Sold-out pickleball convention draws major brands to West Palm Beach

A sold-out exhibit floor at the Palm Beach County Convention Center showed how quickly pickleball has become a travel business, not just a sport. The 6th Annual World Pickleball Convention & Conference brought Humana, Pepsi, American Express, Marriott and Delta Air Lines into the same West Palm Beach marketplace as resort executives, club owners and facility builders.

Organizers said more than 8,000 attendees were expected, with a crowd built around retail buyers, brands and manufacturers, facility operators, business investment groups, country club and resort executives, players, coaches, media, influencers and content creators. That mix matters for retreat operators because it points to a market where destination stays, club programming and branded experiences are being packaged together instead of sold separately.

The Court Reserve World Pickleball Conference featured more than 50 industry speakers. Humana opened the event with a keynote from its Chief Health Officer on the long-term health benefits of pickleball, while other sessions focused on facility development, technology, coaching, community expansion and the future of professional play. Two indoor tournaments, the American Express Corporate Challenge and the Palm Beach Classic Championships, added a competitive edge to the business gathering.

The floor plan underscored the direction of the sport. For the first time, padel courts were included on the show floor, a sign that racquet-sport destinations are widening their pitch by bundling multiple games into one travel product. The convention center itself, which opened in 2004, spans 350,000 square feet and includes a 100,000-square-foot exhibit hall, a 22,000-square-foot ballroom and 21,000 square feet of flexible meeting space. It also connects to the 400-room Hilton West Palm Beach, the kind of setup that makes a convention feel like a live marketplace for future retreats, club packages and resort activations.

The broader numbers explain why the room was full. USA Pickleball’s 2025 Annual Growth Report said the Pickleheads database added over 2,300 new locations in 2025, bringing the total to 18,258 locations nationwide and 82,613 courts. The Sports & Fitness Industry Association said 19.8 million Americans played pickleball in 2024, up 45.8% from 2023 and 311% from three years earlier. With participation still surging, the sponsors filling West Palm Beach are chasing a much larger travel audience than the sport had even a few years ago.

West Palm Beach already has a track record to build on. More than 1,100 pickleball fans gathered there in June 2025, and the 2025 Jenius Bank Pickleball World Championships drew more than 60,000 fans and more than $1.1 million in combined ticket and hospitality revenue. In that context, the sold-out convention did more than pack a hall: it pointed to where pickleball travel is headed next, toward bigger brands, stronger resort involvement and more crossover between competition, wellness and destination stays.