Opening an indoor facility

[cvsoftball]

Throwing down the challenge right now, I’ll beat the breaks off of anyone here at cornhole!

Quoits! Rule #1-drink in hand.

 

[Gambler Bob]

The space that I'm looking at is about 70ft x 90ft. I'm thinking that's room for an infield plus a weight training/warmup area and an entry/lobby.

Y'all got me thinking.... I don't want turf with infill, and want it to play like an infield. Looking for options.... What about putting green turf? Some removable plugs for holes? I don't have much experience from the golf side. Would it be too fragile and get destroyed by softball players? Or get torn up too much to be usable for golf? You guys got me thinking outside the box, lol. Thanks!

IMO. That is too small for what you want. You need at a minimum 80x80 for a softball infield, 90x90 is more ideal for softball. Keep in mind home plate will have to be about 5' off the exterior wall. Your netting will be a few feet off the exterior walls. You will want a storage room, and a bathroom. Entry way will need to be big enough for all the players bat bags etc. You can make it work with 10,000 square feet. 12,000 square feet is a good size for an infield at batting cages

 

[The Man In Blue]

70 x 90 is NOT as big as you think it is.

@Gambler Bob suggests you will need at least 5 feet of space between the wall and home plate ... I would say you are going to need much more than that. Some catchers sit back nearly that far. (Umpire perspective: 99.9% of people do not realize how much travel the ball still has after it enters the strike zone.)

60 feet for each base, just shy of 85 feet from home to second/first to third. Add in space for the fielders to play ... 70 x 90 isn't even going to be close if you want a fully functional infield, let alone big enough for office, lobby, and hitting space. NFHS requires an area of 25-30 feet from the beginning of foul territory (i.e., the lines or the back of home plate) to the nearest obstruction (i.e., fence). So, 85 feet tip-to-tip + 50 feet (25 + 25) is 135. I will tell you, a field with 25-30 feet of space in foul territory is a SMALL field.

Additionally, you are going to want enough of an offset that people can sit and watch, whether it is coaches or parents. Keep in mind netting moves when the ball hits it or a player crashes into it. (The places my daughter's pitching coach used always ran into this ... there was a net, but it wasn't protecting you.)

Also, those dimensions eliminate much of your potential baseball (and other multipurpose) uses.

Just a random opinion, but I would suggest you are going to need AT LEAST 2.5 times what you think.

 

[Fluid Fastpitch]

I would love to go bigger, but it's what the budget will allow for now, and it's the space that's available. I wasn't clear about the niche here. The primary goal is to give me and some friends a place to coach and run clinics in the off season. Secondary is the ability to rent out the space.
There is a D-Bat within a 30 minute drive; I'm not intending to compete at their scale, more provide a venue closer to home with coaches you can trust and a serviceable facility (that you can actually book) for drills and the like. If I can make a go of it in this space, I can build or rent a larger space in the future, but it's where I'm at now. The current facility our org uses is barely 60ft the long way, so it's an upgrade from our perspective, if still not ideal.
But no, I agree, it's not as big as the dream

So, let's reframe. 5 year plan - start in this smaller facility. Goal is to have enough growth that in 5 years you're moving out. Minimum investment required is flooring and batting cages. (does the 5 year plan change people's opinions on turf options?) Cages have to be able to be pulled back/up in order to have the larger area for teams to practice in.
Beyond that, I want to leverage technology as our differentiator. I'm in IT, I love my gadgets. I intend to have delayed playback (like a 10 second offset) available on the cages (at least one cage) for both lessons and folks who would rent. Need to figure out how to keep the monitors safe. Would love to be able to install a HitTrax or similar.
Thoughts?

 

[CoreSoftball20]

Just be ready for down months where money is thin. There has been 2 huge places by us that
shut down fairly fast. Sure, winter is nice, everybody wants to be indoors...but once it gets nice
out, indoor places can be a ghost town. From like May thru Aug/Sept are tough hauling. So just
prepare for finances, not just the space.

Good luck to you though, hope you do well!!!

 

[Rick M]

Would love to be able to install a HitTrax or similar.
Thoughts?

I wanted to take DD to hit and or pitch with a Rhapsodo machine, to get the detailed feedback. I know on the baseball side, it’s becoming an important part of the recruiting process. I couldn’t find one within 40 miles, got me thinking the same as you…


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[Vertigo]

Would love to be able to install a HitTrax or similar.
Thoughts?

Our local facility has a HitTrax. They actually have “teams” sign up to compete against each other in a tourney format. They charged for sign-ups but then donated the money to a local charity. Could be another way to bring in some money.

 

[amakaa]

What about becoming a franchisee of 6-4-3 : https://www.sixfour3.com/

 

[Fluid Fastpitch]

What about becoming a franchisee of 6-4-3 : https://www.sixfour3.com/

I've not heard of them, I'll look into that, thanks!

 

[CoreSoftball20]

I've not heard of them, I'll look into that, thanks!

Sometimes you're on the hook for even more when you are a part of a franchise...and then you have to
do everything THEIR way. Another thing to make sure of