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9 replies

Commercial Facility Batting Cage Suggestions

T T.M.Member
I'm a batting cage owner in Oklahoma that will be expanding to a second location later this year. As of now, I'm just trying to gather different information, quotes, etc., to put together the best facility I possibly can along with my partners. I'm trying to gauge right now what would help us cater to our customer base the best way possible.

Current detials:

- Expanding to 16,000 sq foot facility that is turfed
- Probatter softball and baseball
- at least 6-8 cages with #42 netting, all retractable
- indoor field area, that is approx 9,000 feet, but can expand to around 14,000 w/ retractable nets
- fungoman baseball, fungoman softball for the field area
- sound system installed
- rightviewpro installed in both probatter cages and instructional cages

What would you like to see your facility improve on? What do you feel is ignored most by batting cages? What do you feel is a valuable assest to your current batting cage? Would 24 hour use, for cage usage off hours, be something you would take advantage of?

Any suggestions or comments would be greatly appreciated.
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redsox8191redsox8191500+ posts
I think having a room with two clay pitching mounds would really differentiate yourself from your competition. I know my son's school travels a 1/2 hour in the off season to a smaller older facility because it has good batting cages and real clay mounds for the pitchers to get their work on. We have a fairly new extra innings right in town but they really seem to value the clay mounds and continue to use the facility that is several towns over.
BW Bob Williams500+ posts
TM;
Will the new facility compete with your existing location?

Do you have retail sales and food concession in your existing facility? Maybe you can purchase a Starbucks franchise.

What are the major reason to expand? Make a profit or tax benefits for your investors.

Are you in the Tulsa or Oklahoma City area? Do you teach infield defense? Do you have "agility" training to improve quickness [mental & physical].

Bob Williams
T T.M.Member
redsox,

We have thought of clay mounds, but are still deciding on that. The only downfall on clay mounds is the obvious upkeep they require.

Bob,

We'll be located in the OKC area. From our visits to a couple of other facilities, we've drawn the conclusion that concession won't work, but vending will. Retail sales won't work, but smaller sales of batting gloves, etc., would.

New facility will complement the existing one, though we can afford to take a minor heat by having two facilities within an 8 mile radius.

In terms of agility training, would can find someone fairly easily to do this in sessions, though I don't know if we'll do it. Infield will be taught, we'll actually have several classes or "open" sessions designed for such things.

Expansion is more or less to aid in more profit. We're currently bursting at 10k over overhead right now, but feel it's time to try to push it a little bit more.
J journey2100+ posts
T.M, Here's my take & I'm local & we have used nearly every local facility over the last 10 years. A 24 hr facility is not really feasible, some local private coachs will see older ballplayers up through 10:30-11:00 at night, but after that, most will turn in. Can see a large facility during peak season, being open 16 hours a day on the weekends.

Agility programs... the one hour a night, once or twice a week programs that have been offered at one N OKC facility don't provide much results. Barnett runs one of the best speed & agility program in the area. There is much more time investment by the young athletes in his programs & they often see big time results if they stick with it. His program is basically structured 2-3 mornings a week, 2 hour sessions a piece, once school gets out. A speed & agility program like his, needs to be run outdoors, too space intensive, & if run indoors for 2 hours a session your facility would smell like a dumptruck full of dirty socks Frown

Agree with you, a big pro shop wont work. Most locals buy either off the internet or from established local sporting goods stores. I'm surprised Rusty went the pro shop route at GT. It prob only works for him, as they are doing the whole enchilada... team uniforms, etc, & he found a niche in S OKC. We've had indoors at his facility & only complaint I've heard about GT is there is not enough room in the aisle between entry area of cages & the benchs. GT also seems to close fairly early.

One of the complaints I always hear about the 2 larger N OKC baseball facilities is how poorly lit they are inside. Very close to these 2 facilities, there is a small private facility that has numerous opaque panels in the roof to allow natural light in. Also has several roll up doors that can be partially opened this time of year for extra ventilation. The added natural light has to help keep the electric bill down. During the day, even with 1/2 of the lights off in this facilty, there is more light than in the larger facilities up the road. Hope this helps, looking forward to spending $$$ with you.
Last edited by journey2
T T.M.Member
quote:
Originally posted by cball:
a remote taser for coaches that don't start picking up balls until two minutes into my time.

and a big clock on the wall that is the official time for cages.


Yeah, sometimes I think we need that. Lol.

Usually we'll remind people when they have 5 minutes left, if they go over the time, we will charge extra money. Only way we can ensure that the cages stay efficient during peak hours, otherwise we'd end up 20 plus minutes behind.

quote:
Originally posted by Tx-Husker:
Offer free WIFI access and seating area for parents waiting on their kids. If they can work/play on their electronic devices while their kid takes lessons or practices it's a much better experience for them...they will be willing to let their kid spend more time there.


We actually are going to incorporate that into the overall plan. We might go ahead and set up multiple TVs with the MLB game package, MLB network, etc. Really depends on what's feasible.
T T.M.Member
quote:
Originally posted by journey2:
T.M, Here's my take & I'm local & we have used nearly every local facility over the last 10 years. A 24 hr facility is not really feasible, some local private coachs will see older ballplayers up through 10:30-11:00 at night, but after that, most will turn in. Can see a large facility during peak season, being open 16 hours a day on the weekends.

Agility programs... the one hour a night, once or twice a week programs that have been offered at one N OKC facility don't provide much results. Barnett runs one of the best speed & agility program in the area. There is much more time investment by the young athletes in his programs & they often see big time results if they stick with it. His program is basically structured 2-3 mornings a week, 2 hour sessions a piece, once school gets out. A speed & agility program like his, needs to be run outdoors, too space intensive, & if run indoors for 2 hours a session your facility would smell like a dumptruck full of dirty socks Frown

Agree with you, a big pro shop wont work. Most locals buy either off the internet or from established local sporting goods stores. I'm surprised Rusty went the pro shop route at GT. It prob only works for him, as they are doing the whole enchilada... team uniforms, etc, & he found a niche in S OKC. We've had indoors at his facility & only complaint I've heard about GT is there is not enough room in the aisle between entry area of cages & the benchs. GT also seems to close fairly early.

One of the complaints I always hear about the 2 larger N OKC baseball facilities is how poorly lit they are inside. Very close to these 2 facilities, there is a small private facility that has numerous opaque panels in the roof to allow natural light in. Also has several roll up doors that can be partially opened this time of year for extra ventilation. The added natural light has to help keep the electric bill down. During the day, even with 1/2 of the lights off in this facilty, there is more light than in the larger facilities up the road. Hope this helps, looking forward to spending $$$ with you.


journey,

The 24 hour route is something my partners and I have discussed. I don't think it'd be worth the time personally.

Lighting is definately an issue we're tackling head on. Right now, our current facility doesn't have this issue, mainly because of the size (the lack of it, lol) and having windows running from one end clear to the other. With the new facility we're trying to get them to put skylights in there for us.

The main thing we're also addressing is monthly memberships w/ proper pricing for the market and allowing "repetition" sessions such as batting practice and fielding practice.

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