How to Rent Sports Facility Space to Teams

Any sports facility with an open field, turf or court area can monetize its space in several ways. Running group instruction in the area or splitting up the space for private or semi-private instruction are typically the most profitable options. However, those options alone won’t fill the space for all of its optimal hours.

Rentals are a great option for such sports facilities, especially when those rentals are a part of a long-term agreement between your sports facility and an individual or team. Team rental arrangements bring in dependable revenue and take up a regular time slot. In addition, the teams that use the facility for practices often return for other services at your sports facility, such as strength training or private instruction.

Guidelines for Renting

When you’re considering establishing a relationship with a team for regular use of your facility, keep the following guidelines in mind.

1. Have a contract for your agreement, and include starting/ending dates.

Circumstances always change within your business over the long term. Operating under an open-ended or informal agreement is bound to lead to problems when prices need to change or when one party wants to cancel without appropriate notice. The contract doesn’t have to be complicated. Keep it on file for easy reference, and for future use for other team agreements.

2. Make sure you receive payments on the 15th of every month for use of the facility for the next month.

Make sure to include this payment information in the contract, as well. When you have a comfortable relationship with a coach, it’s easy to let payments slide. But you have to require pre-payment regularly every month to protect your business and keep your books organized.

3. Make sure they don’t have a cancellation policy.

In particular, if you are discounting your typical rental prices for a team based on how many rentals they will be using, you need to address how to handle cancellations due to inclement weather or scheduling conflicts. For example, if a team’s tournament schedule is changed and now conflicts with their pre-arranged rental time, you have to decide the conditions under which they will be issued a credit for another rental. To keep things fair and simple, I suggest a no cancellation policy. Just make sure they understand this policy at the outset of the relationship. Also, clarify it in the rental agreement.

4. Try to have all player waivers signed before the team’s first rental date.

If you have a software like eSoft Planner, it can require players to approve the facility waiver when they first log on to your system to schedule and pay. If you’re still dealing with paper waivers and physical signatures, it’s a good idea to give a stack of waivers to the coach. Require that the coach turn one in for each player before their contract begins. Trying to collect these piecemeal after the team has already started using the facility regularly can lead to legal problems and administrative headaches.

For More Information

To consult with Mike Meszaros about maximizing profit in your sports facility, please call (513) 791-4940 or book a consultation.