3 Online Resources for Running a Pickleball Tournament
As more and more courts are available for pickleball, opportunities arise to run pickleball tournaments. So if you are a first time tournament director, you may be wondering what is the best way to run an event. Years ago tournament set up and results were all done with pen and paper. However, in 2021 the best way to run an event is to use one of the many available online options.
#1: PickleballTournaments.com
The best known software for running events comes from the website Pickleball Tournaments. This platform was introduced in 2004 and is currently run by Melissa McCurley as a division of Pickleball Station, LLC. The software allows you to set up events, have players register, administer wait lists, set up brackets, check in players, assign courts, and record results. It costs tournament directors $3 per player and your event will be listed on the website. They also charge a $20 tournament creation fee which is later credited back against the final cost. Pickleball Tournaments can handle everything related to running a tournament plus they offer marketing support for an additional fee.
#2: PickleballBrackets.com
Pickleball Brackets doesn't have as long of a history as Pickleball Tournaments. But founder and developer Jason Santerre, who I interviewed on the Pickleball Fire podcast, has a complete system for running your event. What's so great about Pickleball Brackets is that Jason automates every aspect of running a tournament. He also releases new features after he receives multiple requests from tournament directors for the same thing. What is great about Pickleball Brackets is the software can handle any tournament regardless of size or format. The cost is $2 per participant plus a $25 set up fee.
#3: Pickleball.Global
Pickleball Global is a platform used by tournament directors from all over the world. Events like the Asia Open, Poland Open, and Austrailian Open are all listed on the site plus a few tournaments in the United States. Pickleball Global has a good video series on how to create a tournament which includes information on setting up the event format, registering players, running the tournament, and results. During the tournament set up process, directors are asked to input their Paypal ID so they can be paid by the registrants. It doesn't look like there is any per participant fee that needs to be paid to Pickleball.Global so this software may be a good choice if you are on a budget.
