Wait, there is Major League Pickleball?
If you blinked, you might have missed that pickleball grew from an elementary game into a professional venture with major investments pouring in seemingly on a weekly basis.
But this isn’t the pickleball from your fifth-grade class.
Major League Pickleball (MLP), founded in 2021 by Steven Kuhn, is the premier professional pickleball league in the United States.
Kuhn said, "If you take the current estimated number of 8 million players in 2022, and you believe the sport can grow by 30% each year, by 2030, you're at 40 million players” (Selkirk).
It just takes a cursory glance at investors to see that Kuhn isn’t the only person to tout the growth potential of the sport. Between March and October 2022, three new ownership groups purchased MLP expansion teams headlined by Gary Vaynerchuk, Tom Brady and Tennis Hall of Famer Kim Clijsters, and Kevin Durant and Rich Kleiman, respectively.
MLP incorporated these expansion teams into the 2023 season, which began on January 26, 2023.
What makes MLP unique is that they feature two levels of play – MLP Premier Level and MLP Challenger Level. This creates a pathway of talent as 48 Challenger Level players seek to rise to Premier Level.
MLP teams of both levels are broken up into 12 co-ed teams. Each team will feature two men and two women, and they will compete in six events across Arizona, California, Florida, and Georgia.
After that distinction, MLP’s schedule becomes more nuanced, as each calendar year is broken up into two seasons. The 2023 seasons are broken down as follows: Season One – Jan. 26-29 in Mesa, AZ, March 23-26 in Daytona Beach, FL, and June 15-18 in San Clemente, CA. Season Two – Sept. 21-24 in Peachtree Corners, GA, Nov. 2-5 in La Quinta, CA, Dec. 7-10 in San Clemente, CA.
Why do seasons matter? Because each season is effectively 12 days, and the existing teams flip levels and re-draft players for the second season. Can you imagine other pro sports doing the same? Quite the shakeup!
To learn more about Major League Pickleball, visit majorleaguepickleball.net or visit thedinkpickleball.com.