Best pickleball franchises compared: Item 7 cost, fees, royalties, and unit counts for Picklr, Pickleball Kingdom, Ace, PickleRage, and The Flying Pickle.
Quick answer A pickleball franchise costs $817,750 to $5,574,500 all-in, depending on court count. Ace Pickleball Club discloses $817,750 to $2,404,850, PickleRage $883,000 to $2,495,550, Pickleball Kingdom $998,800 to $2,474,297, The Picklr $1,252,400 to $2,077,300, and The Flying Pickle $3,178,800 to $5,574,500. Royalties run 6% to 7%. Only The Picklr discloses franchisee earnings: a $938,176 median across 12 clubs.
Five indoor pickleball club brands have franchise disclosure documents in our database. Between them they had 86 franchised locations open and 156 signed agreements for facilities that had not opened yet. That ratio is the whole story of the category: nearly two sold for every one operating, the operating ones barely old enough to have a track record, and exactly one brand in the set disclosing what a franchisee actually earns.
There is also no cheap version of this business. The lowest Item 7 floor across the five is $817,750, the highest ceiling is $5,574,500, and every brand sits above $1.6M at its own midpoint. A pickleball franchise is a big-box lease carrying a fitness club’s margin structure, a different animal from the boutique studios in our best fitness franchises under $200K roundup.
The demand side is not in dispute. The Sports & Fitness Industry Association’s 2026 Topline Participation Report counted 24.3 million US pickleball players in 2025, a 22.8% jump and the fifth consecutive year as the country’s fastest-growing sport. In 2020 the number was 4.2 million.
Supply followed, but mostly in the form nobody can charge for. USA Pickleball’s 2025 annual growth report counted 18,258 court locations nationwide, and the overwhelming majority are municipal courts and park facilities that cost a player nothing. The franchised concepts sell what a public court cannot: climate control, guaranteed reservations, leagues, coaching, and a membership that bills whether or not you show up.
That recurring revenue is what made the category franchisable so quickly. All five franchisors registered their systems between 2022 and 2024, and they converged on nearly identical terms: four of the five set the initial franchise fee at exactly $60,000, and four charge a 7% royalty. It is a membership gym business wearing a racket sport’s clothes.
Every figure below comes from the brand’s most recent FDD on file.
| Brand | Item 7 total investment | Franchise fee | Royalty + marketing | Franchised units open | FDD year |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ace Pickleball Club | $817,750 to $2,404,850 | $60,000 | 7% + 1% ad fund (cap 2%) | 8 | 2025 |
| PickleRage | $883,000 to $2,495,550 | $65,000 | 7% + 1% + $2,000/mo local | 1 | 2026 |
| Pickleball Kingdom | $998,800 to $2,474,297 | $60,000 | 7% + 2% ad fund (cap 4%) | 21 | 2026 |
| The Picklr | $1,252,400 to $2,077,300 | $60,000 | 7% + 2% national + 1% local | 56 | 2026 |
| The Flying Pickle | $3,178,800 to $5,574,500 | $60,000 | 6% + 1% brand fund | 0 | 2026 |
Two of the ranges jumped this filing season. Pickleball Kingdom went from $940,000 to $2,257,600 in its 2025 document to $998,800 to $2,474,297 in the 2026 one. PickleRage moved harder, from $797,800 to $1,783,200 up to $883,000 to $2,495,550, a 40% jump at the ceiling in a single year. The Picklr went the other way, trimming a $1,264,400 to $2,094,300 range down to $1,252,400 to $2,077,300, which is what a franchisor does once it has enough completed buildouts to sharpen the estimate. Multi-unit developers there pay $70,000 more at both ends.
Disclosure quality separates these brands more than price does. The Picklr is the only one in the set that reports franchisee results. Ace and The Flying Pickle both publish a detailed profit and loss for a single affiliate-owned club. PickleRage discloses membership counts and revenue per member from three corporate facilities but no revenue totals. Pickleball Kingdom, having opened 20 clubs in 2025, discloses nothing: its 2025 FDD carried an Item 19 for the company-owned Chandler, Arizona location and its 2026 FDD removed it, replacing the table with the standard “we do not make any representations” language.
Comparing two or three of these brands seriously? The full 12-section FDD analysis covers Item 19 earnings, litigation history, fee footnotes, and a buyer verdict personalized to your capital and market: $49 per brand, or three brands for $99 if you’re comparing finalists.
Court count drives everything, so the cost figure that travels between brands is all-in investment per court.
| Brand | Facility size | Courts | Cost per court (low to high) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pickleball Kingdom | 25,000 to 45,000 sq ft | 10 to 20 | $99,880 to $123,715 |
| Ace Pickleball Club | 25,000 to 40,000 sq ft | 8 to 16 | $102,219 to $150,303 |
| PickleRage | 20,000 to 40,000 sq ft | 8 to 16 | $110,375 to $155,972 |
| The Picklr | 18,000 to 30,000 sq ft | 6 to 10 | about $208,000 |
| The Flying Pickle | 40,000 to 80,000 sq ft | 14 to 24 | $227,057 to $232,271 |
The Picklr builds the smallest box and charges the highest floor, which is a deliberate trade: 3,000 square feet per court, a buildout budgeted at up to $60 per square foot, and a shorter path to filling the memberships that a smaller court inventory requires.
Revenue mix explains the rest. At Ace’s affiliate-owned club in Roswell, Georgia, 2024 gross sales were $1,528,287 and membership revenue was $1,380,294 of that, or 90.3%. Drop-in play, private events, and retail split the remaining 10%. The Flying Pickle’s 52,000 square foot Meridian, Idaho club ran a different mix on $2,730,180 of 2025 revenue: memberships 44.2%, instruction 10.9%, guest reservations 10.6%, kitchen 12.2%, pro shop 8.9%. Bigger boxes with restaurants diversify away from the membership line and inherit a kitchen’s staffing and waste problems.
Rent decides the deal. Ace’s Roswell club paid $585,888 in gross rent including NNN in 2024, or 38.3% of gross sales. The Flying Pickle’s Meridian club paid $585,082, but on $2.73M of revenue that landed at 21.4%. Same dollar figure, different outcome, and the difference is court count rather than anything either operator did well. Ace still cleared $213,092 of net operating income, a 13.9% margin, while capping membership sales twice during the year.
PickleRage is the only brand disclosing a per-member number. Across three corporate facilities running nine to ten courts in 2025 it reported an average of 467 active members and $189.89 of revenue per member per month, ranging from $158.52 to $231.81. Multiply the averages and you get roughly $1.06M of implied annual revenue per facility.
The bear case is usually stated as national oversupply, and the data does not support that framing. It supports a narrower, more uncomfortable one.
Closures so far are minimal. The Picklr opened 35 franchised clubs during 2025, reacquired one in Minnesota, and reported zero terminations and zero non-renewals. Ace opened 9 in 2024 and reacquired one in Fort Wayne. Pickleball Kingdom opened 20 and lost two in Texas to “ceased operations, other reasons.” Ace’s Roswell club stopped selling memberships in February 2024, reopened sales in May, and capped membership again in November. That is a demand problem in the good direction.
The real exposure is the pipeline of agreements that have not become buildings. Across the five filings, 156 franchise agreements were sold for locations not yet open against 86 franchised clubs actually operating, with 96 openings projected for the next fiscal year. Pickleball Kingdom alone reported 51 unopened agreements against 21 operating locations. Those buyers have paid a $60,000 fee and, in most cases, have not yet committed to a 10-year lease on a 30,000 square foot box. Whether the category holds up depends on how many of them open into a metro that already has three indoor facilities, and no FDD will tell you that. Mesa, Arizona alone has 259 dedicated courts in the Pickleheads database, more than any other US city.
Judge your shortlist against the framework in our emerging franchise risk guide. Four of these five sit under 50 franchised units, the zone where the franchisor’s own balance sheet, not the concept, is what fails you.
This is where the category gets hard, and it is not a knock on pickleball. It is arithmetic.
SBA 7(a) loans in 2026 run roughly 10.5% to 15.5%, with most single-unit buyers landing in the 12% to 14% band. Take The Picklr at its $1,252,400 floor, finance 90% of it, and a $1,127,160 loan at 13% over 10 years costs about $201,957 a year in debt service.
Now set that against The Picklr’s own Item 19. The 12 franchised clubs open a full year reported gross sales of $1,843,170 at the high, $962,734 average, $938,176 median, and $498,014 at the low, with EBITDA of 32.0% high, 10.9% average, 9.3% median, and negative 35.3% at the low. The median club therefore produced roughly $87,250 of EBITDA. Against $201,957 of annual debt service that is a 0.43x debt-service coverage ratio. The average club reaches 0.52x. Only the top of the range, at about $589,800 of EBITDA, clears comfortably at 2.92x.
Ace’s disclosed club looks better because the build is cheaper: $213,092 of net operating income against $131,867 of debt service on a 90% loan at the $817,750 floor is 1.62x. Build that same club at Ace’s $1.6M midpoint and coverage drops below 1.0x. The Flying Pickle’s Meridian club cleared $554,614 after COGS, disclosed expenses, and imputed royalty, covering a $3,178,800 build at about 1.08x before any owner compensation.
In this category the buildout number decides the deal, not the revenue number. Run your own version through the franchise cash-flow stress test at 2026 SBA rates before you sign a letter of intent on a building.
The Picklr suits a multi-unit operator who has already run a facility business. It has the most clubs, the only franchisee-level earnings disclosure, and the smallest footprint, which shortens the lease hunt. It also carries the highest floor and the heaviest fee stack: $1,096 a month in technology fees, $350 for a marketing subscription, and $3,000 a month in digital advertising until the club reaches 65% membership.
Ace Pickleball Club suits a single-unit buyer who wants a line-item P&L before committing. Its Item 19 publishes twelve months of gross sales, labor, rent, utilities, and net operating income. That is one club, one market, affiliate-owned, so treat it as a template rather than a forecast.
Pickleball Kingdom suits a buyer prepared to validate entirely by telephone. With 21 franchised clubs open and no earnings disclosure in the 2026 FDD, the Item 20 franchisee contact list is your only source of financial information about the system.
PickleRage is an early-stage bet and should be priced like one. One franchised club was open at the end of 2025 against 28 signed agreements, and all the performance data is corporate. You would be among the first franchisees proving the model outside the franchisor’s own four facilities.
The Flying Pickle is a development project rather than a franchise purchase for most buyers: a $3.18M to $5.57M build on a 40,000 to 80,000 square foot box with a full kitchen and locker rooms, and zero franchised clubs open as of December 31, 2025.
Fewer than 90 franchised pickleball clubs are open nationwide across all five brands, so the Item 20 contact list is short enough to work through completely. Do that. Ask each owner:
How many members did you have at month 12, and what did the franchisor’s pro forma say you would have? What percentage of your revenue is membership versus drop-in, retail, and food? What is your monthly rent including CAM and NNN, and what did the landlord contribute in tenant improvement allowance? What did the buildout actually cost against the Item 7 range, and which line item missed worst? Are your courts full at 6pm on a Tuesday, and are they empty at 11am on a Wednesday? Have you had to cap membership, and if so, at what number?
The last question matters most. A club that caps membership has found the ceiling on its court inventory, and that ceiling, divided into your debt service, is the only unit economics number that ultimately counts.
To filter the full database by capital and category before you narrow to a brand, start with the 60-second franchise quiz. To model the debt service on a specific Item 7 range and rate, run it through the franchise investment calculator.
Get the full 12-section FDD analysis — $49
Real franchise data, real Item 19 numbers, personalized to your capital and location. Comparing 2–3 brands? The 3-pack is $99.
Browse franchises · pick your brand Or see a real sample report →
The only franchise report written entirely for the buyer. 12 sections covering financial risks, legal obligations, and a personalized recommendation.
Browse Franchise Library See a real sample report →
$49 per brand · $99 for a 3-brand pack
pickleball franchisepickleball franchise costpickleball club franchisefitness franchiseemerging franchise
About this analysis The franchise data in this article is drawn from VetMyFranchise's structured analysis of 2,300+ Franchise Disclosure Documents filed with U.S. state regulators. See our data & methodology.
Between $817,750 and $5,574,500 all-in, per the five brands' current FDDs. Ace Pickleball Club discloses $817,750 to $2,404,850 for an 8 to 16 court club, PickleRage $883,000 to $2,495,550, Pickleball Kingdom $998,800 to $2,474,297 for 10 to 20 courts, The Picklr $1,252,400 to $2,077,300 for 6 to 10 courts, and The Flying Pickle $3,178,800 to $5,574,500 for a 14 to 24 court club with a full kitchen. Initial franchise fees are $60,000 at four of the five and $65,000 at PickleRage. None of the five finances any part of the investment.
Some are, and the disclosed spread is wide. The Picklr reports EBITDA across its 12 clubs open a full year at a 9.3% median, a 10.9% average, a 32.0% high, and a negative 35.3% low. On the $938,176 median gross sales that median works out to roughly $87,000 of EBITDA, which does not cover annual debt service on a $1.25M build at 2026 SBA rates. Ace's affiliate-owned club in Roswell, Georgia produced $213,092 of net operating income on $1,528,287 of 2024 gross sales, a 13.9% margin, and that club had capped its membership.
The Picklr, by a wide margin. Its 2026 FDD reports 56 franchised clubs plus 3 company-owned at the end of 2025, up from 22 franchised a year earlier, with 35 openings during 2025 and no terminations. Pickleball Kingdom is second at 21 franchised clubs, having opened 20 in 2025. Ace Pickleball Club reported 8 franchised clubs as of December 31, 2024, PickleRage 1, and The Flying Pickle none.
Participation growth is real and still accelerating. The SFIA's 2026 Topline Participation Report put pickleball at 24.3 million US players in 2025, up 22.8% and the fastest-growing sport for a fifth straight year, against 4.2 million in 2020. The risk sits in local supply rather than national demand. USA Pickleball's 2025 annual growth report counted 18,258 court locations nationwide, most of them free public courts, so a paid indoor club has to beat a free alternative on climate control, court reservations, leagues, and programming. Two of the 21 Pickleball Kingdom clubs open during 2025 ceased operations, both in Texas.
This page is part of VetMyFranchise. View all pages: llms.txt · llms-full.txt