Academic team projectUBC Sauder · COMM 497 · 2026
Padel
It! Vancouver
A market-researched business concept for Vancouver’s first central dedicated indoor padel club.
Academic project. All financial figures are projections rather than operating results.
Project snapshot
Team-project outputs are presented as collaborative work; the page summarizes the project rather than claiming sole authorship.
The opportunity
Vancouver had interest in padel, but not enough accessible indoor infrastructure.
The team explored a dedicated indoor padel concept for central Vancouver. Primary research highlighted travel time, price perception and the seasonal “winter gap” as barriers to participation.
60%padel awareness in the project survey
30survey responses
8open-ended interviews
$20-30target hourly pay-per-play range
The concept
Accessible, year-round, pay-per-play padel in the urban core.
The proposed model used four indoor courts, central access and no membership requirement. The strategy combined online booking, partnerships, events and community-building to reduce the private-club stigma around the sport.
Discover
Validate awareness, interest, willingness to pay and travel limits.
Design
Build the offer around four indoor courts and pay-per-play access.
Model
Estimate demand, costs, breakeven and funding needs.
Grow
Use partnerships and community programming as the expansion engine.
Takeaway
Research is most useful when it changes the offer.
The strongest part of this project was connecting primary research to product, pricing, location and financial decisions rather than treating research as a standalone slide.