From Backyard Game to Big Business

Can pickleball keep winning?

A few years ago, pickleball was the soundtrack of suburbia — retirees in visors, paddles in hand, pop-pop-popping their way through HOA disputes.

Now it’s on CBS. It’s got LeBron, Brady, and Drake as investors. It’s raised $75 million.
And it’s trying to become America’s next big sports league.

🎾 The Sport Everyone Loves to Hate

Pickleball isn’t just growing — it’s exploding.

For the fourth year in a row, the Sports & Fitness Industry Association crowned it America’s fastest-growing sport.

The backlash? Loud.
Tennis players are furious their courts are getting converted. Homeowners are suing over the constant “pop-pop-pop.”

But none of that matters. The sport’s numbers keep climbing.

💸 The Business Behind the Pop

Pro pickleball started messy. Two rival leagues — Major League Pickleball (MLP) and the Professional Pickleball Association (PPA) — waged a full-blown tour war in 2023, burning cash on player contracts they couldn’t sustain.

So they merged.

In 2024, the two combined under one roof: the United Pickleball Association (UPA). Backed by $75 million in funding, the UPA now runs both sides of the sport:

• PPA Tour → individual, pro competition

• MLP → co-ed, team-based play

Together, they’ve built the business engine for pickleball’s future.

📈 The Numbers That Matter

That puts the UPA in the same financial ballpark as the Premier Lacrosse League and pre–Caitlin Clark WNBA.

The Pickleball World Championships alone will bring in $4M this year, with 60,000 attendees and 3,500 competitors.

🌟 Celebrity Money Rush

The ownership list looks like an NBA All-Star roster:
LeBron. Brady. Durant. Drake. Mahomes. Gary Vee.

In 2021, you could buy a Major League Pickleball team for $100K.
Now they’re selling for $13–16 million.

Teams aren’t profitable yet — the average franchise makes ~$500K in revenue and spends ~$800K — but the bet is long-term. Build fandom now, monetize later.

🎟️ The Secret Sauce: Fans Who Play

The UPA’s smartest move?
They let amateurs buy into the experience.

For under $200, you can play in the same tournament ecosystem as the pros.
Last year, 27,000 people did — good for $5M in extra revenue.

That amateur pipeline is turning casual players into lifelong fans.

And the eyeballs are following:

• 250+ hours of national TV coverage this year

• 499K CBS viewers for the MLP Finals in Central Park

• Pickleball TV, a 24/7 streaming network with 800M minutes watched

📊 The Bigger Picture

Pickleball isn’t a fad — it’s an ecosystem.
A fast-growing player base. Real sponsorship dollars.
And, finally, a unified business model.

Sure, there’s work to do. Media rights need scale. Franchises need better unit economics. But the foundation is there:
🏓 explosive growth
💰 committed investors
📺 scalable media

TL;DR

Pickleball started as a backyard hobby.
Now it’s a $60M business chasing legitimacy.

The question isn’t if it’s growing.
It’s whether the UPA can turn that growth into a league that lasts.