The Picklr, an indoor pickleball facility franchisor, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection late Friday in the US Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of Texas. Founder and CEO Jorge Barragan says the company’s own leadership decisions are to blame.
Barragan told Sports Business Journal the company agreed to personally guarantee facility lease payments for roughly 40 early franchise locations — a move that put an unsustainable financial burden on the parent holding company.
“We signed, unfortunately, too many corporate guarantees that landed on the holding company, and that’s on us. I own it,” Barragan said. “Utilizing [Chapter 11 bankruptcy] is going to allow all of us to work with these landlords to figure out how to create profitable businesses. … I think this is going to open up doors for a lot of people to renegotiate with the landlords and give people more success moving forward.”
An investor group led by Tom Neale, a Picklr franchisee and investor, has committed financing to carry the company through reorganization — $4.5 million according to The Picklr’s own statement, or $4.8 million per Sports Business Journal’s reporting. The deal still requires court approval.
The company insists business is continuing as normal on the ground. “Our clubs are open. Our members are playing,” The Picklr said in a public statement cited by the International Association of Pickleball and Padel Facilities. “Our franchise partners own and run their clubs, and they’re operating as usual.”
Rapid growth, rising debt
Founded in 2021, The Picklr began franchising in 2023 and expanded fast — more than 70 US locations plus sites in Australia, Canada and Japan, according to Sports Business Journal.
But the balance sheet tells a different story. A filing dated Aug. 31 showed about $915,000 in assets against $2.39 million in liabilities, with only $70,000 in bank accounts, according to IAPPF. Liabilities included a $1.5 million line of credit and roughly $845,000 on a bank loan. Seven unsecured claims tied to guaranty obligations, totaling about $783,000, were listed as contingent, unliquidated and disputed — meaning the final numbers aren’t locked in.
Sports Business Journal reported that The Picklr’s franchise disclosure documents showed a $4.4 million net loss on $10.3 million in revenue for 2025, with total liabilities reaching about $19 million by the end of March.
Investor group says the brand still works
Neale, who is leading the financing effort, told Sports Business Journal he remains confident in the company’s fundamentals despite the filing.
“While everyone’s opinion is not completely the same, there are a good many franchisees within the system, like me and our group that we’ve put together, who believe in the brand, who believe in the business and believe there’s a viable future going forward,” Neale said. “We’re convinced that the model works. It’s a matter of looking at some business realities and some headwinds that we collectively have faced and address those head on. And what this restructuring allows us is to have some meaningful conversations with landlords and franchisees, and hopefully those conversations provide positive outcomes.”
Barragan said the bankruptcy follows recent staff reductions he described as temporary steps ahead of restructuring. He said the filing itself won’t directly close any locations, though he acknowledged some contraction is likely.
“Our goal is just to make sure that over the next 18 months to two years, as we start to see the shakeout happen, that we position our franchisees in the best position,” Barragan said. “Our ultimate goal is to position our franchisees to have a long runway to be there for the whole time that they’ve signed their leases.”
IAPPF CEO David Johnson said the involvement of insiders in financing the reorganization should ease concerns among franchisees and members. “Their belief in the company through a significant financial commitment should be reassuring to franchisees and Picklr members worldwide,” Johnson said.
The filing lands amid broader questions for the indoor pickleball industry over whether fast expansion, costly leases and optimistic projections can keep pace with reality. IAPPF maintains the bankruptcy doesn’t reflect weak demand for the sport but underscores the need for tighter operating discipline. Barragan, in an earlier LinkedIn post announcing Abby Olson as acting president and chief operating officer, admitted the company “was growing faster than we could operate.”
