Seven Years Later, the US Open Pickleball Championships Continues to Change Pickleball History

Imagine emerging from a sea of cars and entering into a sea of 64 pickleball courts. Then, imagine warming up for or playing your first pickleball match with pickleball pros like Ben Johns and Simone Jardim playing on the court next to you. After your hard-fought match, you meander through a crowd of pickleball fanatics buzzing with excitement and roars for great pickleball points, before hearing your name for your next match, which will be held on championship court. You walk through vendors row bumping elbows with pickleball pros meeting and greeting fans in their respective sponsor’s booths. Then, you turn a corner through a small, blocked-off entrance that quickly opens up into a dome-like arena that puts a serene focus on championship court. To take in the moment, your eyes bounce from the immaculately maintained championship court, to your friends entering the spectator seating that seats more than 700 pickleball fans, to the marquee canopy shading the arena that acts as an anchor for the US Open Pickleball Championships.

This is what the pickleball community has come to expect from the US Open Pickleball Championships. A weeklong celebration of the best pickleball has to offer—camaraderie with both new and old friends, competition with some of the best pickleball players in the world at all age levels, and a party atmosphere. In other words, a blend of pickleball and a party!

The US Open Pickleball Championships has “changed the game” in terms of pickleball tournaments since the first year that the event was held in 2016, and, since 2016, the US Open Pickleball Championships continues to outdo itself and change pickleball history. In particular, in the last seven years, the US Open Pickleball Championships is expected to over triple in size and—most importantly to the City of Naples and Collier County in the State of Florida, where the event is held—is expected to more than quadruple the economic development impact that the event has on the surrounding community.

Due to the tremendous economic development impact on the City of Naples and Collier County—especially during the month of April, which is a period of time where a large part of the local population, the “snow birds,” start to travel north for the summer—the City of Naples and Collier County has started to invest heavily in pickleball. Since 2016, the City of Naples and Collier County has invested over $5 million dollars into East Naples Community Park, which is the facility that the US Open Pickleball Championships is and has been held at. Looking to the future, the City of Naples and Collier County is set to invest another $23.4 million into East Naples Community Park, which will include even more pickleball courts, a welcome center, and a 3,500-seat championships stadium—five times the size of the current championships court!

With such incredible support from the local community and the pickleball community, the US Open Pickleball Championships is certainly primed to continue its growth trajectory and path of changing pickleball history, as one of the premier pickleball tournaments each and every year. Pickleball players come to the US Open Pickleball Championships for a chance at winning a coveted medal and making a splash on the pickleball scene, but return to the US Open Pickleball Championships for the certainty of quality time with great people, great pickleball, and great fun. Whether you are a pickleball player, pickleball fan, or a seeker of fun, the US Open Pickleball Championships is a must for your bucket list. 

Let’s see what another seven years of growth will look like for the US Open Pickleball Championships…