Ace Pickleball Club
Formerly known as The Pickleball Club
Bottom line
- Total investment $818K – $2.4M including a $60K franchise fee, 7.0% ongoing royalty.
- Average unit revenue of $1.5M/year. Estimated payback in 7.6 years.
- Rated STRONG with a risk score of 44/100. SBA loan default rate of 0.0% across 32 loans (below the industry average).
- Auditor disclosed a going-concern note — flagged doubt about the franchisor's ability to continue operations. Verify against the latest FDD.
Item 1 · who you're contracting with
The Franchisor
Yale framework · single-unit ROIC
Returns Analysis
Pulls Item 7 (investment) and Item 19 (revenue) from this brand's FDD into the Yale unlevered-ROIC formula. Override any input to stress-test it against your own assumptions.
The model · Yale framework
What would one Ace Pickleball Club unit return on the cash you put in?
Unlevered ROIC · per unit
13%
Below typical band (30–60%)
Levered LBO scenario · Yale Crease Capital framing
What would 25 Ace Pickleball Club units return on equity?
Equity IRR · 5-yr
39.4%
5.27× MOIC
Year-1 DSCR
2.14×
EBITDA ÷ debt service
Equity required
$3.7M
on $12.4M purchase
Total debt
$8.7M
SBA $5.0M + senior + seller note
Overview
About
Franchisees operate full-service pickleball club facilities featuring multiple courts, pro shops, and member/drop-in programming. Day-to-day operations include court scheduling/maintenance, member management, instruction/coaching, food/beverage service, and community event coordination to drive court utilization and recurring revenue.
Item 7 · what it costs
The Vitals
Item 19
Financial Performance
Item 20 · unit dynamics
The Growth Chart
Year-over-year franchised unit counts and net change. Source: FDD Item 20.
Item 20 · 17 states with active franchisees
The Territory Map
Derived from franchisee contact records. Shows states with at least one current operator — not where the franchisor is registered to sell new units (that data is re-extracting in a future refresh).
States derived from franchisee phone area codes (Item 20). Approximate — ported numbers may show the original state, not the franchisee's current location.
Government records
SBA Loan Data
Aggregated from SBA 7(a) loan disclosures, public data unique to FranchiseVerdict.
FranchiseVerdict rating + FDD Items 3, 5, 6, 12, 17
Risk & Legal
Early-stage system with high entry cost, thin unit economics, and unproven growth potential presents moderate-to-significant risk despite favorable litigation and territory protection.
Score breakdown · what drove the 44 / 100 rating
- 01MEDOnly 11 units with unknown growth trajectory suggests nascent/stagnant system with limited operating history and unproven scalability
- 02MINORHigh capital requirement ($817K-$2.4M) with modest average net income ($213K) yields 3-5 year payback period creating significant financial risk
- 03MINOR7% royalty on $1.5M average revenue ($105K annually) plus overhead leaves thin margins; underperforming locations could quickly become unprofitable
- 04HIGHGoing concern status indicates financial fragility at franchisor level, raising sustainability questions for support and future viability
Severity inferred from the FDD text · not a regulatory classification
FDD Items 5, 6, 12, 17 · continued from Risk & Legal
Contract & Territory Detail
Item 11
Training & Operations
Item 20
Franchisee Contacts
Phone numbers extracted directly from this brand's FDD Item 20. After purchase, you'll also receive a list of validation questions tailored to this brand.
Franchisee contacts
19 numbers
One-time purchase · CSV download · Validation questions included
FDD download
Ace Pickleball Club · FDD (2025) PDF