Suggestions please! : Are Backyard or Indoor Batting Cages needed for travel ball?

[ecufpchick]

ms244: Thank you for your reply. Good to hear. I know TB has grown tremendously even since I played, and budgets vary greatly (I had a baseball team tell me once that their budget was $100k..not joking). Yet still, hearing from you that most have a total budget of around $10k is helpful. I think you all have answered my questions pretty quickly. I think the Institutional market is our bread and butter, and before we venture alot more time and energy into developing a TB specific piece, this helps me save that time and energy where I could have possibly ran into a lot of dead-ends.
Thanks again all!

 

[ecufpchick]

David Carter: Thank you for your reply. I am familiar with those cages, and they seem to do well for their pricepoint. I have a coach that actually owns one of ours and one of theirs. Per her comments: the other cage netting gets chewed on by rabbits/dear in her backyard b/c she keeps it up, the poles ricochet really badly when hit (as any metal cage would) and there are balls that will escape underneath as it's not a heavy gage net. Overall, for the cost, she is still pleased with it. With ours, none of those other factors come into play, and if she does want to take our cage off-site she can do that with considerably less effort than the cages plus one. I think it will come down to the ease of use vs cost and perceived value of all things considered. Puncture concern: they are patched very similarly to a zodiac boat or an air mattress, yes...takes about 10 minutes to completely patch. A puncture would have to be significant to make the cage deflate quickly. It could still hold air for hours even with a puncture, so practice could "go on" until afterwards to repair it. The workmanship of the cage is guaranteed for life though, as is standard with all of our cages (we also make soccer, golf stations, lacrosse, etc.)

 

[Momo'sDad]

I think you've got a sharp business acumen and even though DFP is only giving you a small feedback sample, you're getting info from people who've spent a lot of years around the game in very fastpitch-intensive areas. I'm glad you're listening!

Cost is important, but even if you developed something in the $1500 range, setup/breakdown time would need to be considerably lower. And 250 lbs is way too heavy. I'm thinking that anything a TB coach might want to use would need to be 50 lbs or less.

I believe you're correct in looking to the backyard market. Our cage was $500, but I know a lot of dads who would be willing to pay $1500-2000 for something really nice that takes less than 3 hours to set up.

I also think the rental market is a huge one and not just for teams and tournament directors. They could be used for parties or other special events and already have that sort of look.

Best wishes to you and thanks for bringing this to the group's attention.

 

[ecufpchick]

Momo'sDad: Thank you for your compliments and reply! Yes, this is a small sector of the FP community, but as a former player (and coach) I respect these opinions as REAL b/c there's wisdom behind the answers. I want that. Not simple, cut and dry cliche answers, I want as much real feedback as possible, even if it hurts a little .

Based on the products and process we currently use, even if we mass produced I can't even envision our cages being at that low of a price point, and trust me, it's attractive to make that happen for the wide-range appeal alone (sports authority, dicks, etc.. retail possibilites). For now, I think deciding if there is even a model that can be made that will function up to our standards is slim to none, but I plan to only let that motivate me to push creativity to find the right solution.
We DO have some plans rolling out in 2014 for a "rental type" business, but with a unique twist. I'll be excited to share that with anyone who would like to know more when that time comes. It would be a win-win for our company, and our customers alike. You are welcome to send additional feeback to me here on this site, or if you have insight from other coaches/dads/friends in the softball travel ball world, I would enjoy hearing from them also.
Thanks again for your feedback!