SM Active Hub expands Philippines’ largest mall-based pickleball network to 86 courts
SM Active Hub now spans 86 courts in 29 malls, turning Philippine pickleball into a daily mall sport for commuters, families and first-timers.
Pickleball has moved from novelty to routine in the Philippines: SM Active Hub now has 86 courts across 29 SM malls, making it the country’s largest mall-based pickleball network. The scale is striking because it places the sport inside the everyday rhythm of Philippine retail life, from Metro Manila to Cebu, Santa Rosa and General Santos.
That footprint changes who gets to play. Permanent and semi-permanent courts at malls such as SM City Sta. Mesa, SM Center Shaw, SM Southmall, SM City Novaliches, SM City Marikina, SM City Bicutan, SM Center Muntinlupa, SM City Santa Rosa, SM Seaside City Cebu and SM City General Santos make pickleball easier to reach for after-work commuters, families and first-timers who can walk in without booking a private club.
SM said the Active Hub platform launched in 2025 and reached its first anniversary in April 2026 with more than 110,000 members and 260,000 event registrations. At that point, the program already had 44 pickleball courts in 21 malls. The jump to 86 courts in 29 malls by June shows how quickly SM has moved from building a presence to building an ecosystem, one backed by more than 100 tournaments, open plays and clinics nationwide.
The network is not just broader, it is more structured. SM says one of its clearest examples is Four E-Com Center, where six dedicated courts are now part of the setup, while the Bicutan rooftop courts are permanent, open daily and supported by publicly posted open-play and rental rates. SM has also used the venues for competition, including the SM Pickleball Super Series Year 2, powered by Toby’s Sports, and a Trio Challenge series that travels through multiple malls before reaching a finals venue.
That business model lands at a meaningful moment for the sport’s governance in the Philippines. The Philippine Olympic Committee formally accepted the Philippine Pickleball Federation as the country’s national sports association for pickleball on April 14, 2024, after the sport was first introduced through clinics in Cebu in 2016, gained its first dedicated venue in Makati in June 2017 and staged its first inter-club tournament in Pasig in 2019. With nine international professional players having visited SM courts, the mall network has become more than a place to play. It is a public-facing stage for how pickleball is being institutionalized in the Philippines, and potentially a model for how the sport can scale across Asia.
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