In 2025 the Netherlands counted 780 padel venues, a 15 percent increase in a single year. The total number of courts rose to 3,523. On average, a venue has 4.5 courts. But behind that average lies a wide spread: small clubs with two courts sitting alongside commercial centres with twelve.
Something else stands out too: the number of venues is growing more slowly than the number of courts. Existing venues are expanding. Fewer entirely new sites are appearing than expansions of what already exists. That is a sign of consolidation in the market.
Clubs that expand run into new questions
A club with four courts on one site knows its players. There is a regular crowd, a familiar face at the desk, informal communication that works. When that same club opens a second location, or takes one over, that changes.
Suddenly there are two member databases, two sets of match schedules, two locations that each keep their own records. The manager shuttles between systems. Standings are not combined. Players at location A never see the ranking from location B. It feels like two clubs instead of one.
Centralised vs. separate
There are two ways to solve this. The first is to accept that the locations operate separately and each do their own thing. That works in the short term, but it misses the economies of scale that expansion was supposed to deliver in the first place.
The second approach is to centralise: one dashboard for all locations, combined competitions where it makes sense, and a single place for all player information. That asks more upfront, but it gives you far more oversight in the long run.
Which model fits better depends on how the locations are organised. But having the option to choose matters, and you only have that option if your systems support it.
Not just for big clubs
Multi-location management sounds like a question for commercial padel halls. But it is just as relevant for traditional tennis and padel clubs. They regularly expand with a second outdoor site, an indoor hall or a partnership with a neighbouring club. All at once they face the same organisational challenges as larger providers.
The ladder competition that worked for one location now has to be available for the other one as well. Or combined, in fact. Those are questions you only ask once you hit them, but the answer has to be ready in advance.
Start scalable
Clubs that are still on one location but know they want to grow benefit from choosing the right systems early. Not because they need that functionality tomorrow, but because switching later comes with data loss, duplicated work and broken continuity.
A system that supports multiple locations yet also works perfectly well for a single one gives you that room. You grow into it, instead of having to work around it later.
