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When was the White House basketball court built or last renovated and who funded it?
Executive summary
Available reporting shows the White House tennis court on the South Lawn was adapted so it also could be used as a basketball court in 2009 during the Obama presidency; the work was a modest conversion (adding hoops and court lines) rather than a large structural project and no official price tag for that specific adaptation has been published [1] [2] [3]. Multiple fact-checks and news outlets say there is no evidence that taxpayers paid a $300–$376 million sum specifically to build a basketball court; large renovation appropriations cited for the White House (about $376 million) relate to broader infrastructure work approved before Obama took office, not a single-court construction bill [1] [4].
1. What was done and when: a tennis court made basketball-capable in 2009
Contemporary White House material and repeated reporting state that in 2009 the existing South Lawn tennis court was adapted so it could accommodate both tennis and basketball—by adding basketball hoops and drawing court lines—rather than being demolished and rebuilt as a separate major sports facility [1] [3] [2].
2. Cost claims: why $300–$376 million is misleading
A widely circulated claim that Barack Obama “spent $300–$376 million” on a White House basketball court conflates two different items. Fact-checkers explain a roughly $376 million figure appears in coverage of a broader four-year White House renovation program (infrastructure, mechanical systems and security) whose funding traces to actions begun before Obama took office; that program is not the documented price of converting a tennis court to dual use [1]. Multiple fact-checks conclude there is no evidence the basketball conversion itself cost anywhere near those sums [1] [4] [2].
3. Who paid for the court: reporting shows no public record of a taxpayer line item
Available reporting and fact checks state there is no public record showing taxpayers financed the court conversion as a standalone line item, and the White House did not publish an official cost for the 2009 adaptation [2] [1] [3]. Some outlets note it’s plausible the modest work was funded through routine White House maintenance budgets or private funds, but reporting does not definitively identify a private donor or an exact funding source for that specific 2009 change [4] [2].
4. How this issue resurfaced in 2025: political context matters
The question about Obama-era basketball-court spending surged amid controversy over President Trump’s larger 2025 project to demolish part of the East Wing and add a privately funded ballroom estimated by officials at $200–$300 million; defenders of Trump pointed to past White House changes under earlier presidents for context, while critics contrasted the scale and transparency of the two projects [5] [6] [7]. Reporting shows the ballroom project in 2025 is being presented by the White House as privately funded, which is a separate claim from how the 2009 court adaptation was paid for [5] [7].
5. What reputable fact-checkers concluded
Snopes and other outlets that examined the viral posts concluded Obama’s administration adapted an existing tennis court to allow basketball play and that claims of a $376 million taxpayer-funded basketball court are false or misleading; the larger $376 million figure refers to broader renovations whose funding decisions predated Obama [1] [8]. Multiple news organizations and fact checks also said they found “no evidence” that the court conversion itself was a multimillion-dollar standalone project billed to taxpayers [2] [4].
6. Limitations and open questions remaining in reporting
Available sources do not provide an exact invoice, contract, or line-item accounting for the 2009 tennis-to-basketball adaptation, so the definitive source of funding for that modest work is not documented in the cited reporting (not found in current reporting). Likewise, different outlets frame the timeline and budgetary context with slightly different emphases, so readers should distinguish the modest South Lawn change [9] from multi-year White House infrastructure appropriations and from the separate 2025 ballroom project [1] [6] [7].
7. Bottom line for readers
The clear, sourced facts: the South Lawn tennis court was converted to allow basketball in 2009 (not a new grand structure), there is no credible documentation that taxpayers paid $300–$376 million specifically to build a basketball court, and broader renovation spending cited in some posts pertains to separate, larger White House infrastructure work described in earlier coverage [1] [2] [4]. When comparing renovations across administrations, distinguish modest maintenance or adaptations from major construction projects and consult primary budget or OMB records if you need definitive expenditure line items—available sources do not include such an invoice for the 2009 court work (not found in current reporting).