Leading pickleball company files for bankruptcy as CEO admits to major business mistakes

Pickleball facility 'The Picklr' has filed for bankruptcy after being founded in 2021, as the CEO acknowledges the costly business mistakes that were made.

Pickleball has taken the US by storm in recent years, rapidly becoming one of the country's most popular sports.

According to the Sports & Fitness Industry Association (SFIA), an estimated 24.3 million Americans played pickleball in 2025, up from just 4.2 million in 2020.

The surge in popularity has also fuelled a boom in dedicated courts, indoor facilities, and franchise businesses looking to capitalise on growing demand.

However, despite the sport's continued growth, this latest bankruptcy filing highlights how turning the pickleball craze into a profitable business can prove more challenging than expected.

Founded in 2021 by Jorge Barragan, The Picklr expanded rapidly, opening franchises across 29 US states - and more globally.

But the indoor pickleball company filed on Friday (October 16) in the US Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of Texas, following a number of business mistakes.

The game has surged in popularity in recent years. (Getty Stock Images)

The company got into financial trouble after promising to cover rent costs for some of its franchise owners if they couldn't pay.

When around 40 of its early franchise locations opened globally, The Picklr agreed to act as a guarantor on their leases.

This meant that if those franchise owners failed to pay their rent, The Picklr's parent company could be left responsible for the bill.

But as the business expanded, those financial commitments became too expensive for the parent company to manage, according Barragan.

The company has found itself in financial difficulty. (Getty Stock Images)

Speaking with Sports Business Journal, the CEO said: "We signed, unfortunately, too many corporate guarantees that landed on the holding company, and that’s on us. I own it.

"Utilizing [Chapter 11 bankruptcy] is going to allow all of us to work with these landlords to figure out how to create profitable businesses. I think this is going to open up doors for a lot of people to renegotiate with the landlords and give people more success moving forward."

But the despite the financial crisis, Barragan noted that the 'clubs are [still] open'.

"Our members are playing," he said, "our franchise partners own and run their clubs, and they’re operating as usual."

Acknowledging that the company grew quicker than they could operate, he added: "Our goal is just to make sure that over the next 18 months to two years, as we start to see the shakeout happen, that we position our franchisees in the best position.

"Our ultimate goal is to position our franchisees to have a long runway to be there for the whole time that they’ve signed their leases."