The Dream vs. The Reality of Opening an Indoor Batting Cage Facility
Every year, passionate baseball people sign commercial leases thinking they're going to build the next great training facility. Some make it. Most don't. And the ones who don't usually say the same thing: I had no idea how much it would actually cost to run this thing.
This isn't a post to crush that dream. It's a post to make sure you go in with your eyes open — and to show you there's another path that most people never consider.
The Real Cost of Opening an Indoor Facility
Before you sign anything, here's what you're actually committing to:
Commercial lease: $4,000–$15,000/month depending on market and square footage. Most facilities need 5,000–10,000 sq ft minimum to run 2–4 tunnels profitably. You're locked in for 3–5 years.
Buildout and equipment: Turf, netting, framing, lighting, pitching machines, L-screens, batting mats, signage. Budget $80,000–$200,000 before you open the doors.
Insurance: Commercial general liability for a batting cage facility runs $3,000–$8,000/year minimum. Add workers comp if you have employees.
Employees or contractors: You can't be there every hour it's open. A part-time desk attendant runs $12–$18/hour. Most facilities need 20–40 staffed hours per week.
Marketing: You're competing with every other facility in your market. Google Ads, social media, local sponsorships — budget $500–$2,000/month just to stay visible.
Software and booking systems: Scheduling platforms, payment processing, waivers — another $200–$500/month.
Utilities: HVAC for a large metal building in summer is brutal. Budget $800–$2,500/month depending on climate.
Add it up and a modest indoor facility in a mid-sized market costs $15,000–$25,000/month just to keep the lights on before you pay yourself a dollar.
The Break-Even Problem
At $40/hour per tunnel, a two-tunnel facility needs to book roughly 400–600 hours per month just to break even. That's 13–20 hours of booking per tunnel per day, every day, with no slow weeks, no equipment failures, no slow January.
Most facilities don't hit that. That's why you see so many close within three to five years. It's not because the owners weren't passionate. It's because the math is harder than it looks from the outside.
The Alternative Nobody Talks About
Here's what's different about a backyard or property-based setup:
You already own the land. No lease. No landlord. No 5-year commitment.
Your buildout cost is a fraction of commercial. A serious permanent setup — steel structure, turf, quality netting, lighting, pitching machine — runs $20,000–$60,000 total. That's what a commercial facility spends in 3 months on rent.
Your overhead is nearly zero. No employees. No utilities spike. No marketing budget required.
You list on CageList. We handle the booking platform, payment processing, and visibility. You set your hours and your price. We take 10%. You keep 90%.
A backyard cage charging $35/hour and booking just 20 hours a week generates $36,400/year. That's with a conservative schedule, no team bookings, no camps, no private lessons layered on top.
The same cage booking 40 hours a week at $40/hour generates $83,200/year — on land you already own, with zero employees, and overhead that's essentially just electricity.
Who the Backyard Model Works For
You don't need a commercial property to make this work. You need space, the right setup, and a listing. The people who do this best usually look like one of these:
The homeowner with land. You're in a suburb or semi-rural area. You have a half acre or more. You love baseball and you've been thinking about building a cage anyway. CageList turns that cage from a personal expense into a revenue-generating asset.
The coach with a property. You're already training kids. You have or could build a permanent setup. Instead of renting someone else's facility, you build equity in your own and monetize the hours you're not using it.
The serious hobbyist. You built a cage for your family. Your kid is in travel ball. The cage sits empty 70% of the time. You'd rather have it earning than sitting.
What CageList Provides
When you list on CageList you get a booking page, calendar management, secure payment processing, signed guest waivers, and visibility to the players and teams searching for cage time in your area. We've processed bookings in over 30 states. We know what renters are looking for and we built the platform around making it easy for hosts to deliver it.
You don't need to build a business. You need to build a great cage and let us handle the rest.
The Bottom Line
Opening an indoor facility is a full-time business with commercial-scale risk and overhead. A backyard setup on CageList is an asset you already have the land for — with a platform built to monetize it without the lease, the employees, or the five-year bet.
If you have the space, the passion, and the willingness to build something quality — you don't need a facility. You need a listing.
List your cage at cagelist.com
Thinking about making the switch? Run the numbers on our ROI calculator and see what a backyard setup earns in your market.
Want to become a batting cage builder on CageList? Join the CageList Builder Network →
