rooms?
– It’s too early to say. First you have to find new tenants, but there are stakeholders in the form of warehousing and logistics operations and also playgrounds, says Rikard Hellqvist.
Swedish Padel Association says that they have noticed the over-establishment but says that the sport itself feels very good. At the start of 2022, there were 106 paddle associations in Sweden. Today there are 170 with a total of 55,000 members.
– We see that the sport is becoming more and more association-driven, which we think is positive. In addition, we see that a total of 550,000 people have booking accounts to book courses. Our goal now is to make it obvious for everyone to be part of an association, says Calle Åkesson, operations manager at the Padel Association.
It has previously been reported about the difficulty of running children and youth activities when the privately owned halls have been booked and prices high.
– The fact that occupancy has decreased in many places may thus have been an advantage for children and youth activities and an incentive for the associations and hall owners to find good and sustainable cooperation over time, says Calle Åkesson.
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