Pickleball expanding in Cleveland
Tinsley Park will be expanding to include 20 new pickleball courts in response to the growth of the sport of pickleball in Cleveland.
In October of 2022, local pickleball professional Rich Lively gave a presentation to the Cleveland City Council regarding the possibility of bringing pickleball tournaments to the city. Those visions are starting to be realized 16 months later.
At the city council meeting on Jan. 22, 2024, the city council approved the final bid summaries for the Tinsley Park pickleball courts. Tri-Con’s bid of $1,869,000 million was accepted by the city council, and construction has already started. According to Bryan Turner, the project manager, Tri-Con has a six-month contract, and the courts will likely be completed in the fall.
“We had an engineer’s estimate that was pretty close to that. This includes all 20 courts and the cover over eight of them,” said City Manager Joe Fivas at the city council meeting on Jan. 22.
The 20 new courts will also include a center court surrounded by stadium seating. According to Lively, this set-up makes Cleveland very desirable to professional pickleball tours, especially because Tinsley Park already has six courts.
Lively spoke with the director of the Association of Pickleball Players. Lively said the director was very enthusiastic about hosting tournaments in Cleveland, expressing that they could sign a contract as soon as the new courts are built and ready for gameplay
Cleveland is desirable to pickleball tours for a variety of reasons. The first reason is because the new courts at Tinsley will be open-air. All of the national tours host outdoor tournaments. The other reason is pure numbers.
“12 courts gets you into the lower tier of the professional tour. It doesn't get you into the super large tournaments. You really need mid 20s or more to get into the top tier,” said Blake Condo, president of the Cleveland Pickleball Association.
Pickleball has also been expanding in the Cleveland area in other ways as well. A new private pickleball club has been built in the area. Co-owned by Robby and Joanna Campano and Davy and Emily Campano, Revolve Pickleball has been in the works for over a year. They first purchased the building in November of 2022, and the grand opening was on March 9, 2024.
“One of our main goals is that people will come and find community within the Revolve building. We believe moving your body and finding like-minded people can be life changing. Pickleball is more than just a sport for us; it’s a way to bring people together and build a community,” Davy said in a press release.
Revolve has already started selling memberships, and their customers are not solely from the Cleveland area.
“I would say it's probably half and half Cleveland and Chattanooga, and in Chattanooga, I would include Collegedale, that whole area. Everything south of the mountain,” said Brookes Jones, the general manager for Revolve.
Revolve is also a facility with the capacity to host a variety of tournaments. While they would not be on the professional level, there are still amateur-level tournaments that can be hosted at the facility.
“With 13 courts, you have the capacity to run a tournament for hundreds of people. It would be probably more than likely an amateur tournament where we would have skill levels,” Jones said. “And essentially we would be able to do Friday, Saturday, Sunday. Singles, gender doubles, mixed doubles and leave it open for registrants to have hundreds of people playing in this thing. I would say we could probably host an 800 person tournament.”
An example of a covered facility doing well in regards to hosting different tournaments would be Opelika, Alabama. The pickleball facility there is completely covered, yet they are still able to host amateur-level tournaments. According to Lively, Opelika brings in over a million dollars a year.
Revolve’s memberships are currently selling on a scaling model, with three different membership types being sold that include early court reservations, cheaper court rentals, member exclusive events, and discounts at the Pro Shop. Individual memberships rank from their bronze package for $40 a month, the silver membership for $60 a month, and the gold membership at $100 a month. They also have three different family plans. The general public can still play without a membership, but courts can only be reserved two days in advance. Memberships can be purchased online or visit them in person at 481 Kile Ln SW, Cleveland, TN 37311.
For more information regarding the construction progress at Tinsley Park, please visit the City of Cleveland website. There is also an information sign at the Tinsley Park construction site. Currently, Tinsley Park has an estimated reopening date of May 31, 2024.
