St. Pete has more pickleball courts per capita than most U.S. cities
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St. Petersburg is among the top five cities in the U.S. for pickleball courts per capita, the Trust for Public Land (TPL), a pro-parks nonprofit, found.
By the numbers: There are around 20 pickleball courts per 100,000 St. Petersburg residents, which ranks the city No. 2 on the list. In Tampa, there are about eight per 100,000 residents.
Zoom out: There's been a sixfold increase in the number of public pickleball courts in the 100 biggest U.S. cities since 2017, from 420 to 2,788. There's now about one pickleball court for every 24,000 residents in these cities.
Why it matters: Cities are in a love-hate relationship with pickleball, Jennifer A. Kingson and Alice Feng report.
- America's fastest-growing sport is a boon for players who are aging out of tennis — and others who dig its vibe — but it's noisy and draws nonstop complaints from tennis players who've been kicked off their turf.
Meanwhile, cities can't build pickleball courts fast enough — and they're tapping COVID-19 relief funds to build courts, which qualify as a public health amenity.
- Others are relying on public-private partnerships to fund them.
What they're saying: "The cities that have really good park systems tend to be the ones that have a lot of pickleball courts," said Will Klein, associate director of parks research at TPL.
- "Those are also the same cities that we found are the healthiest places to live," with the best measures of mental health and physical activity.
Zoom in: St. Pete outranked Tampa in public parks, according to another recent TPL report. The group found St. Petersburg had better access, acreage, investment and equity in its park system than Tampa.
What we're watching: A massive pickleball social club — with 16 indoor and outdoor courts, a restaurant, bar and gym — is slated to open soon in downtown St. Petersburg.