Short answer. A well-located 5-a-side ground that cost ₹22 lakh to build, charging ₹1,000 an hour and filling five paid hours a night, earns about ₹18 lakh a year and pays for itself in 14 to 16 months. Push peak rates to ₹1,500 and add weekend slots and payback compresses toward a year.
The risk sits almost entirely in location and demand, not in the surface. A cheap build in the wrong place loses to a good build in the right one, every time.
Small-sided football has quietly become one of the most reliable cash-generating sports assets in the country. The reason is structural. The capital is finite and known. The revenue recurs every evening. The operating cost is low. Few small businesses offer a payback measured in months rather than years, and almost none with an asset you can see from the road.
This guide walks through the numbers a first-time operator needs: what to charge, how many hours a ground really fills, what it costs to run, and how the format you build changes the return. The build costs come from the football turf cost guide; if you have not read it, start there.
What a slot sells for.
Across Indian cities a 5-a-side slot sells between ₹800 and ₹1,500 per hour. Prime evening and weekend hours command the top of the band. Weekday afternoons and late-night slots sit at the bottom or go to academies and coaching groups at a block rate. A 7-a-side ground commands ₹1,500 to ₹2,500 an hour because it takes more players per booking.
| Slot | 5-a-side | 7-a-side | Who books it |
|---|---|---|---|
| Weekday 6 am to 9 am | ₹600 to ₹900 | ₹1,200 to ₹1,600 | Academies, corporate groups, regulars |
| Weekday 4 pm to 7 pm | ₹800 to ₹1,100 | ₹1,500 to ₹2,000 | Schools, coaching, early groups |
| Weekday 7 pm to 11 pm | ₹1,000 to ₹1,500 | ₹1,800 to ₹2,500 | The money hours. Office groups, leagues |
| Weekend, all day | ₹1,000 to ₹1,500 | ₹1,800 to ₹2,500 | Tournaments, birthdays, leagues |
How many hours a ground actually fills.
This is where most projections go wrong. A ground is open 16 hours a day. It does not sell 16. The realistic picture for an established ground in a good location:
- Weekdays: 5 to 7 paid hours. Two in the morning, four or five from evening to close.
- Weekends: 9 to 12 paid hours, often booked days ahead.
- Monsoon: play continues on a well-drained pitch, but expect 15 to 20 percent fewer bookings in July and August.
- Ramp-up: a new ground takes 3 to 4 months to reach these numbers. Budget for it.
Averaged across the year, a good 5-a-side ground fills five to six paid hours a day. Use five in your plan. If you hit six, that is your upside.
The 5-a-side P&L.
8,000 sq ft, 14K Performance turf, built for ₹22 lakh
| Average rate | ₹1,000 / hour |
| Paid hours, averaged | 5 / day |
| Revenue per month | ₹1.5 lakh |
| Revenue per year | ₹18 lakh |
| Running cost per year (below) | ₹3.6 lakh |
| Net before finance and tax | ₹14.4 lakh |
| Payback on ₹22 lakh | 18 months |
Now push it. Peak hours at ₹1,500 lift the average to about ₹1,200. Six paid hours instead of five. Revenue becomes ₹26 lakh, net about ₹22 lakh, and the ground has paid for itself inside 12 months. After that, the same slots are close to pure margin.
What it costs to run.
Low, but not zero, and the operators who treat it as zero are the ones whose carpet fails in year four.
| Line | Per month | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Ground staff, one person | ₹12,000 to ₹18,000 | Bookings, brushing, lights, gate |
| Electricity, floodlights | ₹6,000 to ₹12,000 | Five hours a night on LED. Halide doubles it |
| Maintenance reserve | ₹5,000 | Infill top-ups, seam repair, annual deep brush |
| Booking platform and marketing | ₹3,000 to ₹6,000 | Commission on app bookings, social ads |
| Balls, bibs, water, sundries | ₹2,000 | |
| Total | ₹28,000 to ₹43,000 | About ₹3.6 lakh a year at the midpoint |
Land rent, if you do not own the plot, is the line that changes everything. A ground paying ₹40,000 a month in rent needs one extra paid hour a day just to stand still. Own the land or secure a long lease before you build.
5-a-side or 7-a-side: which pays better.
A 7-a-side costs about 65 percent more to build and charges about 70 percent more per hour, so on paper the return is similar. In practice the 5-a-side wins for a first ground: a 10-player booking is easier to fill than a 14-player one, so occupancy is higher and the ramp-up is faster. Build the 7-a-side when you already have a waiting list, or when the plot allows you to run it as two 5-a-sides with a movable divider net, which is the best of both.
A full pitch is a different business. The hourly rate cannot rise in proportion to the area, and one big booking is harder to fill nightly than several small slots. Most operators with large plots split them into multiple small-sided courts, which multiplies independent time slots and spreads booking risk.
What decides whether it works.
- Location within 15 minutes of demand. Office clusters, colleges and dense residential belts. Football players will not drive 40 minutes on a Tuesday.
- Lighting you are not embarrassed by. Night slots are the business. Cheap floodlights lose them.
- Drainage. The ground that is playable 20 minutes after rain keeps its monsoon bookings. The one that puddles loses two months.
- A turf that survives year three. A 12K carpet is right for a rental ground. Below 12K, or a landscape grass sold as sports turf, and you are replacing it before it has paid back.
- Bookings you can see. A booking app, a WhatsApp number that answers, and a whiteboard at the gate. Empty slots you cannot see are empty slots you cannot sell.
Financing and tax.
Banks lend against sports infrastructure, usually as a term loan on the equipment and works with the land as collateral. At current rates a ₹15 lakh loan on a ₹22 lakh build adds roughly ₹35,000 a month for five years, which the P&L above carries comfortably once past ramp-up. Turf, lighting and fencing are depreciable assets. Take advice on the schedule that suits your structure.
Questions, asked often.
How much can a turf ground earn per month?
A 5-a-side ground averaging ₹1,000 an hour and five paid hours a day earns about ₹1.5 lakh a month. A well-run ground in a strong location, with peak pricing and six hours a day, reaches ₹2 to ₹2.2 lakh.
How long does a turf business take to pay back?
Twelve to eighteen months for a 5-a-side on owned land in a good location. Add 6 to 12 months if you are paying rent. Longer than 30 months usually means the location is wrong.
Is a turf business profitable in a small city?
Often more so than in a metro, because land is cheaper and competition is thinner. Hourly rates are lower, ₹600 to ₹1,000, but so is the build cost and there is frequently no other ground within 20 kilometres.
What size of land do I need?
A 5-a-side with run-offs needs about 30 by 20 metres, roughly 6,500 sq ft, plus space for parking and a small office. A 7-a-side needs about 50 by 30 metres. See the cost calculator for the numbers at your size.
Can one ground host cricket too?
Yes. Box cricket on a football turf is common and doubles the bookable audience. It needs a taller net enclosure and a slightly different line marking, both of which we quote alongside the football build.
Do I need any licence?
Typically a trade licence from the municipal body, a shop and establishment registration, and NOC for floodlights in some cities. Requirements vary by state. Check locally before you break ground.
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