24 min
For the last several years, growth in racquet sports has been measured by a simple question. How many courts do you have?
Heading into 2026, that question is losing relevance.
In this post
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Growth Exposed the Cracks
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Tennis Remains the Foundation
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Pickleball’s Lesson Was About Operations, Not Demand
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Padel Reinforced the Value of Intentional Design
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The Rise of the Multipurpose Club
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Programming Is the Product, Communication Is the Difference
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Why a True ERP Is Now Essential
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Where clubcloud Comes In
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Looking Ahead to 2026
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Sources
The Industry Didn’t Slow Down. It Got More Complex.
What 2025 made clear is that the industry did not slow down. It became more complex. Participation continued to rise, but the facilities that struggled were not short on players. They were short on structure. The next era of racquet sports will not be defined by courts alone, but by systems that support programming, communication, and multipurpose operations at scale.
This is no longer a court business.
Growth Exposed the Cracks
The explosive growth of pickleball, the steady resurgence of tennis, and the targeted expansion of padel all converged in 2025 to expose the same underlying issue. Many clubs were built for a simpler operating reality. One sport. One revenue stream. One primary use case.
That reality no longer exists.
Modern racquet clubs are managing memberships, leagues, ladders, clinics, junior programs, private lessons, fitness classes, recovery offerings, retail, payroll, and communication across multiple channels. The challenge is no longer attracting interest. The challenge is coordinating it.
When systems are fragmented, confusion follows. Schedules feel unreliable. Programs appear and disappear without explanation. Staffs give different answers. Members disengage quietly. Churn does not come from one big failure. It comes from dozens of small moments of friction.
Tennis Remains the Foundation
Amid all the noise, tennis continued to quietly prove why it remains the economic backbone of racquet sports.
According to the United States Tennis Association 2025 Participation Report, tennis participation reached 25.7 million players, an eight percent year over year increase. Retention climbed to seventy nine percent, the highest level in five years, driven largely by growth in the eighteen to thirty four demographic.
For clubs, this matters far more than headline growth. Retention fuels predictable memberships, long term programming, junior development, and stable coaching revenue. Tennis creates institutional loyalty. It anchors the schedule and gives structure to the rest of the operation.
Pickleball may bring people in the door. Tennis is often why they stay.
Pickleball’s Lesson Was About Operations, Not Demand
Pickleball remained strong in 2025, but the industry experienced a clear correction in how facilities are run.
Participation estimates ranged from thirteen point six million players according to SFIA, to nearly twenty million when including casual play. At the same time, court supply surged. Pickleheads and USA Pickleball tracked roughly sixty eight thousand known courts by early 2025, pushing the industry toward the seventy thousand court milestone by year end.
Closures and restrictions that captured attention were not caused by declining interest. They were caused by noise litigation, zoning pressure, weather dependency, and business models overly reliant on drop in play. Data from the Acoustical Society of America highlighted hundreds of active legal claims related to pickleball noise, signaling real operational risk for outdoor facilities.
The operators who succeeded leaned into membership and programming. Structured leagues, ladders, clinics, and junior offerings turned volume into stability. Access alone proved fragile. Organization proved durable.
Padel Reinforced the Value of Intentional Design
Padel’s growth story in the United States remained narrow but meaningful.
Reports from Misitrano Consulting and the Global Padel Report by Playtomic and PwC confirmed roughly six hundred eighty eight active padel courts across the country in 2025. While small in scale, padel consistently delivered some of the highest revenue per square foot in dense urban markets.
The takeaway was not that padel will replace pickleball. It was that tightly integrated, premium offerings can thrive when they are designed intentionally and supported by the right infrastructure.
The Rise of the Multipurpose Club
One of the clearest signals from 2025 was the continued collapse of silos between racquet sports, fitness, and wellness.
High performing facilities increasingly resemble ecosystems rather than single use venues. Courts sit alongside strength training, mobility work, and recovery offerings such as sauna and cold plunge. Youth development runs parallel to adult leagues. Social experiences are layered on top of structured progression.
Operators like Life Time demonstrated that racquet sports perform best when they are part of a broader lifestyle platform. Members who spend more time in the club engage more frequently and churn less.
This shift has reached independent clubs and franchises as well. Multipurpose is no longer a luxury. It is becoming the baseline expectation.
Programming Is the Product, Communication Is the Difference
As clubs add layers, the importance of clear communication multiplies.
Members do not churn because they dislike racquet sports. They churn because they feel uncertain. They do not know what is happening, what programs are for them, or how to progress. When communication breaks down, trust erodes quietly.
In a multipurpose environment, communication must be embedded into operations. Schedules, instructor bios, program descriptions, billing clarity, and real time updates are not marketing features. They are retention tools.
Without a centralized system, even great programming fails to land.
Why a True ERP Is Now Essential
This is where the industry faces a hard truth. Most legacy club systems were built to solve one narrow problem. Court booking.
Modern clubs do not operate narrowly anymore.
To support the 2026 club model, operators need platforms that can manage memberships, recurring billing, programming, payroll across multiple compensation models, fitness and recovery scheduling, inventory, reporting, and member communication in one place.
Disconnected tools create disconnected experiences. A well rounded ERP creates clarity for staff and confidence for members.
Where clubcloud™ Comes In
At clubcloud™, we have been building for this reality.
Our platform is designed around how modern racquet clubs actually operate. Tennis, pickleball, padel, fitness, and wellness live in the same system. Memberships and programming work together. Payroll reflects how instructors are truly paid. Communication flows through a single source of truth.
As clubs evolve from single sport venues into multipurpose businesses, the need for a unified operational backbone becomes unavoidable.
Courts are expensive real estate. Staff time is valuable. Member attention is fragile. Your software has to support all three.
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