💬 Quoted: “When you see an explosion of a sport and it starts potentially eroding into your sport, then, yes, you’re concerned.”

Pickleball and tennis rn are like Arby’s – they’ve got some beef. Pickleball has exploded in popularity in recent years, going from a miniscule number of regular players to 13.6 million spread across the US. This has many tennis officials worried their sport – which boasts 23.8 million US players – could be surpassed by pickleball soon, with much of that growth coming at the expense of tennis. Thousands of tennis courts across the US have been replaced by smaller pickleball courts.

• While many tennis clubs embrace pickleball, seeing it as a potential way to boost the popularity of tennis, the United States Tennis Association holds a different position.
• The association is in the process of launching 400+ pilot programs across the US to broaden the reach of an easier-to-play, smaller-court version of tennis called “red ball tennis” – a sport that aims to get people of all ages into tennis, and one proponents say is best played on…you guessed it…pickleball courts.

💰 Stat of the Day: Who wants to be a millionaire? A growing number of Americans who own 401(k) accounts, per a new analysis from Fidelity Investments. The financial services giant, which examined 24 million accounts across 26,000 employer-sponsored plans, found there were 497,000 Americans with $1+ million in their 401(k) last quarter, representing the highest figure on record. Overall, Fidelity found the average 401(k) account balance rose 13% from a year ago to reach $127,100.

🤔 Did You Know? A recent study focused on the college football stadiums of Oregon State and Virginia Tech discovered noise levels for players on the field reach up to 95-100 decibels when the away team has the ball – or loud enough that the quarterback’s voice carries only one foot before being drowned out.

📰 Worth a Read: Why haven’t we detected a signal from intelligent aliens yet? → (Big Think)