The Ins and Outs of the Indoor Baseball Business

In an effort to help educate parents and players of what it costs to play, BLE is opening up the nontransparent world of indoor training and discussing the financial side of baseball. This is to help families make confident and collected decisions based upon newly obtained knowledge.

Indoor training facilities vary dramatically across the country in what they offer. The size of facility to who is instructing can dictate cost and profitability in a business that walks the ethical line of mixing kids, dreams, and baseball financials. In today’s economy of Wall Street greed and inflated pricing, parents are beginning to question what they are paying towards their children’s development in athletics.

In the indoor baseball facility world, there are numerous costs associated with operating in a high overhead/low profitability business. These costs are fixed and define the quality of services provided. Although all indoor training facilities are set up to profit, there are two distinct avenues a facility can take- put kids first or make money at the expense of kids. Although both can be defined as the same, “making money at the expense of kids” is the key. Both scenarios can be viewed differently because a service is provided, parents have the option to look elsewhere, and players can build their career and dream with other organizations.

However, ethics play a huge part when dealing with kids because facilities are not selling apples or chairs- they are selling dreams, development, and the promise of athletic success that can eventually pay off into a paid education or professional baseball contract worth millions. Parents see the value in this development, relish in their son’s athletic successes, and believe the future can be bright- as it has been for so many players that have moved onto college and professional baseball.

This is the essence of consulting in any business- the idea that with new knowledge and accountable resources, one can make a future brighter than before. Parents are looking to develop their offspring into being the best they can be at whatever they put their dreams into, and baseball is no exception as it promises big time money for those whom develop properly.

No matter the circumstance, an indoor facility has overhead that cannot be ignored. These include leases, lighting, and coaching fees. Profitability must be established to offset these inevitable costs, which have driven up pricing to play the game at a competitive level. However, the “soft costs” determine profitability. These include the type of instructors, how much instruction is provided, and customer service.

Facility overhead includes:

• Lease
• Power, lighting, heating, and water
• Facility maintenance
• Baseballs, tees, netting, and training equipment
• Instruction staffing
• Marketing and website
• Insurance
• Front desk and customer care staffing
• Field rentals, programming, and rental facilitation
• Accounting, taxes, credit card fees, and banking fees
• Phone and online service

This overhead is required to operate an indoor training facility that can reach upwards of $35,000 per month just to keep the doors open.

The service that indoor training facilities provide has increased the baseball prowess of America. It provides, in this rainy region of the United States, a viable alternative to train year round and compete with warm weather states. They also provide accountable solutions towards bridging the gap between performance and development- which is the key to making money at baseball in the form of a college scholarship or professional contract.

“I look at it like this. If my son can get better and get a college scholarship, my investment throughout the years will enable him to get college paid for, get him a great start on life, and possibly turn his baseball career into a multi million dollar contract. All along the way, he is learning what it takes to succeed and be successful through hard work, teamwork, and learning life’s lessons- and I get to cheer for him and watch him grow.” Stated Randy Turnbull of South Seattle.

So what do parents get for what they pay? This varies dramatically. The question that should be posed is:

“What is the quality of training that will be provided, how many instructors are training my son, how many reps does he get during workouts, and is there a proven track record for the training he will receive?”

Since parents are paying for consulting that will promise development, they should focus on the factors that enhance development. These factors include:

• Experience of each instructor- many parents feel that one experienced instructor can effectively train an entire team. This is completely inaccurate. It takes three to four to provide quality instruction and effectively communicate coaching expertise to all players. One or two instructors will only touch the surface- as it is humanly impossible to pay detailed attention to an entire team when dealing with something as demanding as baseball.
• Amount of experienced instructors at each workout- One highly experienced coach can only train up to four players effectively at a time. Players can be waiting in line while another player is being tended to, but this presents a problem with repetitions.
• Type of facilities and amenities- players cannot effectively train if they are not utilizing realistic baseball resources. For example, how can a player learn how to react to baseballs and understand their own abilities if they are not fielding on a full sized diamond. Taking grounders at shorter distances will never train this.

If a training facility cannot produce a written proposal or does not specifically state what is provided for each workout and when each workout is, parents are oftentimes running into a situation wherein the facility can dictate everything and parents will not be able to hold the facility accountable.

This is how an indoor facility could manipulate costs, increase profitability, and still provide- but at whose expense?

• Rental and training costs- $990 per player
  • Includes four hours of rental time per week from September thru July
  • Includes instruction and special clinics for hitting, pitching, and fielding
  • Includes instructors at all clinics and instruction sessions
  • A total of 176 hours of instruction and rental time
  • Breaks down to $5.62 per player!!!!

Most parents would view this “package” as a steal of a deal, but a closer look at what actually was provided indicates differently:

• Virtually all of the $990 per player goes towards facility rental
• Teams will not utilize half of the September thru July facility space. September, April, May, June, and July are spent outdoors and BLE would not need to “man” the facility.
• The marketing info did not specify how many instructors, how many clinics, and how many instruction hours would be provided. It was just stated.
• The special clinics could be selective in whom was picked to attend and the number of clinics provided could be limited drastically.
• BLE could provide one instructor per hour of each week to work with an entire team, three special clinics with one main instructor and some junior college “helpers”, and still make good on our promises.

In the above package, players are receiving limited instruction, little development, and are training in a program designed to provide “busy work”. Although it was stated that parents would receive instruction from qualified instructors, they actually trained very little and got limited one on one attention.

BLE charges $990 per player to train. We provide two hours per week of detailed instruction with one instructor per three kids. In essence, a team is being trained by four coaches every time they enter our facility. We also increase the training environment through world class facilities, video analysis, and top notch training equipment.

Parents should start consider other alternatives besides renting facility space and expecting their head coach and assistant coach to develop their sons. Two coaches cannot effectively train a full team of twelve players over the course of a ten month off season and regular season. It is humanly impossible. It cannot be accomplished at the major league level who utilize the best coaches in the country. MLB Organizations usually carry anywhere between seven to ten coaches throughout the season, training a total of twenty five players- a ratio of approximately 1:3.

BLE is urging the baseball community to comparatively shop for the best value for their dollar. This will require facilities to provide more and start to raise the training bar in the Pacific Northwest.