21 Courts. Now Fill Them.

What The Backyard Club Can Teach Us About the Next Phase of Indoor Pickleball

The Backyard Club has 21 dedicated pickleball courts.

That's the number that caught our attention.

In a sport that has spent years complaining about court shortages, 21 courts under one roof sounds almost like the answer to everything.

But look at it from the other side.

Open 14 hours a day, 21 courts can create as many as 294 court-hours of inventory every day.

Now you have a completely different problem:

How do you fill them?

The Backyard Club in Vaughan, Ontario provides a fascinating real-world case study of where the indoor pickleball industry may be heading next—not only in Canada, but across North America.

And Pickleball Partners has had a front-row seat to the evolution of this particular market.

We Watched This Market Develop From the Beginning

Before the dedicated private clubs arrived, pickleball players in York Region were simply looking for somewhere to play.

York Region Pickleball became one of the earliest large-scale community operators in the region.

We ran leagues, lessons, drop-ins and organized play at Trio Sportsplex, the ACE Tennis Bubble, school gyms and other available facilities.

The programs were packed.

Our network eventually grew beyond 3,000 players, creating one of the largest organized pickleball communities in the region.

But there was a fundamental weakness in the model.

Much of the play took place on basketball floors, using temporary nets and facilities never designed specifically for pickleball.

At the time, players didn't care very much. They wanted to play.

But we knew there was a clock ticking.

Once players experienced proper dedicated indoor pickleball courts, it became increasingly difficult to convince them to go back.

And that's exactly what happened.

Then the Dedicated Courts Arrived

Vaughan became one of the most interesting locations for private pickleball development in Ontario.

Its large commercial and industrial building inventory created opportunities for the kind of large-format facilities pickleball requires.

Private operators began entering the market.

The original HiSports operation evolved into the commercial Vaughan Pickleball Club.

Pickleplex Vaughan entered the market.

Other facilities followed.

And eventually came something on an entirely different scale:

The Backyard Club—with 21 dedicated courts.

The market had fundamentally changed.

Players were no longer asking:

Where can I find somewhere to play indoors?

They were asking:

Where do I want to play?

That's a much more difficult question for an operator.

Because once players have choices, you're no longer competing simply for pickleball demand.

You're competing for players' time, loyalty and money.

The Communities Are Beginning to Splinter

There's another change occurring that may ultimately prove even more important.

The original pickleball communities are beginning to splinter.

That's not because people no longer want to play together.

Quite the opposite.

It's because players are developing differently.

Take a group of 30 people who entered pickleball around the same time.

A few years later, some may have become strong competitive players. Others may be comfortable recreational intermediates.

Some want structured leagues. Some want tournaments. Some prefer social play. Some want women's or men's groups. Some want age-based play. Some are determined to improve.

Others couldn't care less about their rating and simply want to play with their friends three mornings a week.

They still want to belong to the same community. They just don't necessarily want the same game anymore.

That's becoming increasingly difficult to accommodate in smaller facilities.

And it may create one of the biggest opportunities in the next phase of private pickleball.

This Is Where 21 Courts Become Very Interesting

A seven- or eight-court facility has limited options.

Allocate four courts to a league and half the facility may be gone.

Run a tournament and regular programming can effectively disappear.

Try simultaneously accommodating beginners, intermediate players, advanced players, lessons, leagues and casual bookings, and the mathematics quickly becomes difficult.

But 21 courts?

That's different.

A facility that large potentially has enough capacity for multiple pickleball communities to operate simultaneously.

Beginners can play beginners.

Advanced players can find advanced games.

Social players can remain social.

Leagues can operate. Instruction can continue. Private bookings can coexist.

And everyone can potentially remain part of the same larger community.

That could become an enormous competitive advantage.

But first you need the community.

The Economics of 21 Courts

The Backyard Club's published operating hours are approximately 8 a.m. to 10 p.m.

That's 14 hours.

Multiply that by 21 courts and you get as many as 294 potential court-hours per day.

Over seven days, that's more than 2,000 potential court-hours of inventory.

Of course, theoretical capacity isn't the same as practical capacity. Programming, events, maintenance and other considerations affect the actual number.

But the principle matters.

A large facility has substantially more inventory to monetize than a small one.

And court inventory is perishable.

An empty court from 1 p.m. to 2 p.m. today cannot be stored and sold next Tuesday.

Once that hour passes, it's gone.

That's why utilization is one of the most important—and often underestimated—numbers in private pickleball.

Six occupied courts in an eight-court facility represents 75% utilization.

Six occupied courts inside a 21-court facility represents less than 30%.

Scale magnifies the opportunity. It also magnifies the challenge.

A Snapshot of the Utilization Challenge

A recent look at The Backyard Club's booking schedule for an upcoming Friday illustrates the issue.

There are organized sessions and individual bookings, but also considerable available court inventory throughout the day.

It's important not to overinterpret a single day's schedule.

Backyard is still relatively new.

Membership is developing. Programming is developing. Customers are discovering the facility.

And the indoor season will undoubtedly bring additional demand.

But there's a misconception worth examining in the indoor pickleball business:

Cold weather alone doesn't fill a facility.

Many frequent pickleball players already play indoors throughout the summer.

They want no wind, no rain, predictable surfaces, consistent lighting and reliable playing conditions.

Winter should increase the size of the indoor market.

It doesn't guarantee where those players will go.

The Backyard Membership Proposition

The Backyard Club has positioned itself as a premium pickleball and social club.

Its membership structure includes three principal monthly tiers:

Access — $140/month

Classic — $190/month

Signature — $260/month

Court fees and programming costs also form part of the overall player economics, while Backyard has been discounting some court costs during its introductory 2026 period as it works to build its membership base.

There is nothing inherently wrong with premium pricing.

If the experience delivers premium value, players may willingly pay for it.

But consumers don't evaluate a membership in isolation.

They compare it with every other way they can play.

And in Vaughan, there are increasingly many ways to play.

That's where this market becomes particularly interesting.

What If You Don't Need to Own Both the Players and the Courts?

Nearby, another model is developing.

Pickleplex Vaughan operates the facility.

The not-for-profit Vaughan Pickleball Club brings an organized community and programming into that facility.

A clarification is important because the naming has become confusing.

There are currently two separate organizations using the Vaughan Pickleball Club name: the not-for-profit community Vaughan Pickleball Club and a separate commercial Vaughan Pickleball Club, associated with the former HiSports operation.

They are different organizations.

The not-for-profit club's relationship with Pickleplex demonstrates an interesting alternative to the conventional private membership model.

One side possesses court inventory.

The other possesses players, relationships and organized programming.

The community club can purchase court capacity and organize its players without carrying the enormous fixed costs associated with operating a dedicated facility.

The facility can convert available court hours into revenue without having to independently acquire every player occupying those courts.

It's an interesting alignment.

But That Model Has a Challenge Too

Suppose an outside community organization becomes extremely successful.

It begins consuming more and more desirable court times.

That's excellent for facility utilization.

But the facility may also have its own paying members.

What happens when those members try to book and discover that significant prime-time inventory has already been committed to leagues, programming and outside organizations?

Now the operator faces another balancing act.

How much capacity goes to members?

How much to community organizations?

How much to leagues, open play, instruction, private rentals and tournaments?

This is why the private pickleball business is becoming considerably more sophisticated than:

Build courts. Sell memberships.

The Most Valuable Asset May Be Invisible

Years of developing pickleball communities taught us something important at Pickleball Partners:

You can build courts much faster than you can build community.

York Region Pickleball developed a network of more than 3,000 players.

Those weren't simply 3,000 names in a database.

Friendships formed. Groups developed. Players progressed. Leagues emerged. Instructors developed. Players introduced other players.

Communities formed inside the larger community.

That's an asset that doesn't appear on a facility floor plan.

But it may be one of the most valuable assets in pickleball.

A developer can sign a lease.

A contractor can build courts.

An operator can purchase nets.

Software can manage bookings.

Marketing can generate leads.

But none of those things instantly creates thousands of relationships between players.

Community takes time.

Richmond Hill Provides an Extraordinary Example

A neighbouring York Region municipality illustrates the point.

The Richmond Hill Pickleball Club network has grown to approximately 3,100 players.

Yet Richmond Hill has comparatively little dedicated pickleball infrastructure relative to the size of its population and player community.

So what do the players do?

They travel.

They travel to Vaughan.

They travel to Markham.

They travel north.

They play at private facilities outside their own municipality.

The club has developed relationships with private operators elsewhere in York Region, and additional options are coming.

The lesson for facility operators is important:

Pickleball markets don't stop at municipal boundaries.

Players will drive for the right courts.

More importantly, they'll drive for the right games and the right people.

More Competition Is Coming

The competitive landscape isn't going to become easier.

Private facilities continue to open.

Richmond Hill's newest private entrant, Picktopia, is preparing a seven-court operation.

Other commercial projects are being explored.

And municipalities themselves are beginning to invest much more aggressively in pickleball infrastructure.

Newmarket, north of Vaughan, is advancing a major dedicated pickleball project with the potential for up to 20 courts and winterized/bubbled play.

It also has something else important:

a strong working relationship with its local pickleball community.

Private facilities therefore won't simply compete against other private facilities.

Increasingly, the market will include private clubs, community clubs, not-for-profit organizations, municipal facilities and public-private partnerships.

The supply shortage that helped launch the private pickleball industry will not last forever.

Which Brings Us Back to The Backyard Club

This is what makes Backyard so interesting.

Its challenge is substantial.

It has a premium membership proposition.

It has more than 2,000 potential court-hours per week to monetize.

Established communities already exist around it.

Alternative playing models are available.

Additional private competition is coming.

Municipal competition is coming.

And consumers are becoming more sophisticated.

But Backyard also possesses something nobody else in the immediate market has:

21 courts under one roof.

And that could be enormously powerful.

Remember those original groups that are now splintering?

Imagine a facility large enough that they don't necessarily have to separate.

Different skill levels.

Different programs.

Different games.

Different courts.

One community.

A large facility potentially has the ability to become something much more significant than simply another place to rent a pickleball court.

Exactly what that model looks like is another discussion.

But the strategic opportunity is there.

The question is whether Backyard—or another large-scale operator—figures it out first.

The Industry Is Entering Its Next Phase

For years, pickleball's primary problem was access.

Then the market demanded dedicated courts.

Now we're entering another phase.

The questions are becoming:

How do you fill those courts?

How do you price them?

How do you organize players?

How do you keep communities together as skill levels diverge?

How do you allocate capacity?

How do you balance members with programming?

How do you compete when another facility opens 15 minutes away?

And ultimately:

How do you turn enormous pickleball demand into a sustainable pickleball business?

These are precisely the questions Pickleball Partners believes need to be answered before—and after—a facility is built.

Demand for pickleball doesn't automatically equal demand for a particular business model.

Packed municipal courts don't guarantee private memberships.

A large player database doesn't guarantee utilization.

And 21 beautiful dedicated courts don't automatically create a community.

The facility, economics, programming and player ecosystem have to work together.

That's where the next generation of pickleball facilities will be won or lost.

Backyard Has the Scale. What Happens Next?

We aren't writing off The Backyard Club.

Quite the opposite.

We think it's one of the most interesting pickleball facilities to watch.

Backyard has already built something extremely difficult to replicate:

21 dedicated indoor courts in one of Canada's largest pickleball markets.

That's an extraordinary starting point.

But the physical facility is only one piece of the puzzle.

The next challenge is turning those courts into a thriving ecosystem of players, programs and communities.

If that happens, 21 courts could become an enormous competitive advantage.

If it doesn't, scale works in the opposite direction.

That's why what happens next at The Backyard Club should be fascinating—not just for Vaughan players, but for anyone investing in, developing or operating indoor pickleball facilities across North America.

Vaughan may simply be reaching the next phase of the pickleball business a little earlier than everybody else.

And the lesson may ultimately be very simple:

The next pickleball battle isn't building courts. It's filling them.

Coming Next: Where Should You Play?

This is only the beginning of our look at the rapidly evolving private pickleball market.

In our follow-up article, Pickleball Partners will compare the playing models now developing across York Region, with particular attention to Vaughan.

We'll examine The Backyard Club, Pickleplex Vaughan, the not-for-profit Vaughan Pickleball Club, the separate commercial Vaughan Pickleball Club/former HiSports operation, and Richmond Hill newcomer Picktopia.

We'll look beyond the advertised membership price and examine the things players actually care about:

What does it really cost to play?

How easy is it to get a court?

What programming is available?

Can you find players at your level?

How flexible is the membership?

And which model provides the best value depending on how often—and how—you actually play?

Because the player's question is changing too.

It used to be:

Where can I play?

Now it's becoming:

Where should I play?

Pickleball Partners
Innovators in Pickleball Development

Contacts

pickleballpartnerscanada@gmail.com

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