23 May 2025
An innovative business idea to build mezzanine Padel courts in existing stadiums - improving public accessibility to the fastest growing sport in the world - has won this year’s Grand Idea competition at the Royal Agricultural University (RAU).
Second year RAU Rural Land Management student Daniel Blacker was awarded the top prize in the University’s Dragons’ Den style competition, winning £5,000 to invest in his business.
He explained: “Despite being the fastest growing sport in the world, Padel is still not that accessible to many people in the UK because of the amount of space you need for the courts. This means that many of them have been built on industrial estates, or similar locations, and often these are not accessible for many people.”
Daniel, 28, who is originally from the village of Dunnington near York, spent five years studying and playing professional golf in the USA before returning home to the UK and joining the RAU.
Alongside the Grand Idea prized money, Daniel will continue to receive guidance and business coaching through the Cirencester based University’s Enterprise and Entrepreneurship Programme while developing his business.
He is now working with his father’s company, Blacker Steel Fabrications Ltd, to develop his plan to construct mezzanine levels in existing sports stadiums and other arenas on which to provide turnkey Padel court installations.
Daniel explained: “Arenas and stadiums have plenty of space but a lot of it is above ground – they are high enough but not wide enough – but, if you build a mezzanine level, there is loads of space.
“Padel is a doubles sport but I am keen to also build singles courts which are narrower than doubles courts. These courts will not only make Padel much more accessible for people who just want to play as a pair, but also mush more accessible for disabled people may not have the ability to get around the larger court.”
Daniel - and his business partner Sam Batty - are now speaking to the owners of community stadiums throughout the UK and hope to get the go ahead to build courts at York’s LNER Community Stadium in the next few weeks.
But he admits that he could never have got as far as he has with his business plan without the help and guidance of the staff from the RAU’s Ignite Enterprise and Entrepreneurship Programme which provides a supportive environment for students to develop and launch their ideas.
Daniel said: “Studying Rural Land management has definitely helped fuel my passion for sports business but the Enterprise programme and the staff are amazing. I have no doubt that I wouldn’t be where I am today without them. When I joined the RAU, I didn’t even know the programme existed but the amount of help I have had is quite astonishing.
“It was the Enterprise and Entrepreneurship staff who encouraged me to enter my business into the RAU’s Grand Idea competition. The whole process was quite nerve wracking - I really believe in the business but trying to remember everything for a 10-minute pitch was pretty stressful – but doing that sort of thing really helps to prepare us for the reality of the business world.”
Part of the University’s Enterprise and Entrepreneurship Programme, and now in its 18th year, the RAU’s Grand Idea competition invites RAU students to pitch their business ideas to a panel of experts in a Dragon’s Den-style event.
This year’s Grand Idea judging panel consisted of retail consultant and RAU Honorary Fellow Christine Cross; Former Dragon’s Den contestant, food entrepreneur, and RAU Honorary Fellow Levi Roots; Colin Carville, Finance Director at the RAU; and award-winning brand strategist Belinda Furneaux-Harris, founder and CEO of Branded and Unstoppable.
Daniel added: “The whole process has absolutely been a stand out experience for me. To have people of the judges’ stature in the business world say you have done something really impressive is a massive validation.
“Levi Roots has been in regular contact with me since the competition offering me advice and support and I currently see him very much as a mentor which is amazing.
“I am incredibly grateful to the Enterprise Programme, and the Grand Idea judges for this incredible opportunity. Winning the RAU’s Grand Idea competition was genuinely one of the best moments of my life - one that I was proud to share with my family and one I will certainly remember forever.”
Fellow Rural Land Management student Zachary Costello, from Warwickshire, was named as the runner up in the competition and won £2,500 to invest in his business Chauvet Couture, a fashion brand curating high-end, pre-loved garments, styles looks, and outfit guides, enriched with storytelling and industry insights to inspire a more thoughtful, sustainable way of shopping.
Zachary, who is also in his second year, said: “The Grand Idea was a brilliant experience. I entered because I wanted to learn as much as I could along the way and getting through to the final, and being named runner-up feels like a huge achievement.
“The feedback, mentoring, and encouragement I received from the RAU and the University’s Enterprise team made all the difference. It’s been an inspiring journey and I gained so much from this experience."
Christine Cross, who chaired the judging panel, said: “The entries this year were of a very high standard and very diverse - Padel courts to Shetland Pony parties, recycled fashion to artisan belts and equine supplements - but what characterised all was the level of effort students had put into developing their ideas and their confidence in presenting them, a credit to Katy, Emily, and the RAU Enterprise programme.
“The winning idea is usually capturing a customer demand, the essence of any good business, and showing that this is scalable beyond a hobby. Daniel’s experience of both sport and business means he is ideally placed to develop his winning idea, and hopefully put a Padel court on the RAU campus in the not too distant future! Now there’s a thought Daniel!”
Other awards during the evening included final year Agri-Food Business Management student Babatunde Oseni being named as Student Social Enterprise Champion for his work with the University’s Cotswold Hills wine brand, while RAU alumnus Martin Fowke, who is now Wine Maker and Production Director at Gloucestershire’s Three Choirs Vineyard which makes Cotswold Hills wine, won the award for Outstanding Contribution to the RAU Enterprise Programme 2025.
(Pictured above) Winner of the Outstanding Contribution to the RAU Enterprise Programme 2025 award Martin Fowke, RAU alumnus and now Wine Maker and Production Director at Gloucestershire’s Three Choirs Vineyard, with his award
(Pictured above) Babatunde Oseni, winner of the Student Social Enterprise Champion award.