Club officials say option’s lower price tag could lead to increased membership

By Tara Fischer
Staff Writer

(Oct. 3, 2024) Officials from the Ocean Pines Racquet Sports Center are proposing a two-sport membership option.

The OPA facility offers tennis, pickleball and platform tennis.

At a Wednesday, Sept. 25 OPA Budget and Finance Committee meeting, representatives Karen Kaplan, the president of the platform tennis club, and Donna Frankowski, the pickleball club secretary, presented their proposal for altering the racquet center’s fee structure by adding two-sport membership options to be considered for next year’s budget.

Currently, racquet participants may purchase a single-sport membership for either pickleball, tennis or platform tennis or an umbrella three-sport fee structure and choose the family or individual package within those options.

Players who wield their paddles for two sports have few options under this structure. They can purchase the individual combination three-sport membership for $440 or pay for two packages, which may be cheaper or more expensive than the umbrella deal, depending on the sports.

Ocean Pines resident membership rates for an individual in tennis are $295, $200 for platform, and $200 for pickleball.

Currently, the three-sport combo option for an individual gives residents a discount of 36.6% off the total price of purchasing all three sports packages separately.

If approved, the proposed two-sport categories, which Kaplan described as pickleball plus tennis, tennis plus platform tennis, and pickleball plus platform tennis, would offer a 25% discount.

Racquet leaders hope introducing new options at a lower price will encourage participants who focus on one sport but are interested in a second game to increase their membership.

While Budget and Finance Committee Chair Doug Parks argued that in this case, individuals may bite the bullet and purchase the three-sport deal, resulting in additional revenue for the association, Frankwoski maintained that might not be financially sound for everyone.

For instance, to play pickleball and platform tennis, individuals would have to pay for the two memberships separately, at $200 each, or get the three-sport at $440.

The representatives argued that a discount like the three-sport combo package should be applied to two-sport rates.

“I have people that say, ‘Come and join the platform tennis,’ and I have not tried it yet, but I do know there are a lot of two-sport players, tennis and pickleball is one, and pickleball and platform is the other,” Frankowski said. “I looked at this and thought, ‘Well, if I play platform, I could get a platform membership, and it is the same as pickleball.’ I also realized that a three-sport membership is $440. For me to play two sports, that umbrella, the three-sport, would not be an option for me because I would be paying more…If I wanted to try the platform, I would have to pay another $200, so I would be less inclined to, but if there is an incentive, like a 25% discount, that is worth it to give it a try for a year and if I don’t play all the time that is okay because I am not spending as much.”

The presenters believe the two-sport options would yield more memberships than the umbrella package.

According to Kaplan, 92% of the 455 current racquet center memberships fall under the single-sport category. Only 35, or 8% of paying participants, opted for the three-sport option.

The platform president also maintained that not all of those 35 memberships are taking advantage of the full package benefits.

“I have access to the membership list and the three-sport combo membership list; at least 10 of those members or memberships are not playing three sports,” she said. “They are paying for the three-sport option but only focusing on one or two sports.”

She noted that adding a two-sport deal would encourage more people to scale back from the three-sport package to the middle tier or the single-game purchasers to up their membership to try out a new game. The hope is that this fee structure modification will increase the number of paying racquet participants.

During the fiscal year 2025 budget process, the OPA Board of Directors voted to do away with the single membership options and only offer the three-sport deal.

The racquet center community pushed against this move, and at a Feb. 29 special meeting, the neighborhood’s governing body agreed to reinstate the individual choices and include the full package.

The racquet representatives only offered a proposal for individual two-sport memberships at the Sept. 25 meeting. However, Kaplan intends to present a similar draft for a two-sport family package to the finance committee before the budget process begins.

Parks noted the racquet center is “in the black” this year and is hesitant to change anything, as from a financial standpoint, the current fee structure is successful.

Still, the committee was receptive to the proposal. The group asked Kaplan and Frankowski to survey the racquet center members to determine if adding the two-sport memberships was feasible.

“I think it is going to be chance,” Parks said. “… From an offerings perspective, I think it could be considered.”