Indoor soccer, a market that has been growing steadily for years, now lands in the USA. Existing operators, looking for new trends to associate with their business model, and new business creators will guarantee the fuel for an impressive growth. WSBSPORT presents, in this and other articles, various ideas to consider for those who want to participate in the expansion and create action for new indoor soccer clubs in the United States.
Today they are mostly foreigners who want to open indoor soccer clubs in USA, but soon they will be the same Americans who decide to invest in the development of this discipline, we turn to both.
Those who will be interested in deepening the issues addressed in our articles, can contact one of our experts to get advice about their investment.
For those with a solid team and a project with potential, WSBSPORT offers an acceleration path and possibly a partnership.
WSBSPORT is already involved in several projects around the world, activity which adds to the classic set-up of clubs and the supply of indoor soccer fields.
The first topic to be addressed concerns the choice of the site. Fundamentally, there are two strategies to become a part of the indoor soccer market in the United States:
1. Look for a land to buy or rent, and develop a facility from scratch.
2. Detect unprofitable sports clubs (tennis clubs or indoor soccer clubs), and convert them, in whole or in part, to 5-a-side soccer.
Overall, the second option would seem the most viable. In fact, today, there are many difficulties in buying or renting land and being able to set it up quickly. Indoor soccer is a new product and the owners of the facilities, as we know, are inclined not to risk (it is the principle of real estate investment) and thus require higher guarantees to grant ownership. This is even more true in the case of a non-American consumer.
Longer periods are then needed to change the destination area, land that is often used for industrial purposes and must be converted to a commercial destination.
The existing structures, on the other hand, have several advantages: First of all, the area for which it is intended to be used is already the right one, a tennis club is already in an area for sporting use, thus allowing a quicker obtainment of an opening license. Secondly, a sports club already has a clientele that could attend the new facility. Finally, the sports and convivial spaces are already optimized for use that will be addressed for the new manager (for example, the size of tennis court perfectly matches the size of indoor soccer field).
Among the existing structures, the greater availability could be between the tennis clubs and those of indoor-soccer. In particular, it should be noted that the indoor-soccer business model in the United States is old-fashioned: the fields are of considerable size and the use of space is not rational. In a traditional indoor soccer field one could fit at least three pitches with the regular dimensions of 5 a side.
Regarding tennis clubs, there are about 270,000 existing camps in the US and a simultaneous decrease in the number of club members. This therefore suggests that there are future sites available to be converted to 5 a side.
In the next article we will address the issue of the costs of a indoor soccer club and eventual funding possibilities.
Stay tuned on our website for further insights about the world of indoor soccer.