It might be difficult to believe, but the international sensation that is pickleball finds its origins in a DIY project. After playing golf one summer Saturday in 1965, Joel Pritchard, a congressman from Washington state, and his friend Bill Bell returned to Pritchard’s home on Bainbridge Island to find their families sitting around with nothing to do. Pritchard’s property had an old badminton court, so Pritchard and Bell looked for some badminton equipment and couldn’t find a full set of rackets. They improvised and started playing with ping-pong paddles and a perforated plastic ball.
At first they placed the net at badminton height — 60 inches — and volleyed the ball over the net. As the weekend progressed, the players found that the ball bounced well on the asphalt surface, and they lowered the net to 36 inches. The following weekend, Barney McCallum was introduced to the game at Pritchard’s home, and the three men created rules, relying heavily on badminton. They kept in mind the original purpose, which was to provide a game that the whole family could play together.
Log in to view the full article
It might be difficult to believe, but the international sensation that is pickleball finds its origins in a DIY project. After playing golf one summer Saturday in 1965, Joel Pritchard, a congressman from Washington state, and his friend Bill Bell returned to Pritchard’s home on Bainbridge Island to find their families sitting around with nothing to do. Pritchard’s property had an old badminton court, so Pritchard and Bell looked for some badminton equipment and couldn’t find a full set of rackets. They improvised and started playing with ping-pong paddles and a perforated plastic ball.
At first they placed the net at badminton height — 60 inches — and volleyed the ball over the net. As the weekend progressed, the players found that the ball bounced well on the asphalt surface, and they lowered the net to 36 inches. The following weekend, Barney McCallum was introduced to the game at Pritchard’s home, and the three men created rules, relying heavily on badminton. They kept in mind the original purpose, which was to provide a game that the whole family could play together.
The first permanent pickleball court was constructed in 1967 in the backyard of Joel Pritchard’s friend and neighbor, Bob O’Brian, and in 1972 a corporation was formed to protect the creation of the new activity.
Fast forward to the present, and pickleball is a bona fide sport with a national governing body, legions of enthusiasts and a host of increasingly elevated facilities to support the game. From retrofitted warehouses to purpose-built complexes, the pickleball facility landscape has rapidly evolved beyond the Pritchards’ makeshift asphalt slab toward state-of-the-art competition venues. This surge in development is bringing both opportunities and challenges as the industry works to create sustainable business models and top-notch playing environments.
Photo courtesy of Pickleball Kingdom
‘Eater-tainment’ to ‘semi-private’
“We’re seeing essentially three categories of pickleball business models emerging,” says Carl Schmits, chief technology officer at USA Pickleball. “There’s the ‘eater-tainment’ category like Chicken N Pickle, then there’s the private clubs, and then there’s the hybrid model, which is basically the traditional club format that allows some public access.”
Schmits says the traditional club category is relatively new to pickleball, but he thinks slight tweaks to modernize the model could make it successful. He references the members-only tennis and racquetball clubs of the late 1970s and early ’80s, noting that this business model was challenging in terms of acquiring and retaining members. “And I think these clubs today are recognizing the transient pickleball population, those who might be passing through and looking for a place to play, and it might be difficult to find a game,” explains Schmits, noting that by opening to nonmembers, these businesses can capitalize on an additional revenue stream. “I see this as being a very successful model going forward, that it’s kind of a traditional club with the modernization of how they address the market through nonmember drop-ins.”
Wes Cosgriff, CEO of Ground Rule, a sports facility planning and development firm that has worked closely with USAP on a number of projects, identifies “semi-private” clubs as the fastest-growing segment in pickleball. “About 60 percent of our pickleball projects over the course of this year are groups coming to us saying, ‘We want to build a member model for a club, but we also want to be open to nonmembers.’ ”
Photo courtesy of SPF
Retrofits take off
Perhaps the fastest-growing segment of new pickleball facilities are retrofitted buildings. Cosgriff estimates that a majority of Ground Rule’s current pickleball projects involve fitting out existing spaces, such as warehouses, industrial buildings or vacant retail stores. “It’s the fastest path to market and it’s a much lower cost barrier,” he says. “You can put eight courts in a retail space or warehouse for cents on the dollar compared to ground-up construction.”
This approach allows operators to open facilities more quickly and with less upfront investment. The primary challenge is finding spaces with adequate ceiling height — ideally 21 feet or more of clearance.
The move toward retrofitting existing buildings is also driving a shift toward more indoor pickleball facilities. Indoor courts provide year-round playability and event certainty, which operators are finding increasingly valuable.
“There’s a premium that operators are willing to pay for that,” Cosgriff says. “You can book out these events and know it does’t matter what the weather is going to be like, doesn’t matter what the temperature is, doesn’t matter when in the year this event is.” To supplement available space, Cosgriff says many operators are ensuring that they secure rights to the property’s parking space for outdoor expansion.
Driving retrofit projects is the abundance of retail space sitting empty across the country, as consumers continue to favor online shopping. Owners of big-box stores and shopping malls are increasingly viewing pickleball as an attractive tenant that can drive significant foot traffic.
“What the pickleball facilities are contributing to the surrounding businesses is significant,” Cosgriff explains. “The foot traffic, the utilization over about 12 to 14 hours a day, seven days a week, is really substantial.”
This symbiotic relationship is leading some landlords to offer significant concessions to attract pickleball facilities, such as contributing to tenant improvement costs. The increased traffic can then be leveraged to raise rents for surrounding retail tenants when leases turn over.
Photo courtesy of SPF
Scaling up — with caution
While many new facilities are starting relatively small, often with 8 to 16 courts, there’s also movement toward larger complexes capable of hosting major regional and even national tournaments.
“We’re involved in projects anywhere from a 42-court project all the way up to a 120-court project,” Schmits says. “These are all in various phases of approval, funding, permitting and planning — but they’re for the most part in very high-use markets.”
The size and complexity of some of these projects necessitates a phased approach. “I think what’s very exciting about these types of projects is that they’re not just repurposing existing hardscape or grounds. These are greenfield builds,” says Schmits. “And we can appreciate the conservative approach — it’s kind of a crawl-walk-run approach, or a phased approach, where it’s done in a master plan. So, phase one is x number of courts. Phase two is x number of courts, and maybe the third phase brings them into possibly hosting national tournaments.”
When asked whether USA Pickleball might be exploring the development of its own flagship competition facility, similar to the USTA National Campus in Orlando, Fla., Schmits says that kind of project could be on the horizon.
“It’s a couple years away,” he says. “Even some of the facilities we’ve talked about today, we won’t see open until 2026, but I would say there’s a high probability that we’ll see training centers not dissimilar from the USTA approach. I think what they do is a very solid approach to addressing regional events and training requirements with their different centers. There’s no reason why we wouldn’t want to go down a similar path.”
While Schmits sees pickleball facilities evolving rapidly to keep pace with the sport’s explosive growth, he stresses a measured approach that includes embracing sound planning principles and innovation, as well as staying attuned to player needs.
“We want to make sure we build, or support building, to meet demand,” he says. “Whether that demand is immediate or near- to mid-term, we want to take care that we’re building for the long run, just to ensure that no one gets upside down in this process. I think that’s a healthy approach, and that’s been consistent in our discussions with small operators and those with aspirations for large facilities, as well.”
