[rsion4191]

So, I've recently run into a business idea by sheer luck. Myself, a family member & two other childhood friends have the chance to lease an open space big enough for at least two speedball fields (indoor) in the city of Wilmington, CA. Since the early 2000s, the South Bay area hasn't seen a field/park dedicated to paintball. I'm asking PBN to somehow guide me in the right direction.

I understand that it's probably stupid to ask random people. But, my thoughts are that I am at least asking the paintball community. I'm asking for full input: positives, negatives, whatever. Just be serious & honest.

As far as the facility goes, there are two floors. Both are roughly 250 ft x 200 ft. There are bathrooms located on both floors for both men & women with locker rooms in each bathroom. A main office area is located downstairs towards the entrance.

There is sufficient parking for up to 50-80 vehicles. There is also an outdoor patio type of thing. I suppose tables & an awning could be put up for lunch time. Although there is a very small garage, it would probably be best used as a tech & air up station.

In very near distances, there is I&I Sports & Paintball Gateway. At most, I&I is ten to fifteen minutes away. PBG is roughly twenty.

Again, serious responses. This establishment would be around for the long haul. This isn't a "make a quick buck" idea. I just wanna know what problems I could come up with. I know there are still permits & other licensing to be dealt with. But, insight is welcomed.

[rsion4191]

I believe The Ranch is a private field only. If I'm wrong, somebody please enlighten me. SC Village is "close" because there are no closer QUALITY fields around.

[JD9940]

if you build a quality facilty you wont have any problem attracting players. although being an indoor field you are faced with a higher start up cost.
Splat Factory was great to play at Tuesday and Thursday nights until the turf got so slippery it was unplayable. keep things clean and customers will keep coming back.

[monkeyballer099639]

The Ranch is a private field. All the teams that play there have permission to come. You cannot just show up and play.

To OP: Starting a new field anywhere that doesn't have one is a great idea. Just be aware of the actual costs. If you want to be competitive in the speedball area, you will have to get good turf. You will also need to get a set of bunkers. I would suggest getting the current PSP bunkers as most teams that will come there will want to play xball.

You will also have to get high quality netting and a way to support that netting. Invest well in this so that you don't have to repair it every week.

You will need to decide of you will let outside paint in or make it field paint only. There are pros and cons to both. Most outdoor fields are bring your own paint, but some, like HSP, make you buy their paint. If you do make it field paint only, try to find a medium to charge for paint. Make it too high and players won't come, too low and you will lose money. You can also look into making this a reball area.

[mike_paintball]

Set yourself apart and open a reball field!!!! It would be extremely interesting to have one normal speedball field and one reball field right next to it! :0 you would see my business either way because of how close you are!

[L.A. Astronaut]

Yeah from what I've read indoor fields are impossible to keep clean and more trouble than they're worth. But there's probably more enlightened opinions on that in the field owner forum. I loved the reball center in long beach. Reball is the way to go for indoor but you have to have a system so that the reballs don't walk away

[CharlieFox01]

place to ask questions about starting a field is in the Field/ Store Owners thread.
For an indoor field look up Gatsplat.

[ASIglen]

Originally Posted by rsion4191

Again, serious responses. This establishment would be around for the long haul. This isn't a "make a quick buck" idea. I just wanna know what problems I could come up with. I know there are still permits & other licensing to be dealt with. But, insight is welcomed.

Hi rsion,

I have some experience in Indoor facilities. Indoor facilities can be profitable but it is a lot of work.

With that being said, highest revenue comes from Corporate Events, Birthday Parties, Bachelor Parties etc... Regular walk ons / tournament players would account for half or much less. Typically, the cost per SQ FT. in LA and or OC is a huge barrier to stay profitable unless it is well below "Market Rates".

Main problem:
The condition of indoor facilities seem to degrade over time when using paintballs. Not enough (so far) revenue can be generated using re-balls (Gym membership model? Also, Reball's seem to disappear). Not knowing what your expenses are, Field Paint Only would probably be your best bet.

Off the top of my head. Probably a few more to add to list.
The people who opened and or helped open these field were very knowledgable in paintball.

Indoor City Paintball (Compton)- Closed (Owned by both SC Village and I&I Sports)
LA Paintball (Hawthorne)- Closed (Backer + Indoor City Paintball Manager)
Friendly Fire Paintball (Hawthorne) - Closed (Indoor City Paintball Customers)
Tombstone Indoor (Long Beach) - Closed (Tombstone owner, Leon S.)
Proving Grounds (Valley?) - Closed
Impact (Pomona) - Closed
Asylum (Anaheim) - Closed
Splat Factory (Brea) - Closed (Leon S.)

Some great resources if you can get in touch with them:

Leon Styles - Ran / partner Indoor re-ball center in Long Beach https://www.facebook.com/sidewaysrules?fref=ts Leon also ran an outdoor field so he knows both sides.

Billy Ceranski - Owned indoor field in Nor Cal? Presently KEE International sales manager?

PBNation Field/Store owner forum.

Hope that helps.

[billy1234]

anyone have a rough estimate of startup costs to open a reball field in southern california?

[phant0m0]

For indoor, I think you should ask around some of the forums for Illinois, New York, Utah to name a few that have big indoor field facilities (snow and such being the reason). They can tell you what to expect.

[frankdatank]

I lost about 10,000 Z-balls a month at tombstone. Not all of them from theft, a good portion of that number was lost in the ceiling downstairs. I could have also benefitted with a larger staff, most of the time it was run with 2 employees.

With that being said, cleanup was super quick (I only needed 1hour before opening to pick up all the balls and prep) and customers loved that they could play 30-40 games in a day for the price of admission.

[GatSplat]

Buy... Don't lease. http://www.scubatoys.com/paintball/s...d/location.asp

[rsion4191]

Very helpful read right above.