Is pickleball coming to your neighborhood park? Fresno’s plan for the popular sport

Pickelball is having a moment.

A game that used to have people wondering what it even was — tennis on a shrunken court? Ping-pong with a Wiffle ball? — got a boost not long ago from star athletes.

Andre Agassi and Andy Roddick recently won a $1 million doubles match (against John McEnroe and Michael Chang, no less).

Retired NFL QB Drew Brees owns a professional pickleball team (yes, that’s a thing).

Now, the city of Fresno is looking to meet that moment in its 2024 budget.

Last week, the city council held hearings on a $1.8 billion spending plan that it passed in a meeting on Thursday. Of that, some, $143,159,200 is budgeted for PARCS Department; a portion of which will be used to add dedicated pickleball courts at several locations around town.

That includes eight courts at Rotary East Park (on Cedar Avenue at Sierra); four at Vinland Park (on Gettysburg Avenue near Maple); 12 to 16 at Woodward Park (west of the BMX track) and another 12 courts at Roeding Park (replacing three existing tennis courts).

A design consultant contract has already been awarded for the Rotary East project, according to the city, and a similar contract is expected to be awarded for Vinland Park on Thursday.

Contracts for Woodward and Roeding park will be awarded sometime this summer, according to the city.

Construction will likely take at least a year once begun.

Is Fresno meeting the need?

These new courts will put Fresno on pace with surrounding cities, which already have dedicated courts, says Alan McCuen, with the nonprofit Fresno Area Pickleball.

Fresno is the only city of its size without dedicated pickleball courts open to the public, he says. The group has worked to get some of the courts it uses for its weekly games resurfaced and striped with the smaller court dimensions, but they still use portable nets that must be set up and taken down between each session.

And there still aren’t enough courts for the group’s 250 paying members and the 1,500 people who are connected through its Meetup page, McCuen says. They group says it’s seeing 10 new players each month.

Right now, they have access a total of 16 courts across three different park sites. A minimum of 12 courts is needed just to run a typical tournament, McCuen says.

Of the parks Fresno Pickleball currently uses, Vinland Park has the most space, with room for eight courts. Rotary East Park, where the group holds games on Wednesday mornings, has two tennis courts that can accommodate four games at once.

Along with the paddles, balls, water bottles and the like, players know to bring lawn chairs, because they will likely be waiting to get out on to the court. With another eight dedicated courts, the group could easily manage 60 players at a time, McCuen says.

“You get 60 people here now, they’ll go home.”

Other highlights of the 2024 PARCS budget

Among other items in the proposed budget was the so-called Broadway Parque, a 0.64-acre space at North Broadway Street and East Elizabeth in the Tower District. Money would also be allocated to finish the Van Ness Triangle Park at Van Ness and Weldon avenues near Fresno High School.

Along with pickleball courts, a dedicated futsal court is planned for Vinland Park. Think hard-court soccer.

During the budget meeting, motions were passed to design a skate park amenity at Manchester Park and to repurpose fields at JSK Park and the Regional Sports Complex into cricket fields with guidance from the Cricket League.