Tennis aces Naomi Osaka and Nick Kyrgios, alongside NFL quarterback Patrick Mahomes have invested in a Major League Pickleball team.
The size of their investments is believed to be between $1 – $3 million.
Major League Pickleball had eight teams in its 2021 season, and it grew to twelve in 2022. The sport is expected to expand rapidly, with 12 additional franchises being added in 2023.
Celebrity investors have been flooding into the league in recent months to take advantage of the opportunity to own sports at a lower cost than the billions it could receive in major leagues.
Other pickleball owners include:
Pickleball is a form of tennis that combines badminton, tennis, and ping-pong. It was created in 1965.
In recent years it has gained a larger following. A Sports & Fitness Industry Association report shows that there are 4.8 million pickleball players across the United States in 2021, half of which are under 35. It is the fastest-growing sport in the country.
Major League Pickleball was founded by Steve Kuhn (hedge-fund titan). It is one of three pickleball leagues that compete for dollars, players, and events.
In January, Carolina Hurricanes owner Tom Dundon bought the PPA. It announced in November that the VIBE Pickleball League would be launched.
This will shift from the traditional PPA focus on individual players to the co-ed team structure preferred by MLP. Just a week later, MLP announced that it was merging with the PPA under the Major League Pickleball brand, adding some clarity to the “wild west”.
MLP said that it will double the number of tournaments next season to six with more than $2,000,000 in prize money.
