The indoor racquet sports market in France

Indoor racquet sports encompass several different sports. They include badminton, squash, table tennis and padel.

In badminton and tennis, the principle is simple: two people (sometimes four in doubles) play against each other. The aim of badminton is to get the shuttlecock into the opponent's court, and the aim of table tennis is to bounce the ball twice into the opponent's court. Squash is played one-on-one, with the aim of bouncing a ball off the walls surrounding the court with the racket, so that the ball is out of reach of the opponent. Finally, padel is generally played two against two on a smaller court than tennis, often surrounded by walls or fences.

The market can be divided into :

Suppliers of equipment and materials (manufacturers,distributors, court manufacturers);

Clubs, associations and commercial structures.

In France, the sports industry is worth over 90 billion euros a year, including 13 billion from the budgets of the 360,000 sports associations in 2020, and 77 billion from sports companies. However, public investment, television rights and sponsorship are not included in this total. International event organizers are also expected to contribute 65 billion euros. In this context, tennis will generate 2.2 billion euros in 2021, equivalent to almost 0.01% of French GDP.

The padel market is experiencing remarkable growth, with a significant increase in the number of courts in France, rising from 175 to 1464 between 2015 and 2022. This represents an impressive average annual growth of 27% over this period.

The study also sheds light onthe profile of sports enthusiasts in France, analyzing their distribution by age, gender, place of residence and socio-professional category. This approach enables us to identify a typical sportsperson profile, providing an in-depth understanding of the characteristics of participants in sporting activities.

The cost of building a tennis, padel or badminton court varies significantly, depending on the quality of the surface and the type of sport played. In general, these costs range from €15,000 to €60,000, taking into account the specific nature of each discipline. It's important to note that regular maintenance and repair costs are also incurred. tennis courts, especially synthetic grass courts, are among the most expensive to build. This study provides more precise price ranges, depending on the type of sport and the quality of the surface.