basically i want to remove all barriers to enjoying badminton. Basically treat it like going out for drinks or playing pool on a random night. All you need to do is bring yourself and some friends. What do you guys think?
Hmmm... I can't see it working to be honest. I can see what you're trying to do, you're trying turn it into bowling. Most people see bowling as a lighthearted, low fitness demanding pasttime (i.e. it's not really a sport), something that you can do without breaking a sweat - which is why it's easy to just turn up and play. With badminton, you're not going to play in a shirt and tie/dress going after work, whereas in bowling you can, and play over a few drinks too. Besides most sports centres tend to have racquets, shuttles etc for hire when you hire a court. It'd be no different imho.
SO the only thing to overcome is proper clothing. heck maybe throw that in too. as for sport centers, they aren't purpose built. my place will be PURPOSE BUILT.
you have to ask yourself this question: is having rackets/shoes/birdies/clothing a big barrier to playing badminton?
doesnt sound like a good idea tbh. Think about it - why are the majority of badminton courts part of multi-court sports halls? Because badminton doesnt have the popularity to demand its own courts on a social basis. The only places that are dedicated to badminton are for non-social players that are much more serious about the sport. Trying to set up a dedicated place for social players will alienate the serious ones to some extent. You will have higher costs than regular leisure centre (almost certainly). Your target audience is too small
i somewhat respectfully disagree. the bowling alley / ice skating rink model might work for badminton. just that we need to figure out how to mold the model for badminton. i have been to bowling alleys and ice skating before. in contrast to badminton gyms that we see today, they are more social events. people sit around in bowling alleys and watch, drink, eat, bowl. most people don't own a ball nor shoes. they alley have them provided. ice skating, people go around in circles trying not to fall, doing something more novel than their everyday walking. they too don't have skates but the facilities provide them. most people who goes there sucks at the activity. but they have fun doing it and feels good afterwards. can that model work for badminton? if you drag a Joe off the street, have him invite his friends and try to make them feel good after hitting a shuttlecock around, what do you need to do that? what equipment, or other amenities do you need to provide them? if you can find a solution, then maybe you have a business model.
for the casual crowd yes. imagine if bowling required bringing your own ball, or with pool you needed your own cue stick. I want to make badminton an option for an IMPULSIVE night out. Just like how they put gum and candy bars at the checkout aisle at your grocery store, and you have no problem with buying it even though it's not on your shopping list. the idea here is minimal pre-planning and logistics on the part of the consumer.
without fail, every person i've introduced badminton to has fallen in love with it. IT IS INHERENTLY FUN. even if they had to get over preconcieved notions of it being a non-serious sport or even not very masculine or whatever kind of hang ups. my target audience are those who want to do something social/physical, that doesn't require a huge learning curve or cost investment, unlike other sports like say basketball or volleyball. also having 4 people for a doubles game is a perfect number for a social gathering.
we also need to make it trendy. perhaps some of that music that high end fashion stores pump would be a good idea. maybe a live dj
current badminton places remind me of boxing gyms. you have no one taking care of you and you have to navigate your own way. that's fine if know what you're doing, but wouldn't it be nice to have an attendant to explain service rules, or have a video demo of some fundamental doubles positions, or stuff like that? we can all agree badminton is awesome when you're doing it properly, or at least headed in that direction. Hell, you can even have attendants who play with the customers as well, especially doubles, so they can work with the noobs and make the games more interesting.
look at how they've ported over the bowling alley model for ping pong, albeit catering to a higher end crowd.
as for alienating serious players, that's just a matter of creating separate times for drop in and "serious bidness"
"without fail, every person i've introduced badminton to has fallen in love with it." Personal anecdotes are irrelevant. It sounds like you had to coerce some people with 'hangups'. You can't coerce the public to attend your centre like you cant pressure your mates. Why do you care if people think badminton is a non-serious sport? You said you want to target social players - ie those not into badminton as a serious sport. Writing something in caps doesn't make it correct. Badminton is not inherently fun. Do you know what inherent means? Basketball doesnt exactly require a large cost investment . It also has minimal learning curve. Your arguments are inconsistent and ill-considered.
basketball needs way more people to get things going. and if you've never played before you will look retarded when you lack the most basic skills like dribbling and shooting. on the other hand a badminton rally can happen within the first 2 minutes.
and if you've never played badminton before you will look retarded when you lack the most basic skills like how to hold a racket and how to serve and clear. On the other hand, basketball can happen within the first 2 minutes. (1v1 or 2v2) If you ever start your own business, good luck - you will need it.
Hmm, people on this board are already into badminton, so you are likely to get biased opinions from folks on here. If you want to determine the demand for your product/service, you need to survey the target market and obtain a representative sample. As for fall in love with badminton without fail, it is too strong of a statement, if you are speaking from personal experience I urge you to do some random tests on the general population and you may find a different answer. Badminton is a hard sport to learn and master, it took me 3-4 years to learn the full range of skills to sustain longer rallys by playing just one time per week (your customer base is like this based on your description), and this will deter a lot of people looking for some light-hearted fun during a night out. There is a lot of physical activity involved so that means food and "recreational drinks" are out of the question, this is important because they are big revenue sources for bowling alleys. You may argue that casual badminton among beginners does not involve that much activity, sure, but in the case they don't need the dedicated clothing and shoes. You cannot have it both ways. You point out that some clubs offer Pingpong tables. Sure it appears to be a successful model (though long term we don't know yet). But they are playing in cocktail dresses and barefoot, and an important part of your business model is to offer equipment. These two models are not consistent. Pingpong tables also take much less space hence they are more club friendly. People also have a less risk of getting injured than in badminton, and you need to concern potential legal liability of you are trying to bring in players who don't know what they are doing.
