Pickleball Tournaments in Kansas City
Quick Answer: Kansas City’s tournament identity is PickleCon, the national convention that packs more than 65 courts into Bartle Hall each July, hosting amateur brackets and a US Senior Pickleball regional championship. Around it, Chicken N Pickle, the KC-born chain, runs its tenth-annual Oktoberfest tournament and hosts APP development events.
Tournament pickleball in Kansas City runs through a convention center and the restaurant chain that helped mainstream the sport.
What is PickleCon?
The sport’s convention, and it belongs to Kansas City. Each July, Bartle Hall at the convention center converts into more than 65 indoor courts under one roof, surrounded by vendors, clinics and amateur tournament play. The 2026 edition ran July 24 to 26 and carried the US Senior Pickleball North Regional Championship, a national-qualifier event for 50-plus players with age brackets to 80-plus, posted at 65 dollars early registration plus 20 per event.
Nothing else in the region concentrates that much pickleball into one weekend, and for senior competitors the regional makes it a destination event.
What does Chicken N Pickle host?
The hometown chain’s flagship events. Chicken N Pickle was born in Kansas City, its original North Kansas City location still running, and it marked ten years in 2026. Its Oktoberfest tournament reached a tenth annual edition in 2025, a double-elimination October weekend at North Kansas City posted at 55 dollars plus 10 per event across 4.0 to 5.0 divisions.
The chain also brings the pro pipeline through: the APP’s development series played an APP Next event at the Overland Park location in July 2025. Charity brackets, including a recurring Girls on the Run tournament at Overland Park, round out the venue calendar.
Is there a PPA or MLP stop?
Not currently. Neither tour’s schedule lands in Kansas City, which makes PickleCon’s scale the metro’s answer to a pro week: national vendors, national players passing through, and championship-level senior competition, without a tour logo. The tour landscape is mapped in the PPA and APP tours.
How do you enter?
PickleCon tournament play and the USSP regional register through pickleballtournaments.com, with USSP members getting a posted discount on the regional. Chicken N Pickle’s events run through the same platform and its own event pages. Fees as of August 2026 cluster at 55 to 85 dollars for registration plus events. Senior players targeting the regional should mind the early registration window, which closes months ahead. The mechanics are in how to sign up for a pickleball tournament.
How should a local player use this calendar?
Work backward from July. PickleCon is the anchor, and its brackets fill early, so the spring is for sharpening: a Chicken N Pickle bracket or two, open play volume, and a settled rating before convention registration opens. Senior players especially should treat the USSP regional as the season’s target, since its early registration window rewards the organized and its qualifier stakes reward the prepared.
Fall belongs to Oktoberfest, which is the region’s best-natured competitive weekend: double elimination gives second chances, the divisions run 4.0 and up, and the venue’s restaurant model means the post-bracket debrief is built into the building. A Kansas City player who enters three events a year, one convention, one fall classic, one charity bracket, gets a full competitive season without leaving the metro, at total entry costs under two hundred dollars. Few markets can price that sentence, and fewer still can add a convention floor of demo paddles and national vendors to the same July weekend.
FAQ
What is the biggest pickleball event in Kansas City?
PickleCon, each July at Bartle Hall: more than 65 courts under one roof, vendors, clinics, amateur brackets and a US Senior Pickleball regional.
What is the Chicken N Pickle Oktoberfest tournament?
The KC-born chain’s annual October double-elimination weekend at North Kansas City, in its tenth edition, posted at 55 dollars plus per-event fees.
Does Kansas City get pro pickleball?
No PPA or MLP stop currently. The APP’s development series has played Chicken N Pickle Overland Park, and PickleCon draws a national field.
How much do Kansas City tournaments cost?
As of August 2026: 55 to 85 dollars registration plus 10 to 20 per event, depending on the organizer.
What is the senior tournament in Kansas City?
The USSP North Regional Championship at PickleCon each July, age divisions 50-plus through 80-plus, a qualifier for the USSP nationals.
Where else do brackets run in Kansas City?
Both Chicken N Pickle locations, North Kansas City and Overland Park, host tournaments and charity brackets through the year.
A city that invented the eatertainment pickleball venue and hosts the sport’s convention earns its place on the calendar. The tournaments and events in our directory list what is next.
Written by the Pickler Junction Team.
