Pickleball

9/10/2025 |  PickleRage Expands Into Arizona and Illinois (SGB UPDATE) PickleRage signed six new franchise agreements that enable the club operator to enter Arizona and Illinois for the first time, while strengthening its existing presence in Alabama, Florida, Ohio, and South Carolina.
Each new club will be locally owned and operated by new franchise partners in:

• Phoenix MSA, AZ
• Western Cook County, IL
• Huntsville, AL
• South Florida, FL
• Dublin, OH
• York County, SC

9/4/2025 |  USA Pickleball Releases 2026 Golden Ticket Schedule (SportsTravel) USA Pickleball has released the official schedule of Golden Ticket tournaments for the 2026 season, with events providing a pathway for amateur athletes to gain priority registration for the 2026 USA Pickleball National Championships, held annually in November.

9/3/2025 |  Daily Digs: Tuscaloosa Academy's New Athletic Center, $10M Pickleball Facility Slated for Downtown Detroit, and More! (Athletic Business) Tuscaloosa Academy Unveils Plans for New Athletics Facility 
The secret is out at Tuscaloosa Academy.
The school announced plans for a new 23 thousand square-foot, state-of-the-art athletic center. Tuscaloosa Academy hopes to break ground on the project in December.

9/2/2025 |  Pickleball is just getting started in China (CNBC Sports)

• Online sales of pickleball paddles and related equipment in China have skyrocketed by more than six times versus the first seven months of last year.
• Interest in tennis and pickleball in the Asian country accelerated last year and is “still doing very well” this year, according to McKinsey.
• Last weekend, the U.S.-based Professional Pickleball Association (PPA) held its first “Hong Kong Open” competition as part of the inaugural PPA Tour Asia.

8/21/2025 |  Report: Pickleball Leads H1 Participation Growth; Winter Sports Led in Activity for the 2024/25 Year (SGB UPDATE) The Sports & Fitness Industry Association (SFIA) issued for the first time a mid-year update on its sports and fitness participation data, showing that 22.9 percent of Americans were entirely inactive during the first half of 2025. In 2024, the association reported that 22.6 percent of Americans were entirely inactive.