Ace Pickleball Club anticipates opening a minimum of five new clubs by the end of 2023 and 40 new clubs by the end of 2024.
When she’s not overseeing her growing network of franchises, multi-unit franchisee McKinley Cooper makes it a priority to take a much-needed break from her crazy professional life to join her father and two brothers for some friendly athletic competition. That’s when she can be found chasing hard plastic balls and whacking them over a net.
“Yeah, we caught the pickleball bug several years ago and it’s been just a great way for our family to be together and just go at it on the court. And, yes, it does get real competitive at times, but we make sure to also keep it fun,” said the 34-year-old executive vice president of Red Team Ventures, a family-owned investment group in Bonita Springs, Florida. Cooper’s group is the second-largest franchisee of The Joint Chiropractic with 46 clinics in the Denver and the Dallas-Fort Worth areas.
It was passion for pickleball, and the enormous growth potential of what has become one the fastest growing participation sports in the United States, that led Cooper to sign a franchise agreement with Ace Pickleball Club for three locations in southwest Florida.
McKinley Cooper is the executive vice president of Red Team Ventures.
“We were very excited to land on Ace Pickleball Club because my family obviously has a big interest in the sport and we’re able to marry our passion for pickleball with our business interests,” said Cooper.
In partnership with Pace Holdings, Red Team Ventures also has an ownership interest in retail franchise Buff City Soap, with 10 stores in Texas and three in Florida. Also part of Red Team Ventures is Cooper’s father, Chuck; her step-mother, Debbie, likewise helps manage the business.
Cooper is scouting potential locations for Ace Pickleball Club in the Naples, Bonita Springs and Fort Myers areas while also canvassing potential locations up north to Tampa. She said they are anticipating opening three facilities with 10 to 14 pickleball courts each, for a total facility size between 25,000 and 45,000 square feet.
Ace Pickleball Club is the first franchise to offer technology-enabled indoor pickleball courts with monthly memberships to capture the pickleball craze, Jay Diederich, founder and CEO, told Franchise Times.
The total investment necessary to begin operation of an Ace Pickleball Club franchise is $910,455 to $1,281,290, according to its franchise disclosure document.
The franchise agreement Cooper’s group signed with Ace is part of the franchisor’s rapid expansion plans into the Colorado, Florida, Indiana and Pennsylvania markets. It includes 10 locations now in development, with Joe Sexton, the brand’s co-founder and president, promising more franchise locations soon. Additional development includes a three-unit deal in Denver, signed with Scooters Coffee operators Liz and Mike Tanji, and a two-unit agreement in Fort Wayne, Indiana, signed with former Sky Zone franchisee TK Herman.
Joe Sexton is the brand co-founder and president of Ace Pickleball Club.
“There’s really an unlimited potential for our growth at this point, with the demographics for the sport being so wide and the demand for indoor courts continuing to grow,” said Sexton. A corporate unit, the company’s first, is being developed near Atlanta, and the brand hasdeals in the work for locations in Springfield, Missouri, and Lubbock, Texas, as well as big city markets like Chicago.
Ace anticipates opening a minimum of five new clubs by the end of 2023 and 40 new clubs by the end of 2024.
“We think we’re going to get to about 30 awarded by the time we open our first company owned and operated location in Atlanta, which is taking place in June,” said Sexton, adding Ace Pickleball Club’s experienced team is prepared to stay ahead of the rapid growth.
Making sure to select the right franchisees to manage the newly built indoor facilities is also a big part of the Ace Pickleball Club growth strategy. Sexton said selecting McKinley Cooper and Red Team Ventures as the franchise group to break into the Florida market was an easy choice.
“First and foremost, they’re just amazing people, and that’s always the first box we check off. Second, they’re super passionate about pickleball, and that’s something we are always looking for. And third, they are proven franchise operators. They’ve been there, done that,” Sexton said.
Red Team Ventures is hoping to build on the success it has had with The Joint and Buff City Soap. Like The Joint, the largest provider of chiropractic care in the country, Cooper sees enormous potential growing Ace Pickleball Club in southwest Florida.
The Cooper family are passionate pickleball players including Chuck Cooper (far right), president of Red Team Ventures in Bonita Springs, Florida and his daughter McKinley Cooper (second from left), executive vice president of the investment company.
“Where we are located in southwest Florida is in a way the capital of pickleball now, with everyone of all ages playing here and looking for courts,” she said. “But it gets unbearably hot here in the summer and when it rains, which is often does, you can’t play. That’s why we think building state-of-the-art indoor courts that hosts leagues and tournaments will be an instant hit.”
And for selfish reasons, Cooper said opening up three locations will also provide her and her family more opportunities to continue their friendly sports rivalry. “We considered opening up our indoor pickleball facility but then we heard about Ace Pickleball Club, and it just made perfect sense to partner with them,” she said.