CourtSource Advertising Policies

CourtSource helps players find a place to play. Ads help clubs reach those players, and they pay for the free directory. These policies keep ads useful to players and fair to advertisers. They also keep ads from undermining the trust that makes CourtSource worth advertising on.

Five principles apply to every ad:

1. Editorial is never for sale. Ads never affect CourtScore, search ranking, awards, the Top 100, reviews or any data on a venue page. Paying for ads buys a labeled placement and nothing else.
2. Every ad is labeled. Each ad carries a visible "Sponsored" label and is visually separate from venue information.
3. Ads must be true. Every claim in an ad must be accurate, current and something the advertiser can back up.
4. Ads must be relevant. Ads promote places and people that help someone play or improve: clubs, courts, coaches, lessons, leagues, clinics, events, and the gear people play in and with.
5. Players come first. When an ad would mislead, pressure or annoy players, we turn it off, even if it is paid for.

These policies apply to everything shown in an ad: the image, headline, description, button text, and the page the ad links to. They work alongside the CourtSource Terms of Service. If the two conflict, the stricter rule applies.

Two kinds of accounts can advertise. Venues buy local placements on venue pages. Brands buy sitewide sponsorships (see section 7).

• Verified venue owners and managers. The account must have an approved owner or manager claim on a published CourtSource venue. Contributor claims don't qualify. The venue must be on a Featured, Growth or Groups & Events plan; free listings can't buy ads.
• Verified brands. Companies that make or sell pickleball or padel paddles, balls, apparel, shoes, bags, nets and accessories. The account must be verified as the brand or an authorized retailer: a business email on the brand's own website domain, and proof of authorization for retailers.

Requirements for venue advertisers:

• Advertise only yourself. An ad may promote only the advertiser's own venue: its courts, programs, events, lessons, memberships and offers. Ads for third-party products, other businesses or affiliate links are not allowed.
• Accurate business details. The advertiser's CourtSource listing must show the business's real name, location and contact details. The destination of the ad must belong to the same business.
• A good-standing account. Accounts with unpaid balances, open policy suspensions or a pending claim review cannot launch new ads.
• One business per account. An advertiser managing several venues may run ads for each, but every ad must name the venue it promotes.

Requirements for brand advertisers:

• Advertise your own products. A brand may promote only products it makes, or, for authorized retailers, products it is authorized to sell. No other brands' products, and no unrelated products.
• Real products, real stock. Advertised products must be available to buy in the US at the advertised price when the ad runs.
• A business that stands behind its products. The destination must show the company's name, a contact method, and its shipping, return and warranty terms.
• No local venue slot. Brands never buy the venue-page Sponsored slot that clubs use. Brand ads appear only in the brand placements in section 7.

CourtSource may ask for proof that an advertiser runs the business it promotes and may decline any advertiser at its discretion.

These are never allowed in an ad or on the page it links to:

• Dangerous products and services: weapons, ammunition, explosives, fireworks, tobacco and vaping products, recreational drugs and drug paraphernalia.
• Cannabis and CBD, in any form.
• Betting and gambling: sportsbooks, betting on matches or tournaments, casinos, lotteries, raffles with paid entry, and prediction markets.
• Supplements and medical products: dietary supplements, performance enhancers, weight-loss products, and prescription or over-the-counter drugs.
• Adult content: sexual or sexually suggestive images or language, and dating services.
• Hate, harassment and violence: content that demeans people for who they are, bullies or threatens anyone, or shows graphic violence.
• Political and issue advocacy: candidates, parties, ballot measures and political causes.
• Financial products: loans, credit, investments and cryptocurrency.
• Counterfeit or unauthorized goods, and any use of another brand's trademark, logo or copyrighted material without permission.
• Dishonest services: fake reviews, rating manipulation, or anything that helps someone cheat a rating system, a league or a tournament.
• Anything illegal where the ad is shown or where the advertiser operates.

The way an ad is made or used matters as much as what it promotes. These practices are not allowed.

Misrepresentation

• False or unprovable claims, such as "best courts in Texas" without a source, or invented awards and ratings.
• Hidden costs: an advertised price or offer must match what the player pays, including required memberships, fees or minimum bookings.
• Offers that aren't available, have already ended, or can't be redeemed as described.
• Pretending to be another business, CourtSource, USA Pickleball, DUPR or any other organization, or implying an endorsement that doesn't exist.
• Displaying a CourtSource award or CourtScore that the venue didn't earn, or one that is out of date.

Competitor conduct

• Naming, picturing or referring to the venue whose page the ad appears on, or any other named competitor.
• Disparaging another venue, coach or business, or making comparisons that can't be verified.
• Running ads intended to block or harass a competitor rather than to promote the advertiser.

Abusing the ad system

• Changing the destination after approval to a page that wasn't reviewed ("bait and switch").
• Clicking your own ads, paying others to click, or using bots or scripts to generate impressions or clicks.
• Opening multiple accounts to get around a rejection, suspension or booking limit.
• Links that redirect through other sites, hide the real destination, or contain malware.

Data collection

• Ads may not collect personal information directly. Any form on the destination page must say what is collected and why, and must link to the advertiser's privacy policy.
• Never ask for payment details, government ID numbers or passwords outside a secure checkout.

These are allowed with limits. Ads in these areas get a closer review.

When in doubt, CourtSource reviews the ad by hand and can ask the advertiser for evidence before approving it.

Brand ads: product claims

Text

• Headline up to 60 characters and description up to 150, in clear, correct English.
• No ALL CAPS words except proper acronyms, no repeated punctuation ("!!!"), no gimmicky spelling ("FR33"), and no emoji in the headline.
• Say something specific. "Best club ever" is too vague; "12 indoor courts, open play daily" works.
• Button text must describe what happens next: "Book a court", "See lessons", "Learn more".

Image

• JPG or PNG, at least 1200 by 628 pixels, 2 MB or less.
• A real photo or a graphic of the advertiser's own venue, courts, coaches or program. No stock photos presented as the venue.
• Text in the image must be minimal and readable on a phone, and must follow the same rules as the ad copy.
• No images that look like CourtSource controls (fake buttons, badges or the "Sponsored" label), and no flashing, blurry or distorted images.

Destination

• The link must go to a working page owned by the advertiser that matches the ad. An ad for lessons goes to a lessons page, not a home page with no lesson information.
• The page must load on a phone, show the advertiser's name and contact details, and let the player go back.
• No pages under construction, pop-up walls, forced downloads or automatic redirects.
• Link tracking (UTM tags) is fine. Link shorteners are not.

CourtSource may edit spacing or capitalization for display. It never changes the meaning of an ad without the advertiser's approval.

These rules are how CourtSource runs ads. Advertisers don't control them.

• Labeled and separate. Every ad shows a "Sponsored" label and sits apart from venue facts, ratings, reviews and the claim card.
• One local ad per page. A venue page shows at most one ad booked by a venue advertiser. Brand placements (below) and CourtSource's own upgrade prompt are separate from it.
• Free listings only. Ads appear only on free venue pages. Featured, Growth and Groups & Events listings never show ads from anyone. If a booked page upgrades during a campaign, the ad stops on that page right away. Venue page bookings get a prorated refund for the unused days, and city bookings move their impressions to the other pages in the city.
• Venue pages. A venue page booking reserves one page for one advertiser for a calendar month. The first paid booking wins.
• Cities. A city booking rotates among that city's advertisers, and never shows on a page someone has booked on its own.
• Never on your own page. An advertiser's ads never show on its own venues or on any venue it has claimed.
• Rankings untouched. Ads never affect CourtScore, search order, awards, the Top 100, reviews or venue data.
• Honest reporting. Views and clicks are counted once per visitor session, per page, per day. Known bots are filtered out. Numbers shown before purchase are past traffic, not a guarantee.
• Links. Ad links carry rel="sponsored" so search engines treat them as paid links.

Brand placements

• Where brand ads appear: the gear box on venue pages, guides, the statistics page, the awards and Top 100 pages, city pages, and a sponsor line in CourtSource emails to players.
• Never in the venue Sponsored slot. That slot is only for local clubs.
• One brand per placement per month. A brand sponsorship of a placement replaces the affiliate gear unit wherever it runs.
• Labeled "Sponsored by". Brand placements carry "Sponsored by <brand>" and never appear inside rankings, award results, venue data or editorial text.
• Editorial independence. Sponsoring the Top 100, a guide or the statistics page never changes its content, order or winners, and the sponsor never sees results before publication.

Review before an ad runs

• Every new ad, and every change to an approved ad, is reviewed before it shows. Automated checks run first: banned words, a venue name on a booked page, a broken link, image size. A person then reviews the rendered ad and its destination.
• We aim to review ads within one business day.
• Approved ads can be checked again at any time, including after a player reports them.

Outcomes

• Approved: the ad runs on schedule.
• Rejected: the ad doesn't run. The advertiser gets an email naming the policy, the part of the ad that broke it, and how to fix it. A fixed ad can be resubmitted right away. A booking held for an unpaid campaign is released as normal; a paid booking stays reserved for 5 days while the advertiser fixes the ad.
• Paused: an approved ad that later breaks a policy, for example when the destination changes, stops showing until it is fixed.

Strikes for serious or repeated violations

Strikes expire 90 days after they are issued. A suspension affects only advertising. The advertiser's listing stays up, and refunds follow section 9.

Appeals

An advertiser can appeal any rejection, strike or suspension within 14 days by replying to the decision email, with any evidence that supports the ad. The decision is reviewed again from scratch and answered within 3 business days. The appeal decision is final.

Prices

• Venue page: $15 per venue page per calendar month.
• City: $29, $59 or $99 per calendar month, set by the city's page views over the previous 30 days at the time of booking. The price is fixed for that month.
• Prices are shown before checkout and charged in full at checkout through Stripe.
• Brand sponsorships: a flat monthly price for each placement, agreed in writing before the month starts and paid in advance. Pricing is in the CourtSource sponsor kit, which brands can request at courtsource.us/sponsors.

Timing

• Bookings run by calendar month. A booking made after the 1st covers the rest of that month at a prorated price, or can start on the 1st of next month.
• An unpaid booking is held for 48 hours, then released.
• Each booking covers one month and does not renew automatically. To keep your placements, renew from your ads dashboard during the last 7 days of the month.

Refunds

Refunds go back to the original payment method and may take 5 to 10 business days to appear.

• Report an ad. Every ad has a "Report this ad" link. Players and venue owners can report an ad they think breaks these policies. Reported ads are reviewed within one business day and paused at once if the report involves safety, fraud or impersonation.
• Venue owners. A venue owner who doesn't want any ads on their page can upgrade to a paid listing, which never shows ads. Owners can also report an ad on their page that names or targets them.
• Policy changes. We may update these policies. Advertisers with active or booked campaigns get an email at least 14 days before a change takes effect, unless the change is needed sooner for safety or legal reasons. Ads approved under the old rules get until their current month ends to comply.
• Questions. Email info@courtsource.us about any policy, decision or appeal.

Advertisers are responsible for following all laws that apply to their ads and business, including consumer protection, advertising disclosure and privacy laws. These policies are not legal advice.