The Report
Two national championships, one Sunday
Good morning, pickleballers.
Here's a question nobody in American pickleball wants to answer out loud: who crowns the champions? On Sunday 8 November two national-sounding championships finish on the same afternoon, about 1,180 miles apart. I think the argument is over. I also think the loser has the better story, if it would only tell it.
Also today: a broadcaster's team in Tokyo, one man and four hats in Canada, a growth table that measures the wrong thing, and a pair in Bolton who have stopped being troubled.
The Lead · USA Pickleball v PPA
Two national championships, one Sunday, 1,180 miles apart
USA Pickleball's Nationals in San Diego runs from 31 October to 8 November, with 54 courts and a pro purse of $225,000-plus. The PPA's Worlds at Brookhaven, Texas, which hosted the Nationals as recently as 2023, lists a payout of $1,648,641. That's roughly 7.3 times as much.
The money isn't the best number, though. USA Pickleball says its own pro draws will be seeded "using APP points", a third party's ranking. When you seed your championship from somebody else's tour, you are telling everyone which championship is the main event.
Why it matters: the PPA has won the elite title. What USA Pickleball still has is the best amateur championship in the sport, running since 2009, and it should stop pretending it's anything else.
MLP Asia · Japan
TBS has owned a sports team before. THE DOTS TOKYO is a smarter bet
Japan's MLP Asia team was set up jointly by TBS Holdings and dentsu Sports & Entertainment, which also host the league's Japan Round. It opens the season on Friday 13 November in Ikebukuro, at 09:00 London time. The last time TBS owned a big team, the Yokohama BayStars, it paid ¥14 billion and sold ten seasons later for ¥6.5 billion.
The difference this time is the format. Each team gets one home night, so Tokyo plays two of its four pool matches in a single evening. That's not a habit to build. It's a television event to produce.
Why it matters: the right owners, on this format. But the release never says TBS will broadcast its own team. Watch the cameras as closely as the court.
English Nationals · Bolton
One pair, then everyone else
Anna Linton and Richard Love won the Mixed Doubles 50+ Senior Open for the third year running, beating top seeds Claire Bourgoin and Ian Marshall 11-8, 11-3. Across nine matches they scored 112 points and conceded 37.
Beneath them, the groups sorted almost nothing: 16 of 19 pairs went through, and a team that finished fourth in its group took the champions to 16-14 in the semi-final.
Why it matters: when the national champions concede four points a match, the domestic game isn't pushing them. Best-of-three from the quarter-finals would make places two to four mean more.
World Pickleball Studio
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Also new today
Canada and DUPR
Steve Deakin runs Canada's pro tour, its biggest club and its national team
Deakin's company operates PPA Canada, he directs The Nest's 29 courts in Delta, BC, coaches in MLP and leads Team Canada's selection for the Nations Cup. Efficient, yes. Selection should go back to Pickleball Canada before 2027.
DUPR's fastest-growing countries table is a map of DUPR's contracts
The Philippines tops it at 1,213%, in the year its federation's events began requiring DUPR IDs. Vietnam, already top five by users, comes tenth. No base numbers published.
Around the game
Auckland, Gore and the clubs
New Zealand: from Albany to Gore
The NZ Open at Albany Sport Park in Auckland recently drew more than 650 registrations, from under-14 to over-70. Southland came home with medals: Invercargill's Marcin Lipski took silver in the 35–49 singles ("It was … a pleasure to lose," he said), and Gore's Janine Ross bronze with Jean Elliston. Pickleball Gore's fourth Southern Slam runs from 6 to 8 November. (Otago Daily Times)
The indoor-club reckoning
Bisnow reports clubs taking about $8,000 per court per month against $85,000-plus in monthly costs, with public court growth in the 100 biggest US cities down from 14% to 4%. On the same day the Picklr opened a 10-court site in Sterling, Virginia. Optimism is not a business plan. (Bisnow)
That's the Report
The Nations Cup starts at 15:00 London today, and Worlds pro qualifying on Monday. On 8 November the world champions will be crowned in Texas and the national champions in California. Only one of them gets to say it won the oldest title in the game.