Dallas will host the world’s largest pickleball tournament.
USA Pickleball said it is moving its national championship from Indian Wells, California, to Farmers Branch, Texas.
The nine-day tournament, hosted by USA Pickleball and the Carvana Professional Pickleball Association (PPA Tour), is projected to draw 3,500 amateur and professional players and 25,000 attendees.
The athletes will compete for more than $150,000 in prize money at the tournament from November 4 to November 12, according to a press release from PPA Tour.
The 2023 National Championships will be played on up to 65 courts.
“We are thrilled to partner with the PPA Tour in our ongoing efforts to enhance the USA Pickleball National Championships and further cement its position as the premier pickleball tournament in the world,” said Robert Quicksilver, Chairman of the USA Pickleball Board of Directors.
Dallas resident and owner of the NHL’s Carolina Hurricanes, Tom Dundon, is the lead investor in the PPA Tour through his company Dundon Capital Partners.
“It’s been special to see the Dallas community rally around pickleball — from the city itself, to the Dallas Sports Commission, to our partners at Invited,” Tom Dundon said in the release.
“Partnering with USA Pickleball to bring its National Championships to a central hub is important to us as we continue making pickleball more accessible for everyone. We look forward to working in conjunction with USA Pickleball to create an incredibly exciting and historic event that will be the biggest pickleball party in the world.”
After fielding bids from multiple cities, Connor Pardoe, CEO of the PPA Tour, said Dallas and the Dallas Sports Commission “presented the best combination to take the National Championships to the next level.”
The tournament will be hosted at Brookhaven Country Club and feature an “entertainment street” outside the venue, “Pickleball Boulevard,” with live music, family-friendly activities, and food vendors, with its “Taste of Pickle” exhibit.
“Furthermore, Invited’s Brookhaven Country Club, as one of the state’s premier golf and tennis resorts for more than six decades and situated as it is in the City of Farmers Branch, which is an inner-ring suburb of Dallas, was marked as the ideal locale to host an event of this size and prestige,” Pardoe said, who recently moved the PPA Tour’s headquarters to downtown Dallas.
The National Championships have been held at Indian Wells Tennis Garden since 2018. Moving the event to Dallas is expected to increase the tournament’s attendance by nearly fivefold.
Brook Haven Country Club is a property of Dallas-based Invited, formerly ClubCorp, a private-club network leaning heavily into pickleball.
“During the past three years, Invited has made substantial investments in pickleball facilities and programming to provide more opportunities for our members and guests to play the fastest growing sport on Earth,” said Invited CEO David Pillsbury.
“We are incredibly proud and excited to expand our partnership with the PPA Tour to create the world’s largest pickleball party at Brookhaven Country Club and host the historic National Championships.”