(Photo: Patrick Galesloot)

By Josh Hall

August 2021

Council approves $30,000 for pickleball nationals in Red Deer

Nov 23, 2020 | 4:24 PM

The City of Red Deer will provide $30,000 to the 2021 Pickleball Canada National Championship.

The event is slated to be held at Motorworks Fields in the city’s east side from Aug. 9-16.

The funding will come from a $325,000 reserve city council approved during previous budget deliberations for exactly these types of events.

Earlier this year, city council approved $25,000 from the same fund for the 2021 Men’s Nationals AAA Baseball Championship, scheduled for next summer.

“Generally speaking, we have changed our practice in terms of how we attend to some of these one-off requests outside the budget year,” said Mayor Tara Veer. “To Councillor [Frank] Wong’s point, we’ve had a couple events, like Canadian Finals Rodeo and the Hlinka Gretzky Cup where we’ve approved funds and that event didn’t proceed. Hopefully this one will, but if it doesn’t, funds will go back into the reserve.”

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The championship’s total budget is $125,000, council heard.

City admin projects it will provide an approximately $325,000 economic spinoff for Red Deer, with $200,000 in revenue for local hotels, and the rest for other businesses. About 90 per cent of participants have to travel to the championship, with next year’s event expecting more than 700 participants, if permitted.

Councillor Lawrence Lee recused himself from the vote as he is a member of the Red Deer Pickleball Club and plans to compete in his age group at the national championship.

The rest of council approved the funding request unanimously.

In 2018, city council approved $1.434 million for the construction of Motorworks Field, a 20-court facility. It opened in 2019.

The Red Deer Pickleball Club pitched in just shy of $100,000 for that project.