Is pickleball dying? Analyst lays out signs that the fastest-growing sport is past its prime
A business TikToker is predicting that pickleball’s meteoric rise is finally slowing down, pointing to facility closures and loan defaults as signs the sport’s boom was unsustainable.
In a video posted on Nov. 25, 2025, he argued that investors assumed the frenzy would last forever, but early cracks in the industry are showing that pickleball may have already reached its peak.
Some pickleball fans seemed to take this personally.
Is pickleball on its way out?
According to @bluejaycapital, not all of those pickleball facilities opening up across the U.S. are bringing in a profit. In fact, some are failing, which could be a signal that infinite pickleball growth was a fever dream.
"These project are starting to default on their loans and go out of business," said the business expert in his TikTok video. "These developers thought that the sport would continue growing at the same rate, but this might be the beginning of the end for the sport's dominance."
@bluejaycapital Pickleball Is Dying ???? #markettrends #pickleball #entrepreneurship #personalfinance #wealth ♬ Crystalline Clarity - Ernesto P. Neto
From 2022 through 2024, pickleball was the fastest-growing sport in the U.S. According to the 2024 State of Pickleball report by the Sports & Fitness Industry Association, this growth totaled 223.5 percent.
The game started as a low-impact version of tennis ideal for seniors and others with mobility issues or higher risk of injury. Its popularity began to explode in the early 2020s after younger people took an interest. Pickleball participation increased across age groups and American regions, with 2.3 million people ages 25 to 34 playing in 2023.
This growth naturally caught the attention of business types, who invested heavily in related equipment, tournaments, and facilities. Of course, nothing lasts forever. One of the fatal flaws of capitalism is the assumption of eternal growth, but there are only so many people who can play pickleball.
"When you're planning a business, you can't just assume that things are always gonna stay the same," noted @bluejaycapital. "Growth rates are not just gonna keep going up over time."
"The best sound pickleball can make is dying"
This video kicked off a commenter war between pickleball lovers and haters. The sport's biggest fans are having trouble accepting that it probably isn't going to replace football in popularity.
"Bad take. Pickleball is 10x bigger than racquetball ever was," claimed @zumasvs. "Of course many of the facilities will fail—we could have told you that during construction."
"Public Pickleball courts are full, tennis courts are empty. The trend continues. If anything seniors who started the sport are being pushed aside by high schoolers. Expect pickleball to be in every high school and college in 10 years."
"Pickleball isn’t going anywhere. It can be played indoor or outdoor unlike racquetball," @fluffydoodle222 argued. "Also PB is readily accessible to all ages and all levels of play. Racball required much greater athletic prowess. There is a high level of social interaction and it’s become a third space. They overbuilt or over priced in some areas."
Those who are not fans of the sport were more concise with their comments.
"The problem with pickleball was that it created pickleball players," joked @spencechen.
"The best sound pickleball can make is dying," wrote @tripsleft_1.
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