Los Banos nears grand opening of new pickleball courts
Final concrete is in at the Los Banos Ag Sports Complex, bringing the city closer to opening dedicated pickleball courts for a player base that tops 100.
The last concrete slab is down at the Los Banos Ag Sports Complex, and the city’s new pickleball courts are moving toward a grand opening that local players have been waiting for. The project is the latest sign that Los Banos is adding dedicated space for a sport that has outgrown improvised arrangements and now needs more courts than the city once had to offer.
City Inspector Anna Chavez said in a March 10 update that crews had finished pouring the final slab for the courts. The next steps were expected to include electrical work and landscaping near Court 1 over the following couple of weeks, a finishing stretch that will bring the city-owned recreation site closer to play-ready status. The Ag Sports Complex already serves as a hub for community athletic events, and pickleball is now becoming part of that mix.
The push for permanent courts has been years in the making. Pickleball arrived in Los Banos about seven and a half years ago, when residents Laurie and Tom Balatti asked for a place to play in the Community Center gym. The city responded with two courts, and the game kept spreading from there. By 2022, Los Banos had well over 100 players, a sign that the original setup was no longer enough for the people trying to get on court.
City leaders have framed the new project as part of a broader effort to expand recreational opportunities and add amenities at the Ag Sports Complex. That local demand mirrors what has happened nationally, but Los Banos’ version is rooted in a simple problem: too many players and too few places to play. In 2025, the Sports & Fitness Industry Association estimated that more than 24 million Americans played pickleball, up from about 4.2 million in 2020. USA Pickleball’s growth reports also showed the court network expanding fast, with Pickleheads adding over 2,300 new locations in 2025 and the database reaching 82,613 known courts.
For Los Banos, the numbers matter less as a national trend line than as a local answer. The new courts give the city’s growing pickleball community a dedicated home, and the final phase of construction puts that opening within reach.
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