Brand new pickleball convention coming to Kansas City in 2024. Here are the details

PickleCon is coming to Kansas City.

Triple Crown Sports, a longtime event producer for youth and collegiate sporting events, announced on Tuesday its inaugural pickleball convention, PickleCon, will take place at the Kansas City Convention Center in August 2024. The event will feature 60-plus vendors and more than 100 pickleball courts.

The announcement was held at Chicken N Pickle in North Kansas City.

“It’s exciting to have a date, have a location and start making the plans — like it makes it real,” Triple Crown Sports pickleball director Alyssa Morrison said. “We’ve had talks for a long time, but it just makes it a lot more real and we can start making more definite decisions now.”

The event will run from August 8-11, 2024. On top of the vendors and plethora of courts, the event will include multiple tournaments, pro interactions, panel discussions and networking opportunities.

Speaking at Tuesday’s press conference to announce the convention, Kathy Nelson, president and CEO of Visit KC and the Kansas City Sports Commission, called pickleball the fastest growing sport in America — estimated to have 36.5 million players annually.

With the sport’s upward trajectory, Nelson noted how impactful the event will be for the city’s businesses. The event is estimated to bring in an additional $3.9 million to the local economy, Nelson said.

“When you think about Triple Crown Sports, that’s what they’re known for is the fantastic sports events and activities, so it’s just such a great match,” Nelson said. “Someone that’s just pumped about pickleball from Detroit or from Colorado or from wherever in Arkansas, they want to come to Kansas City. ... They walk away having the best time.”

Initial research for a PickleCon event began in 2018, before the sport blew up in 2020. Morrison and the company halted their research around then, but they started it back up nearly a year ago to see if there was a way to make the convention happen.

Morrison added that Triple Crown Sports’ past partnership with Visit KC and Kansas City led to the city being the top choice. The company has held one of the city’s largest annual youth sporting events, the Triple Crown NIT volleyball tournament, at the Kansas City Convention Center every year since 2019.

Another aspect Morrison liked was the ease of Kansas City being a central location around the country, and how much of a staple pickleball already is in the city.

“Locals are already involved, so they’ll be excited about our event, and that was kind of just the icing on the cake for us,” Morrison said. “There’s a diverse attraction here in Kansas City for all tourists to enjoy, and so we want (them) not just to come to our event, but to have a destination where they go have a family vacation, make a whole week out of it.”

Deputy city manager Kimiko Gilmore said she wants to take advantage of the influx of people during the event and will have conversations about events and activities for visitors to participate in outside of PickleCon.

Gilmore also emphasized her goal is for PickleCon to come back to Kansas City after 2024.

Although the event is a year away, Gilmore said the work starts now. And after having the 2023 NFL Draft in Kansas City, and with the World Cup coming in 2026, Gilmore believes that PickleCon is another marker for the city’s success in holding large-scale sporting events.

“I can just imagine all of the different generations coming to the convention center,” Gilmore said. “We are coming into our own, and so when you can bring this huge event to Kansas City, then you’re telling the Kansas Citians and all those pickleballers all around the region that we matter.”