community and Barnes’ expansion from a tennis facility to a racket sport complex.
In April, USA Pickleball formally announced that Barnes would be the 2025 host of its largest event.
The facility’ s preparations are already underway. Barnes is currently installing speaker systems, as well as a VIP area on the concourse. The showstopper will be a 900-seat stadium court that will serve as the centerpiece of the event.
Indeed, that type of space will be necessary due to the sheer number of expected competitors and spectators.
USA Pickleball staff told Steinberg to expect around 3,000 players, and while it is difficult to estimate the number of anticipated visitors, it is not unrealistic to expect 15,000 fans at the tournament. The economic impact to the area will be significant.“ A huge amount of people will travel to San Diego, which is why it’ s such a cool thing for this area,” Steinberg said.“ It’ s going to mean really good things for San Diego.”
Of course, Barnes is hardly the only pickleball paradise in the area. Steinberg highlighted the Bobby Riggs Racket and Paddle Club, as well as The HUB Pickleball and Rally House Pickleball Club in discussing the growth of the game locally.
However, with Nationals less than six months away, Steinberg certainly is feeling good about his organization’ s impressive facility.
“ We’ re fortunate in what Barnes can do court-wise,” he said.“ We can convert courts. When you can throw four pickleball courts on a tennis court, we can go from 19 to 29 or 39 or 49 courts relatively easily. That’ s one of the reasons we’ ve been able to grow the game in San Diego. Now( our mindset) is,‘ Let’ s really put San Diego on the map and let’ s bring in USA Pickleball and Major League Pickleball and keep bringing them in.’
“ And when those 3,000 players are here in November and our facility is used for the tournament, every other facility in the area is going to be packed with players, so they’ ll benefit as well.” Of note, Barnes already hosts roughly 70 tennis tournaments annually and boasts an impressive junior academy that produces many NCAA Division I tennis players. The facility is trending toward making a similar impact on the pickleball community.
“ This year is really us moving in that direction for pickleball,” Steinberg said.
In fact, perhaps therein lies the largest impact of the blossoming relationship between YTSD, Barnes and USA Pickleball.
“ I’ m a huge proponent of what USA Pickleball does in the community— and their overall initiatives,” Steinberg said.“ Meanwhile, we do free open play, free clinics, we go into schools. Major League Pickleball and Nationals and those big events further highlight what we do as a nonprofit and allow us to have a bigger impact on kids … I hope this builds on it. I hope we host Nationals for years to come.”
Drew Silverman is a freelance contributor to USA Pickleball on behalf of Red Line Editorial, Inc.
JULY / AUGUST 2025 | MAGAZINE 51