Pickleball: Strongest in Northeast and West, and Among Those 18-34;
Men and Women Show Nearly Equal Interest
South Orange, NJ, June 23, 2023 – Fifty-one percent of self-described sports fans say they are interested in Pickleball, the upstart participant sport that plays like a smaller dimension of tennis.
Of those queried, 22 percent of sports fans say they have actually played the game, while 36 percent of “avid fans” have done so. Among the general population, that number dips to 15 percent.
There was nearly an equal interest among men and women for the sport, with the greatest interest among those aged 18-34 (38 percent). The number dropped to 19 percent among those 35-54, and to just 10 percent for those 55 and older.
Geographically, the greatest interest can be found in the northeast (27%) and western regions (26%) of the U.S., with a noteworthy difference between those two regions and the south (14%) or the midwest (19%).
These were among the findings of a Seton Hall Sports Poll conducted last month among 1,509 adults across the country. The poll featured a national representative sample from YouGov weighted on U.S. Census Bureau figures for gender, age, ethnicity, education, income and geography and has a margin of error of +/- 2.5 percent. This was the first time the Poll has
measured pickleball interest.
Would You Watch Pickleball on TV?
The forward-looking question in the poll was “Would you watch pickleball on TV?” And to that, 
57 percent of those who expressed an interest in pickleball said yes, with 38 percent of avid fans and 26 percent of sports fans in agreement. The number was highest among those 18-34 (32 percent of the general population), the demographic favored by advertisers.
Notably, of those who have expressed an interest in Pickleball, only 49 percent have played the game— with those who said they would watch the game on TV exceeding those who have played by 8 points.
“While interest in the sport is still largely participatory, the question remains whether Pickleball can cross the chasm into formal leagues, elite players and TV viewership,” said Professor Charles Grantham, Director of the Center for Sport Management within Seton Hall’s Stillman School of Business, which sponsors the Poll. “With nearly one third of the general population’s 18-34 year olds saying they would watch the sport on TV, those in programming should take notice.”
Pickleball, the Next Best Mass Market Sport?
Perhaps easing the way toward greater popularity, 75 percent of those who have interest in the 
sport see it as “easy to play for all ages, skill levels and genders.” For sport fans, 42 percent thought the same as did 56 percent of avid fans.
In a poll released in February of 2023, The Seton Hall Sports Poll found that 57 percent of avid fans said that men and women should compete with and against each other.
“More than one in five of the U.S. adults said they are interested in Pickleball, and that is a tremendous segment of the population,” said Marketing Professor Daniel Ladik, who is Chief Methodologist for the Poll. “In addition, one third of the general population say it’s easy to play for all ages, skill levels and genders. The sport lends itself to what the data shows fans want – including co-ed play.”
# # #
Questions, breakdowns and additional charts may be found below; an online version of this release may be found at https://blogs.shu.edu/sportspoll/
ABOUT THE POLL
The Seton Hall Sports Poll, conducted regularly since 2006, is performed by the Sharkey Institute within the Stillman School of Business. This poll was conducted online by YouGov Plc. using a national representative sample weighted according to gender, age, ethnicity, education, income and geography, based on U.S. Census Bureau figures. Respondents were selected from YouGov’s opt-in panel to be representative of all U.S residents. This poll release conforms to the Standards of Disclosure of the National Council on Public Polls. The Seton Hall Sports Poll has been chosen for inclusion in iPoll by Cornell’s Roper Center for Public Opinion Research and its findings have been published everywhere from USA Today, ESPN, The New York Times, Washington Post, AP, and Reuters to CNBC, NPR, Yahoo Finance, Fox News and many points in between.
Media: Michael Ricciardelli, Associate Director of Media Relations, Seton Hall University
michael.ricciardelli@shu.edu, 908-447-3034; Marty Appel, AppelPR@gmail.com
JUNE 2023 Seton Hall Sports Poll Results
This SHSP was conducted May 12th to May 16th and includes responses from 1,509 US adults with a margin of error of +/-2.5%. The sample mirrors the US Census percentages on age, gender, income, education, ethnicity, and region.
*Note: Presented in each table, Avid + Casual = total sports fandom in the data. Some tables break out the Avid and Casual segments.
Q1. Which of the following statements best describes you
| N=1,509
|
General
Population |
Pickleball Fan | Non-Pickleball Fan |
| I am an avid sports fan | 17% | 35% | 12% |
| I am a sports fan | 43% | 51% | 40% |
| I am not a sports fan | 40% | 14% | 48% |
Q2c. What is your level of interest in Pickleball? [By Fan Level]
| N=1,509
|
General
Population |
Sports
Fan* |
Non Fan | Avid
Fan |
Casual
Fan |
| This is one of my TOP interests | 6% | 9% | 1% | 17% | 6% |
| Somewhat interested | 16% | 22% | 6% | 26% | 20% |
| Not very interested | 20% | 23% | 14% | 22% | 24% |
| Not interested at all | 58% | 46% | 79% | 35% | 50% |
Q2c. What is your level of interest in Pickleball? [By Gender]
| N=1,509
|
General
Population |
Male | Female |
| This is one of my TOP interests | 6% | 7% | 4% |
| Somewhat interested | 16% | 16% | 15% |
| Not very interested | 20% | 21% | 18% |
| Not interested at all | 58% | 56% | 63% |
Q2c. What is your level of interest in Pickleball? [By Age]
| N=1,509
|
General
Population |
18 – 34 | 35 – 54 | 55+ |
| This is one of my TOP interests | 6% | 12% | 5% | 1% |
| Somewhat interested | 16% | 26% | 14% | 9% |
| Not very interested | 20% | 24% | 16% | 18% |
| Not interested at all | 58% | 38% | 65% | 72% |
Q2c. What is your level of interest in Pickleball? [By Region]
| N=1,509
|
General
Population |
Northeast | Midwest | South | West |
| This is one of my TOP interests | 6% | 6% | 2% | 5% | 8% |
| Somewhat interested | 16% | 21% | 12% | 14% | 18% |
| Not very interested | 20% | 21% | 18% | 19% | 21% |
| Not interested at all | 58% | 52% | 68% | 62% | 53% |
Q5. How much do you know about the sport of Pickleball? [By Fan Level]
| N=1,509
|
General
Population |
Pickleball Fan | Non-Pickleball Fan | Sports
Fan* |
Non Fan | Avid
Fan |
Casual
Fan |
| A lot | 8% | 32% | 2% | 13% | 1% | 27% | 8% |
| A little | 33% | 56% | 27% | 40% | 23% | 43% | 39% |
| Nothing at all | 59% | 12% | 71% | 47% | 76% | 30% | 53% |
Q5. How much do you know about the sport of Pickleball? [By Gender]
| N=1,509
|
General
Population |
Male | Female |
| A lot | 8% | 11% | 6% |
| A little | 33% | 38% | 29% |
| Nothing at all | 59% | 51% | 65% |
Q5. How much do you know about the sport of Pickleball? [By Age]
| N=1,509
|
General
Population |
18 – 34 | 35 – 54 | 55+ |
| A lot | 8% | 18% | 5% | 2% |
| A little | 33% | 39% | 31% | 30% |
| Nothing at all | 59% | 43% | 64% | 68% |
Q5. How much do you know about the sport of Pickleball? [By Region]
| N=1,509
|
General
Population |
Northeast | Midwest | South | West |
| A lot | 8% | 11% | 5% | 6% | 12% |
| A little | 33% | 39% | 31% | 31% | 35% |
| Nothing at all | 59% | 50% | 64% | 63% | 53% |
Q6a. Have you ever played Pickleball? [By Fan Level]
| N=1,509
|
General
Population |
Pickleball Fan | Non-Pickleball Fan | Sports
Fan* |
Non Fan | Avid
Fan |
Casual
Fan |
| Yes | 15% | 49% | 6% | 22% | 5% | 36% | 16% |
| No | 77% | 48% | 85% | 72% | 84% | 61% | 77% |
| Don’t know/No Opinion | 8% | 3% | 9% | 6% | 11% | 3% | 7% |
Q6a. Have you ever played Pickleball? [By Gender]
| N=1,509
|
General
Population |
Male | Female |
| Yes | 15% | 17% | 13% |
| No | 77% | 77% | 77% |
| Don’t know/No Opinion | 8% | 6% | 10% |
Q6a. Have you ever played Pickleball? [By Age]
| N=1,509
|
General
Population |
18 – 34 | 35 – 54 | 55+ |
| Yes | 15% | 31% | 10% | 6% |
| No | 77% | 60% | 81% | 88% |
| Don’t know/No Opinion | 8% | 9% | 9% | 6% |
Q6a. Have you ever played Pickleball? [By Region]
| N=1,509
|
General
Population |
Northeast | Midwest | South | West |
| Yes | 15% | 17% | 10% | 13% | 22% |
| No | 77% | 76% | 82% | 78% | 72% |
| Don’t know/No Opinion | 8% | 7% | 8% | 9% | 6% |
Q6b. Would you watch Pickleball on TV? [By Fan Level]
| N=1,509
|
General
Population |
Pickleball Fan | Non-Pickleball Fan | Sports
Fan* |
Non Fan | Avid
Fan |
Casual
Fan |
| Yes | 17% | 57% | 7% | 26% | 5% | 38% | 21% |
| No | 72% | 33% | 82% | 63% | 85% | 55% | 66% |
| Don’t know/No Opinion | 11% | 10% | 11% | 11% | 10% | 7% | 13% |
Q6b. Would you watch Pickleball on TV? [By Gender]
| N=1,509
|
General
Population |
Male | Female |
| Yes | 17% | 21% | 15% |
| No | 72% | 70% | 73% |
| Don’t know/No Opinion | 11% | 9% | 12% |
Q6b. Would you watch Pickleball on TV? [By Age]
| N=1,509
|
General
Population |
18 – 34 | 35 – 54 | 55+ |
| Yes | 17% | 32% | 15% | 7% |
| No | 72% | 58% | 71% | 83% |
| Don’t know/No Opinion | 11% | 10% | 14% | 10% |
Q6b. Would you watch Pickleball on TV? [By Region]
| N=1,509
|
General
Population |
Northeast | Midwest | South | West |
| Yes | 17% | 25% | 8% | 15% | 23% |
| No | 72% | 69% | 78% | 74% | 65% |
| Don’t know/No Opinion | 11% | 6% | 14% | 11% | 12% |
Q6c. Pickleball is a sport that is easy to play for all ages, skill levels and genders. [By Fan Level]
| N=1,509
|
General
Population |
Pickleball Fan | Non-Pickleball Fan | Sports
Fan* |
Non Fan | Avid
Fan |
Casual
Fan |
| Yes | 33% | 75% | 22% | 42% | 20% | 56% | 37% |
| No | 15% | 13% | 15% | 15% | 15% | 13% | 15% |
| Don’t know/No Opinion | 52% | 12% | 63% | 43% | 65% | 31% | 48% |
Q6c. Pickleball is a sport that is easy to play for all ages, skill levels and genders. [By Gender]
| N=1,509
|
General
Population |
Male | Female |
| Yes | 33% | 36% | 30% |
| No | 15% | 16% | 14% |
| Don’t know/No Opinion | 52% | 48% | 56% |
Q6c. Pickleball is a sport that is easy to play for all ages, skill levels and genders. [By Age]
| N=1,509
|
General
Population |
18 – 34 | 35 – 54 | 55+ |
| Yes | 33% | 47% | 26% | 27% |
| No | 15% | 21% | 13% | 11% |
| Don’t know/No Opinion | 52% | 32% | 61% | 62% |
Q6c. Pickleball is a sport that is easy to play for all ages, skill levels and genders.? [By Region]
| N=1,509
|
General
Population |
Northeast | Midwest | South | West |
| Yes | 33% | 38% | 27% | 33% | 36% |
| No | 15% | 13% | 15% | 14% | 16% |
| Don’t know/No Opinion | 52% | 49% | 58% | 53% | 48% |