Sport Court Los Angeles

Home Improvement
Home Court Advantage
Angelo Ragaza, Forbes.com

Although more associated with the asphalt streets of the Bronx than the manicured
lawns of Beverly Hills, basketball--and basketball courts--are wildly popular with
members of every tax bracket. Now, fancy courts with professional surfaces and
regulation hoops are competing for precious land space with tennis courts and
swimming pools--if not edging them out altogether.

"Tennis is kind of a dying sport," says Dale Hendrickson of Sport Court in Los
Angeles, who has built home basketball courts for the likes of Michael Ovitz, Chris
Tucker and Dr. Laura Schlessinger.

Perhaps it's a trickle-up effect.
Hendrickson says the number of
recreational tennis players has
plummeted to 15 million in the U.S.,
while the number of casual basketball
players has ballooned to 44 million.

"I've got people who call me and say, 'I've
bought this home with a tennis court, and I
never use it.'" His suggestion: Convert the
tennis court into a multisport complex,
outfitted for not only two-hoop basketball, but
other sports like volleyball and roller hockey.

If you want to move up an echelon from the
usual hoop setup--a $250 rim-and-backboard
number drooping tentatively over the
driveway--$6,000 to $10,000 will get you a
handsome, custom-built half court, while a
fuller-sized, two-hoop court will run you
$25,000 to $40,000.

Super-agent Michael Ovitz has his own basketball court

First, you'll need space. The smallest half-courts are 25-by-30 feet. If you have
regulation-sized skills, NBA courts are 50-by-94 feet. But just in case your home
happens to be a little smaller than, say, the Meadowlands, most custom home
courts run a little smaller, around 45-by-70 feet, which still provides plenty of room
for play.

Your basic components are a concrete slab for the playing surface, which will run
a minimum $4,000 for a half-court, plus a hoop and backboard unit. Higher-end
hoops costing $1,000 to $3,000 come from companies like Salt Lake City-based
Sport Court and Sarasota, Fla.-based Basketball Jones. They're height-adjustable,
with full-size, acrylic blackboards and breakaway rims, so you can slam as hard as
you want.

Now you could
dribble with your
CEO pals on a
drab slab, but
Court Games in
Redmond,
Wash.--which has
built home courts
for tech execs and
members of the
Seattle
Supersonics--offers
three slick

Tennis, er, hockey, er, basketball anyone?

surfaces, with a variety of colors and all the penalty and foul lines
you'll need to elevate (and accelerate) your pickup game. Of the
three, the concrete stain is the most cost-friendly. But the acrylic
tennis court, which is the same surface you'd find on any concrete
U.S. Tennis Association court, lasts twice as long as the stain and,
with silicose sand in the mix, provides more traction for your fancy
footwork.

But the ultimate (and most expensive) surface Court Games offers is its court tile,
plastic squares which interlock to form a grid. Tiny "feet" underneath suspend the
entire surface above the concrete, allowing not only efficient water drainage but
greater shock absorption for the joints. In addition, "the court tile is a one-shot deal,"
says Court Games owner Doni Wanat. "You don't ever have to resurface."

Sport Court, which sells its home recreational courts through 12 distributors
nationwide, also offers a special surface with Lateral Forgiveness technology. The
flooring, made with molded polypropylene, also uses an interlocking system. "When
an athlete stops on the floor, it equally transfers the force throughout the tiles
rather than sending it back up to the body," says Sport Court's marketing director,
Annika Lundmark. "The floor is flexible; it gives."

Wanat says homeowners are not only
looking for a convenient way to relax and
have fun after work; they're interested in
providing a safe, contained space for
their kids to play. Hendrickson concurs,
but he doesn't deny a certain court envy.
"People go, 'Oh, so-and-so on that team's
got one?'" he observes. "And 'How big is
his, cause I want mine bigger.'"

Or they'll want to personalize their court in wacky,
unforgettable ways. Courts can be built to almost
any dimension and finished in a wild variety of
colors. The comedian Sinbad had his court
finished in bright orange and blue. Another client
christened his court LaCarthy Arena after himself

The 9-hole golf course is on the other side of the house

and had the name emblazoned on the surface, along with two giant orange
basketballs. Yet another, Annan Anapwabi, the inventor of clumping kitty litter,
outfitted his weekend home on Lake Elsinore with a multisport complex that
accommodates not only basketball and tennis, but also a batting cage with a driving
facility and a nine-hole putting course.

"People do wacko stuff," Hendrickson says. "I've been with this company 15 years
and I've built over 2,000 courts. And I can honestly say that there aren't two courts
that are alike."