Bill Bogan

"The match moves faster than tennis."

Some San Diegans are taking their pickleball game to the next level. This October, local pickleball enthusiasts are booking trips on the Royal Caribbean Cruise ship to play, while others are enjoying Dinks and Drinks at the Coronado's Marriott. Some will play under blacklights in Halloween or 80's neon outfits, using glow-in-the-dark wiffleballs on specially lit courts.

Despite the growth of pickleball venues across the county, finding an open court is challenging, even though four pickleball courts can fit into one tennis court.

The U.S. Tennis Association recently announced that "at least 10 percent of tennis courts in America have been taken over and re-purposed for pickleball," relayed the Wall Street Journal. "The land grab should come as no surprise considering pickleball is the fastest-growing sport in America."

When pickleball boundary lines are placed atop the tennis courts, tennis players can't properly play.

Given our year-round fair weather and 30 million tourists annually, San Diego feels this trend even more.

Many visitors come to San Diego specifically for pickleball, a sport named after one of its founder's dogs in 1965.

"We need to convert more tennis courts into pickleball courts," suggested Stefan Boyland, president of the Pickleball Association of San Diego. "San Diego needs 1,000 dedicated pickleball courts; look at the numbers."

According to the Association of Pickleball Professionals, there were 36.5 million players in the U.S. in 2023, numbers increasing by 223 percent since the pandemic.

"On September 21, 2022, at the San Diego Equality Business Association virtual meeting, three people spoke about the need for more courts," Boyland recalled. "Mayor Gloria rolled his eyes when the first person spoke, even though the proposal required no city funding."

The San Diego pickleball community says it's frustrated with the city's lack of dedicated courts and the frequent conflicts over space. Pickleball players often convert tennis courts into smaller pickleball courts, leading to disputes. When the pickleball boundary lines are placed atop the tennis courts, tennis players cannot properly play, as the lines are different.

Online forums are filled with complaints about overcrowded pickleball courts; one user commented, "Your best bet is to reserve a court months in advance because people cancel."

Boyland believes the city prioritizes tennis interests over pickleball, claiming, "Tennis interests have padded the mayor’s campaign coffers, while pickleball players have stayed transparent in their efforts to expand access."

Even longtime tennis players like Gerry Velazquez, who picked up pickleball because it was easier on his knees, feel the strain. "It’s not just tennis players hogging our tennis courts in Encanto anymore," Velazquez said. "Soccer players took over our courts, and on another day, kids with RC cars had taken over."

Velazquez agrees with Boyland on the need for more courts. "It's a free-for-all," he said, referencing an altercation in 2022 at Peninsula Tennis Club in Ocean Beach, where Boyland and other pickleball players were confronted by staff for trying to play on tennis courts. Police were called, but no action was taken.

Over the recent weekend, Bill Bogan was walking at the Lindo Lake Park in Lakeside when he noticed the packed former tennis courts transformed into pickleball courts. "I hear more people talking about doing pickleball," he said. "Likely because the match moves faster than tennis. Looks like you could get in a good workout."

Boyland is confident that converting more tennis courts into pickleball courts could generate significant revenue for the city. "With a full-service pickleball facility charging $2.50 per hour, the city could earn $26 million annually."

He estimated the possible pickleball revenue by calculating 4.1 percent of the 1.4 million people in San Diego, about 57,000 core players. The 4.1 percent was derived from the U.S. population compared to the estimated 13.6 million core pickleball players published by SportsBusinessJournal.com. "I say 50,000 conservatively, and we have nice weather and more active folks, so you’d think we would have at least the average in the country."

If the 50,000 hardcore players play four hours a week, that is about 200,000 hours a week at $2.50, which is $500,000 a week, and 52 weeks in a year equals $26 million.

The above estimate does not count the remaining players who play once or twice a year and the players between newbie and hardcore pickleball players. ThePickleballDinks.com estimated that 14 percent of the adult population played pickleball in 2022.

Tennis has its defenders. Jesse, a longtime player at Peninsula Tennis Club, recalled the 2022 clash mentioned above, saying, "It’s disappointing to see pickleball fanatics take over courts. If the sport is as popular as they claim, they should raise funds for dedicated courts like we did for tennis."