Peanut Butter and Pickleball: Market Demand in Sport
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Pickleball vs. Tennis: Battle of the Courts
The Wall Street Journal’s Joshua Robinson recently published an article appropriately titled “The Turf War Between Tennis and Pickleball is Escalating.” The article reads like the peanut butter saga that plays out in homes across America.
“Like sands in the hourglass, so are the days of…” the pickleball/tennis feud! This isn’t a daytime soap opera (do those still exist?!), but it might as well be.- I love a good industry disruption! Most of you who know me, know that. Pickleball has undoubtedly shaken up the sports world…including, but not limited to tennis. And what’s not to love about that?! (Remember when MMA shook up the combat sports world?)
- I’m a free market purest. How much is something worth? Why, what the market is willing to pay, of course. And right now, the market is choosing pickleball.
- The market is the great equalizer whether it’s buying widgets or measuring participation (consumption) of a sport.
- If you get caught playing defense on your heels, the offense will do a wicked cross-over, slash by you and slam it home before you know what hit you. Apologies for the frankness, but the writing was on the wall here, tennis.
- Like golf, the perception of tennis has historically been that of a country club sport. That means high barrier to entry. Remember, perception is often reality.
- Pickleball, on the other hand, has capitalized on a “come one, come all” mantra effectively exponentially increasing its overall TAM (total addressable market). Golf has adapted (thanks to youth programming, technology, market DISRUPTION, TopGolf, pandemic, etc.). Will – or can – tennis?
- “Red Ball Tennis” does not a pickleball competitor make. Tennis…BE TENNIS! You’re still a great sport, with incredible history and tradition, and growth in overall participation. Yes, evolve your approach, but don’t lose your identity. Call up your country club friend, golf! One humble practitioner's opinion.
- Different does not mean wrong. The worlds of tennis and pickleball are not mutually exclusive. It should not be one verses the other. We’re all people, and we’re allowed to like different peanut butters – I mean sports.
- Communities are charged with allocating scarce resources efficiently (hmmm, that sounds like the definition of “economics”!). Now am I saying they do so perfectly? Of course not, but hopefully they put forth an honest effort to meet the current needs (market) of their tax-paying citizens. Enter more pickleball courts. Yes, in cases, these are coming at the expense of tennis courts, but it’s also unleashed a bevvy of entrepreneurial endeavors in the space. Some will survive, some will not. Like any new market.
- Does that mean pickleball will last forever? Your guess is as good as mine. But the train has left the station, so the industry should ride it. As Robinson's article points out, pickleball is a relatively simple sport from an infrastructure development perspective, and a super low barrier to entry from a participation perspective. Jump on and pull that train horn!
- But Stoll! What will happen when (if) pickleball participation craters? Well, I’m not sure. And I’m not sure that will happen. (There are still people out there doing CrossFit, right?) But I’ll be excited to see what the next wave of the reimagination of sport looks like!
19th Hole with Stoll
I grew up on a cul-de-sac in the suburbs of Cincinnati, Ohio, where the 20 or so kids on my street would gather every afternoon to play whatever sport someone brought the ball for that day. Our own (paved) sandlot. We played for the fun of it. We played to hang out. We played because there were no barriers to entry. We played because every single day, someone would show up with a ball.
Nothing was worse than when the to-remain-nameless kid would get his feelings hurt by getting out in kickball and take his ball and go home. You know the kid I’m talking about!
Tennis, please don’t be that kid!
There is room for all in the world of sport. In fact, the more, the merrier! Will the pickleball craze last forever? Who knows, and who cares? But what I do know is that our country is plagued with obesity and mental health crises. Division abounds, and people are hyper-offendable. So, I’m all in on anything that gets people up, moving, socializing, connecting, smiling, and having fun.
Just like those summer evenings on the cul-de-sac…this is what it’s all about!
So, is it smooth or crunchy peanut butter, you ask? The answer is YES! With one big caveat: It’s up to the stewards of these sports to meet the market demands. Will they? Only time will tell.
Evoke a thought.
