In mid-October, the team behind one of the best-known badminton clubs in Texas broke ground on its next building. The new Argyle Sports Academy, north of Dallas–Fort Worth, will have 14 indoor courts. They are not badminton-only courts. They are built for badminton and pickleball.
That is part of a pattern. Several of the newest badminton facilities in the U.S. are designed from day one to host both sports. For badminton players, the question is obvious: is this good news or bad news for our court time? The honest answer is that it depends on how the club runs it. Here is what is driving the trend and what to look for.
## The new builds
### Argyle, Texas: Frisco Badminton expands north
The Argyle Sports Academy is an expansion of **Frisco Badminton Academy** and is run by the same group, according to the *Cross Timbers Gazette*. It sits on Gateway Drive, south of FM 407 in the Argyle Landing development in southern Denton County.
What has been reported so far:
| Item | Detail | |---|---| | Courts | 14 international-grade indoor courts, for badminton and pickleball | | Size | About 26,000 square feet (April 2026 report) | | Groundbreaking | Mid-October 2026 | | Opening | Targeted for early 2027 in the latest report (earlier reporting said late 2026) | | Programs | Coaching, youth training, leagues, tournaments, pro shop, fitness center |
The group has a track record. Founder Karri Reddy started Frisco Badminton in a warehouse in 2017. The Frisco club today has 20 dedicated badminton courts under 40-foot ceilings, hosts the USA Badminton South Open Regional Championship each January with around 600 junior players, and was recently named an official Team USA Para Badminton training center. The Argyle club says it wants to host regional, national and international events.
### New York and New Jersey: Kotofit's multi-sport model
On the East Coast, **Kotofit** has taken the shared approach further. Its clubs list badminton alongside pickleball, and in some cases ping pong or cricket:
| Club | Courts | Sports listed | |---|---|---| | Flushing, Queens | 11 | Badminton, pickleball, ping pong | | Long Island City | 7 | Badminton, pickleball | | Jersey City – Brunswick St | 6 | Badminton, pickleball, ping pong | | Jersey City – Bishop St | 5 | Badminton, pickleball | | Jersey City – Summit Ave | 4 | Badminton, pickleball, cricket |
Most of these clubs list hours of 6 a.m. to 2 a.m., every day. A Brooklyn location is listed as coming soon.
## Why build for both? Follow the numbers
### Pickleball's growth is hard to ignore
The Sports & Fitness Industry Association (SFIA) reported that about **24.3 million Americans** played pickleball in 2025, up 22.8% from the year before and up about 172% over three years. Roughly 4.5 million people tried it for the first time in 2025 alone.
For anyone financing a large indoor building, those numbers matter. A badminton club's rent, lighting and air conditioning cost the same whether a court is full or empty. A second sport with a fast-growing player base can fill hours that badminton alone might not, especially weekday mornings and early afternoons.
### The courts are the same size
Here is the part many players do not realize. A doubles badminton court and a pickleball court have the **same footprint: 20 feet wide by 44 feet long**.
The differences are in the details:
| | Badminton | Pickleball | |---|---|---| | Net height | 5 ft at center, 5 ft 1 in at the posts | 34 in at center, 36 in at the sidelines | | Front zone | Short service line, 6.5 ft from the net | 7-ft non-volley zone ("kitchen") | | Ball | Shuttlecock, affected by air drafts | Plastic perforated ball |
Because the outer rectangle matches, a club can lay out one set of court spaces and change the nets and line markings to switch sports. That makes the switch cheaper than converting, say, a tennis court, where a single court has to be split into several pickleball courts.
## The trade-offs for badminton players
A shared building is not automatically a badminton building. A few things decide whether it works for us.
1. **Ceiling height.** Badminton needs height for high clears and lifts. Pickleball does not. A club built mainly for pickleball may have ceilings that are too low for serious badminton. A club like Frisco, with 40-foot ceilings, is built the other way around. 2. **Air flow.** A shuttle is light and sensitive to drafts from fans and air conditioning. A plastic pickleball is not. Shared clubs have to manage air flow with badminton in mind. 3. **Lines.** Two sets of lines on one floor can confuse players, especially on the badminton service lines. Clear color coding helps. 4. **Noise.** Pickleball paddles are loud. Clubs that schedule the two sports on separate courts or at separate times avoid most of the friction. 5. **Peak hours.** The real question is who gets prime-time evening courts. Ask the club how it splits weeknight hours before you buy a membership.
## Why this can still be good for badminton
There is a strong case that shared clubs help badminton overall. Many U.S. cities still have no dedicated badminton club at all, because a badminton-only business is hard to fund at local rents. If a second sport makes the numbers work, more buildings get built, and more of them come with badminton courts, coaching and junior programs. The Argyle project is a good example: it is being built by a badminton club, with tournaments and youth training in its plans.
The best outcome for players is a club that is run by badminton people, keeps high ceilings and controlled air flow, and protects badminton prime-time hours, while pickleball fills the rest of the week.
## What to do as a player
- Before you join a new multi-sport club, ask about **ceiling height, air flow and the weekly court split**. - Check whether the **badminton lines** are clearly marked. - If your area gets a new shared club, **show up early and often**. The hours a club gives to each sport usually follow demand.
You can find dedicated and shared badminton venues near you on [OutRally's venue map](https://outrally.com).
Would you play at a shared badminton and pickleball club, or do you want badminton-only courts?
## Sources
- [Badminton, pickleball center breaks ground in Argyle — Cross Timbers Gazette, Oct 27, 2026](https://www.crosstimbersgazette.com/2026/10/27/badminton-pickleball-center-breaks-ground-in-argyle/) - [Badminton and pickleball facility in Argyle eyes groundbreaking, opening — Cross Timbers Gazette, Apr 12, 2026](https://www.crosstimbersgazette.com/2026/04/12/badminton-and-pickleball-facility-in-argyle-eyes-groundbreaking-opening/) - [The story behind badminton in Frisco — Visit Frisco](https://www.visitfrisco.com/blog/the-story-behind-badminton-in-frisco) - [Kotofit locations](https://www.kotofit.com/newlocations) - [SFIA report confirms over 24 million Americans playing pickleball — Pickleball.com](https://pickleball.com/news/sfia-report-confirms-over-24-million-americans-playing-pickleball) - [Are pickleball and badminton courts the same? — PB5Star](https://www.pb5star.com/a/blog/are-pickleball-and-badminton-courts-the-same)
