Bottom line
- Total investment $940K – $2.3M including a $60K franchise fee, 7.0% ongoing royalty.
- Average unit revenue of $1.9M/year (median $1.9M).
- Rated MODERATE with a risk score of 57/100. SBA loan default rate of 0.0% across 14 loans (below the industry average).
- Emerging franchise — only 3 years of franchising with 4 units. Early-stage systems carry higher risk but may offer better territory availability.
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 Pickleball Kingdom unit return on the cash you put in?
Unlevered ROIC · per unit
14%
Below typical band (30–60%)
Levered LBO scenario · Yale Crease Capital framing
What would 25 Pickleball Kingdom units return on equity?
Equity IRR · 5-yr
37.7%
4.95× MOIC
Year-1 DSCR
2.20×
EBITDA ÷ debt service
Equity required
$4.2M
on $13.1M purchase
Total debt
$8.9M
SBA $5.0M + senior + seller note
Overview
About
Franchisees operate dedicated pickleball facilities featuring multiple indoor/outdoor courts, typically generating revenue through court hourly rentals, league play, tournaments, pro shop sales, and ancillary services (lessons, camps, food/beverage). Day-to-day operations involve court scheduling/maintenance, staff management, member relations, and event coordination in a capital-intensive real estate and facility management model.
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 · 30 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
Pickleball Kingdom presents elevated risk due to a nascent, unproven franchise system with only 4 units, undisclosed profitability metrics, and questionable franchisor financial stability masking real unit-level economics.
Score breakdown · what drove the 57 / 100 rating
- 01MINOROnly 4 units in system with unknown growth trajectory raises questions about scalability and market validation
- 02MINORNo net income disclosure despite $1.87M average revenue — unclear if locations are actually profitable after operating costs
- 03MINORHigh investment range ($940K-$2.26M) paired with 7% royalty requires substantial revenue to achieve acceptable ROI
- 04HIGHGoing Concern status is False, indicating potential financial instability at franchisor level
- 05MEDExtremely limited franchisee pool (4 units) makes validation and support network verification difficult
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
54 numbers
One-time purchase · CSV download · Validation questions included
FDD download
Pickleball Kingdom · FDD (2025) PDF