Pickle4 Announces Expanded Partnership with YMCA of the USA

The US Open continues to find ways to captivate the pickleball community and to make the event an exceptional experience for all who participate. For this reason, it remains the most prestigious tournament in pickleball drawing thousands of professional and amateur athletes. In 2024 alone, the US Open set record-breaking numbers with over 3,200 pickleball players participating in the tournament. However that number represents only half of the athletes who registered for the US Open lottery in attempt to play.

The US Open Pickleball Championships is continuing to develop ways to allow more athletes to participate in the one-of-a-kind pickleball experience. The US Open announced that with the switch to Pickleball Den software in 2025, they will increase the lottery acceptance rate by 10%. In a new announcement, The Open has partnered with YMCA of the USA to provide an additional opportunity for pickleball players to play in The US Open Pickleball Championships. The YMCA Mid-East Regional Pickleball Tournament will be held June 28-30, 2024  at the Upper Main Line YMCA in Berwyn, PA. The 39 gold medal winners at this Y-USA tournament will receive a special invitation to the 2025 US Open Pickleball Championships.

These advancements from the US Open Pickleball Championships are a positive and proactive step to address the demand from players and provide additional opportunities to participate in The Biggest Pickleball Party in the World™.

For the full press release from Pickle4, see below:

NAPLES, Fla., April 30, 2024 – Pickle4 and YMCA of the USA (Y-USA), the national resource office for the 2,600+ YMCAs across the country , is excited to announce an expanded partnership with the YMCA Mid-East Regional Pickleball Tournament to be held June 28-30, 2024  at the Upper Main Line YMCA in Berwyn, PA.

The YMCA Mid-East Regional Pickleball Tournament’s 39 gold medal winners will receive a special invitation to the 2025 US Open Pickleball Championships. Registration is now open for the regional tournament. Last week, Pickle4 announced switching software platforms to Pickleball Den, enabling the expansion by ten percent of the US Open lottery starting in 2025. The additional Y-USA invites have no impact on the incremental 350 slots announced last week resulting in the largest lottery in US Open history in 2025.

“We are ever mindful of the thousands of athletes who do not win a lottery slot at the US Open Pickleball Championships, and our vision is to expand the opportunities to compete in the US Open to a greater number of athletes,” said Mike Dee, Pickleball4America Chairman and CEO of the parent company of Spirit Promotions, which owns the US Open Pickleball Championships. “To that end, last week we announced we are increasing the size of the successful lottery winners by approximately 350 athletes for the 2025 US Open Pickleball Championships and today we are announcing a further expansion to utilize a special invitation to the US Open for the 39 gold medal winners in this Y-USA tournament. Y-USA represents an excellent partnership match with our shared visions of the growth of amateur pickleball!”

“We couldn’t be more excited to partner with Pickle4 in this special opportunity supporting the growth of pickleball,” said Meredith Griffin, Manager for National Competitive Events for Y-USA. “We are equally delighted that our gold medal winners will receive a special invitation to the US Open Pickleball Championships, the most prestigious event in the sport!”

About the Y
Driven by its founding mission, the Y has served as a leading nonprofit committed to strengthening community for more than 175 years. The Y empowers everyone, no matter who they are or where they’re from, by ensuring access to resources, relationships and opportunities for all to learn, grow and thrive. By bringing together people from different backgrounds, perspectives and generations, the Y’s goal is to improve overall health and well-being, ignite youth empowerment and demonstrate the importance of connections in and across 10,000 communities nationwide. Learn more at ymca.org.

About the US Open Pickleball Championships

The US Open Pickleball Championships, owned by Spirit Promotions and founded in 2016, is the most important event in pickleball and welcomed over 3,200 athletes including 460 professionals from all 50 states and 31 countries who competed in more than 5,000 matches attracting approximately 50,000 spectators to Naples, FL in 2024. The 2025 US Open will be held April 26 – May 3, 2025 at East Naples Community Park in Naples, Florida. Pickle4 is the parent company of Spirit Promotions.

Media Contacts

Pickle4, [email protected]

YMCA of the USA, [email protected]