If your club’s growth strategy starts and ends with “get more members,” your strategy isn’t just outdated – it’s broken.
Getting more members doesn’t automatically equal more revenue and packed courts don’t guarantee profit.
This constant push for more members, full courts, and endless bookings might look good on paper, but it’s not sustainable.
The truth is – many clubs are just chasing numbers. Focusing on membership numbers and court bookings is not enough to succeed long term or in today’s competitive landscape.
Enter: Revenue Per Player (RPP) – the metric your club can’t afford to ignore.
RPP shifts your focus from surface-level metrics like tennis or pickleball court utilization to how much value each player brings to your club – whether it’s through memberships, lessons, events, or retail.
But, it’s not just a snapshot of your revenue; it’s a playbook for how to grow smarter.
When you understand RPP, you stop guessing and start making data-driven decisions. You see what’s working, where to invest, and how to turn every interaction into meaningful growth.
Because this is such a critical topic, we’ve broken it down into a three-part series. Each blog will deep dive into a key aspect of RPP – giving you the insights you need to increase revenue and transform your club’s growth strategy.
Here’s what you can expect:
- Part 1: What is RPP and Why it’s the key to tennis & pickleball club growth
- Part 2: How to increase RPP: 6 strategies for smarter growth
- Part 3: How to track RPP + real-world examples
PART 1
Revenue Per Player (RPP): What it is and why it matters
RPP isn’t just another throwaway metric – it’s the key to unlocking sustainable growth and profitability for your tennis or pickleball club. To fully harness its potential, you need to understand the fundamentals and why it outshines traditional metrics like racquet court utilization.
So come along with us as we discuss the following in Part 1:
What is RPP? Definition + Formula
Racquet Court Utilization vs. RPP: Which is better?
Why RPP is the key to club growth:
1. Works with the Club Growth Flywheel
2. Provides a clear picture of player value
3. Identifies revenue opportunities beyond court time
4. Highlights underutilized players
5. Improves experience and retention
Let’s get started.
What is Revenue Per Player (RPP)? Definition + Formula
Revenue Per Player (RPP) is a powerful metric that measures how much revenue each player contributes to your club.
Unlike other tennis and pickleball club metrics, RPP offers a holistic view of player spending across all touchpoints – including memberships, lessons, events, retail purchases, food, drinks, and more.
You can calculate Revenue Per Player by dividing the total revenue by the number of active players in your club.
Using this formula to calculate your RPP, you’ll gain a complete view of player spending. With this information, you can pinpoint opportunities to boost revenue through additional services, events, and offerings – ultimately creating more engaged and profitable members.
Racquet Court Utilization vs. Revenue Per Player (RPP): Which is better?
As you may already know, tennis and pickleball court utilization refers to the percentage of available court time that is actively booked and used within a given time period. It measures how efficiently your club’s courts are being scheduled and occupied for activities such as matches, lessons, clinics, or events.
This metric is a popular way to gauge operational efficiency – helping clubs identify peak usage times, underutilized slots, and opportunities to optimize court availability
Although this metric is a go-to for many tennis and pickleball clubs, court utilization comes with a natural revenue ceiling. Courts are finite resources, and there are only so many hours available for reservations each day.
And while this is a popular approach, it creates a natural revenue ceiling. After all, courts are finite resources, with only so many hours available for reservations each day.
This narrow focus overlooks a crucial factor of running a successful club: the impact individual players have on your club’s revenue.
And that’s where Revenue Per Player (RPP) becomes the superior metric.
RPP delivers a comprehensive view of how players spend and engage with your club. As a result, you gain a deeper understanding of player buying activity and how it contributes to your total revenue.
While court utilization can be a helpful metric for understanding tennis and pickleball court efficiency, it fails to capture the broader financial contributions players make or the revenue opportunities beyond reservations. And because courts are limited resources, this metric naturally caps how much income it can drive.
RPP breaks through these limitations. By focusing on the total value each player contributes, RPP helps you identify new opportunities, from upselling services to creating new revenue streams. And, you gain a holistic understanding of your club’s earning potential – enabling smarter, growth-oriented decisions.
Here’s a breakdown of why RPP is a more powerful and growth-oriented metric than court utilization:
| Racquet Court Utilization | Revenue Per Player | |
| Scope of measurement | Tracks court bookings and time spent on court. | Captures the full spectrum of player activity, including lessons, clinics, pro-shop sales, event entries, etc. – all contributing to revenue growth. |
| Scalability | Limited by court availability and hours in a day. | Scales with player engagement, allowing you to boost RPP by increasing the services each player uses without maxing out court space. |
| Value over time | Focuses only on short-term, court-based revenue. | Highlights long-term player value, capturing revenue from lessons, tournaments, gear, and other purchases that court utilization metrics overlook. |
Prioritizing Revenue Per Player over court utilization allows you to identify untapped revenue opportunities and adopt targeted growth strategies – leading to enhanced player experience and maximized revenue from every interaction.
This shift not only drives greater financial growth for your club, but also works to increase player engagement – ensuring long-term success for your club.
Why RPP is the key to club growth
Unlike traditional metrics that focus on court space or membership sales, RPP helps you uncover new opportunities, identify high-value players, and reimagine how your club generates income.
Here’s why RPP is the ultimate metric for driving sustainable growth.
1. Powers the growth cycle of your club
Growth doesn’t happen overnight, and it doesn’t come from a single action. Instead, it’s the result of many small, consistent efforts working together to build momentum over time. This idea lies at the heart of the flywheel concept, originally introduced by business strategist Jim Collins.
In this business strategy, the flywheel is a massive, heavy wheel that takes effort to get moving. But once it gains momentum, it becomes nearly unstoppable. Each push builds on the last, creating a self-sustaining cycle of growth. In the business world, this concept has been applied to help businesses achieve sustainable success by identifying and optimizing key areas that fuel their progress.
We’ve adapted this idea into the “Club Growth Flywheel,” a strategic model designed specifically for tennis and pickleball clubs. It focuses on building momentum across five key areas:
- Organizing operations
- Managing resources
- Engaging members
- Customizing offerings
- Expanding your business
Success in one area naturally fuels success in the next – creating a continuous cycle of improvement. Think of the flywheel as your blueprint for running and growing your club sustainably.
But what does this have to do with RPP?
RPP turns the flywheel into a dynamic, data-driven system. It highlights what’s working, identifies gaps, and ensures that every investment you make strengthens the cycle. Together, the club growth flywheel and RPP create a sustainable growth engine, propelling your club toward long-term success.
For example:
If you increase member engagement (through events, lessons, or clinics), RPP helps you see whether those programs result in higher spending per player. Let’s say data shows that lessons generate significant revenue growth. Then, you can prioritize expanding your lesson offerings or creating advanced clinics to maximize their impact.
On the other hand, if RPP shows that certain programs don’t yield much financial return, you can adjust or replace them with more profitable initiatives.
By combining the strategic power of the club growth flywheel with the actionable insights of RPP, your club can achieve measurable, sustainable growth — ensuring every effort contributes to greater profitability and a stronger member experience.
2. Provides a clear picture of player value
Not all members contribute to your club in the same way. Some players participate in weekly lessons, providing consistent revenue and others may use the courts occasionally but spend significantly on gear, refreshments, or private events.
Tracking Revenue Per Player provides the data you need to understand these unique spending patterns. By analyzing how each player engages financially with your club, you can effectively segment your audience and tailor your strategies to meet their needs.
And with RPP providing data on which player segments drive the most revenue, you can strategically focus your efforts where they’ll deliver the greatest results. Whether it’s upselling premium services, crafting targeted marketing campaigns, or offering exclusive perks, RPP ensures your decisions are data-driven – maximizing both engagement and revenue.
3. Identifies revenue opportunities beyond court time
Memberships and court bookings are often the primary revenue streams for clubs. However, relying solely on these areas means missing out on significant growth opportunities elsewhere.
RPP provides you with a broader perspective – showcasing additional ways to generate income and encouraging a more holistic approach. From clinics and lessons to social events and pro-shop sales, it reveals revenue streams that might otherwise go overlooked.
This metric also highlights opportunities for upselling and cross-selling to your existing members – turning every interaction into a chance to deliver more value for both your players and your club.
4. Highlights underutilized players
Speaking of upselling and cross-selling, your most active players may not be fully utilizing all of your club’s services.
RPP highlights underperforming segments and engagement gaps – revealing players who regularly use your facilities but don’t take advantage of additional offerings. These insights uncover valuable opportunities to increase participation – and boost your revenue in the process.
With targeted marketing campaigns or personalized offers, you can inspire these players to explore more of what your club has to offer. Whether it’s lesson packages, exclusive events, or special discounts, RPP ensures your efforts are focused on unlocking hidden value.
5. Improves experience and retention
A great player experience is essential for customer retention, and RPP provides the insights needed to enhance both. Tracking how players engage financially with your club highlights areas where their experience can be improved.
For example:
- Players who are less engaged present opportunities for personalized offers or curated experiences – helping them feel more connected to your club.
- Members who spend heavily on lessons might appreciate exclusive coaching packages or early access to new programs.
- Frequent event participants could value priority registration, VIP perks, or tailored event recommendations.
Focusing on these insights allows you to deliver personalized, high-value experiences that strengthen loyalty. And when members feel valued and catered to, they’re more likely to stay – and spend – over the long term.
This is all to say – RPP doesn’t just measure revenue; it helps you understand what truly resonates with your players – transforming their satisfaction into sustained engagement and growth.
RPP: The MVP of tennis & pickleball club metrics
As you can see, RPP unlocks a new way of thinking about your club’s revenue and growth. It shifts the focus from simply stacking courts or counting memberships to understanding how players’ actions and decisions drive your bottom line.
With RPP, you gain clarity on where your club thrives and where there’s room to improve. It’s your blueprint for refining offerings, doubling down on what works, and creating a club experience that players won’t just enjoy – they’ll invest in.
In Part 2, we’ll explore the strategies that help you increase RPP and turn these insights into meaningful, measurable growth.
Stay tuned!
