Running your own netball centre is an exciting prospect. You may be setting up new teams within your district or feel you deserve better facilities than those presently on offer. You have a few choices when it comes to financing your new venture. You can buy outright, lease the ground or look into running a franchise.
The most important thing is to get the location right so that players can easily access the site. Then you can decide whether you want to buy the land or rent it. Owning outright is the best option if you can afford it because you’ll have more choice in terms of what to build. You also won’t face the prospect of your landlord giving you notice to quit.
Shop around for finance
It should be possible to borrow the money from a private investor or bank loan, but shop around for the best deal and talk to several different financial institutions. Rather than building new, you may find there are existing sports centres for sale that just need a little work instead of starting from scratch. This could be something your local authority could help you explore.
You may want to rent part of an existing sports complex or find a property owner with a spare plot of land who is willing to lease it to you. Make sure a proper contract is drawn up so you know who pays for the upkeep.
Start a franchise
There is a third option of running a franchise, which could be a quicker way to set up netball sessions and leagues in your area. The advantage is that you will have the franchisor’s proven business formula and marketing skills to fall back on, but you may have to pay a management fee, which could put it out of reach financially.
Once you have opened your netball centre and attracted players, you will need to make sure that enough of them return every time so you can set up a team and keep a decent cash flow. There are many netball drills you can incorporate into training to improve players’ skills in all areas. You can find examples at http://www.sportplan.net/drills/Netball/drills.jsp.
You could also perform an online search for other netball business owners to find out their financing experiences and long-term forecasts.