Specification · Updated 2026
Sports court lighting:
foot-candles, poles and cost
Court lighting is specified in foot-candles (or lux) on the playing surface, with uniformity and glare limits: 30 foot-candles for recreational tennis and pickleball, 50 for club play, 75 to 125 for tournaments, and 300 to 500 lux (28 to 46 foot-candles) for padel. LED sports lighting on 20 to 30 foot poles costs $8,000 to $15,000 per pickleball court, $15,000 to $30,000 per tennis court and $4,000 to $10,000 per padel court, with poles, footings and trenching most of the bill.
The fixture is the cheap part. The electrician, the poles and the permit are what the number is made of.
Key figures
- Recreational
- 30 fc (approx. 320 lux) average, tennis and pickleball
- Club
- 50 fc (approx. 540 lux)
- Tournament
- 75–125 fc (800–1,350 lux); IES Class I and II
- Padel
- 300 lux recreational, 500 lux club, 750 lux competition (FIP)
- Uniformity
- Max to min 2:1 or better for club, 1.5:1 tournament
- Pole height
- 20–30 ft tennis; 18–25 ft pickleball; 6 m (20 ft) padel masts
- Tennis court lighting cost
- $15,000–30,000 per court, 4–6 poles
- Pickleball court lighting cost
- $8,000–15,000 per court; $5,000–9,000 shared across 4+
Free to cite with attribution and a link. Full set at courtbaseline.com/reference.
Table 1
How many foot-candles does a sports court need?
Thirty for a backyard, fifty for a club, a hundred for a tournament. Those are maintained averages on the court surface; the fixture catalog's initial output is higher and drops 20 to 30 percent over the LED's life, so designs are run at maintained values.
| Sport | Recreational | Club | Tournament | Pole height | Poles per court |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tennis | 30 fc | 50 fc | 75–125 fc | 20–30 ft | 4–6 (6–8 per pair) |
| Pickleball | 30 fc | 50 fc | 75 fc | 18–25 ft | 2–4 (shared in quads) |
| Padel | 300 lux (28 fc) | 500 lux (46 fc) | 750 lux (70 fc) | 6 m (20 ft) masts | 4 masts, 8 heads |
| Basketball, outdoor | 30 fc | 50 fc | 75 fc | 20–25 ft | 2–4 |
| Volleyball, outdoor | 30 fc | 50 fc | 75 fc | 25–30 ft | 4 |
| Bocce | 10–20 fc | 30 fc | n/a | 10–15 ft or wall-mount | 2 |
| Indoor courts, all | 50 fc | 75 fc | 100–125 fc | High-bay, 18–40 ft mount | Grid |
How much does sports court lighting cost?
$8,000 to $30,000 per court outdoors depending on the court size and the number of poles, with LED fixtures at 20 to 30 percent of that and poles, concrete footings, trenching, wire, panel work and the photometric plan the rest. Sports lighting installation by an electrician with sports experience is a third to a half of the total.
| Court | Fixtures | Poles and footings | Electrical and trenching | Design and permit | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tennis, 1 court, 4–6 poles | $4,000–8,000 | $6,000–12,000 | $4,000–8,000 | $1,000–2,000 | $15,000–30,000 |
| Tennis, 2 courts sharing poles | $7,000–13,000 | $9,000–16,000 | $6,000–11,000 | $1,500–2,500 | $24,000–42,000 (per court $12,000–21,000) |
| Pickleball, 1 court, 2–4 poles | $2,000–4,000 | $3,000–6,000 | $2,500–4,000 | $500–1,000 | $8,000–15,000 |
| Pickleball, 4 courts sharing poles | $6,000–12,000 | $8,000–14,000 | $5,000–8,000 | $1,000–2,000 | $20,000–36,000 (per court $5,000–9,000) |
| Padel, 1 court, 4 masts | $1,500–3,500 | Masts in kit; footings $800–1,500 | $1,500–4,000 | $300–1,000 | $4,000–10,000 |
| Backyard half court, 1–2 poles | $800–2,000 | $1,500–4,000 | $1,000–2,500 | $0–500 | $3,000–9,000 |
Padel court lighting is cheap by comparison because the masts are part of the court kit and the court is small; the padel court lights are usually eight LED heads of 150 to 200 watts on four 6 meter masts at the corners. Confirm whether the kit quote includes padel court LED lighting or just the masts; see padel court kit.
What makes tennis court lighting good, and tennis court lights bad?
Uniformity and glare, not brightness. A court that averages 50 foot-candles with a 4:1 ratio between its brightest and darkest spots plays worse than one at 40 with a 2:1 ratio. Glare comes from low fixtures aimed across the court into the players' eyes; the fix is taller poles, full-cutoff fixtures and aiming angles below 60 degrees.
A photometric plan, produced by the fixture maker or the installer from the court layout, shows the predicted foot-candle grid, the uniformity ratio and the spill at the property line. It costs $300 to $2,000 and is the one document to insist on before the poles go in. Tennis court lights on 4 poles, two per side, placed outside the sidelines about 12 feet back and aligned with the service lines, is the standard that meets USTA guidance; six poles tightens uniformity for club play.
Pole placement never goes at the baselines: a light behind the server is in the receiver's eyes. Pickleball court lighting on a converted tennis court usually reuses the tennis poles with fixtures re-aimed, which is why conversion lighting is cheap.
Why LED sports lighting, and what should the fixture spec say?
LED sports lighting uses 50 to 70 percent less energy than the metal halide it replaced, turns on instantly, lasts 50,000 to 100,000 hours and can be dimmed and scheduled. A fixture spec for a court should state wattage and lumens, color temperature (4,000 to 5,000 K), color rendering (CRI 70+), beam type, glare shielding, IP rating (IP65 outdoors) and the L70 rated life.
Fixtures run 150 to 400 watts for pickleball and padel heads and 400 to 1,200 watts for tennis. Controls matter for neighbors and for permits: a timer or app control that shuts courts off at a set hour, and dimming for practice, are standard on commercial installations and increasingly required by lighting ordinances. Dark-sky ordinances in the West and Southwest add full-cutoff fixtures and a 3,000 K color temperature cap in some jurisdictions; check before buying.
Permits: outdoor court lighting almost always needs an electrical permit, and many towns require the photometric plan to show spill under 0.5 foot-candles at the property line. Residential courts near neighbors are the ones that get refused.
How is indoor court lighting different?
Mounted higher, aimed down, and with the fixture out of the sightline above the court. Indoor courts use high-bay LED at 18 to 40 feet or indirect fixtures that bounce light off a white ceiling, at 50 to 125 foot-candles with no fixture inside the volume directly over the court where a lob or a serve toss looks up into it.
For padel, which has the most vertical play, the FIP guidance keeps fixtures outside the court's footprint above the side run-off; see indoor padel court. For pickleball halls with 8 to 12 courts, lighting at 75 foot-candles runs $7,000 to $12,000 per court including the panel work; see indoor pickleball facility.
FAQ
Court lighting, answered
How much does it cost to light a tennis court?
How much does pickleball court lighting cost?
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Do court lights need a permit?
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