Professional pickleball is creeping closer to primetime

The Tennis Channel and the Professional Pickleball Association, which is in the process of merging with Major League Pickleball, announced a new media partnership yesterday.

As part of the agreement:

• The Tennis Channel will produce all PPA Tour events and have the rights to broadcast a vast majority of them.
• The pair will also create “pickleballtv,” a 24/7 standalone channel featuring free matches, as well as entertainment surrounding the sport.

🏓 Driving the deal… Pickleball has been the fastest-growing sport in the US for three straight years, growing an average of ~158% per year. In 2022, ~9 million Americans played pickleball.

And the tie-up between the two sports also makes sense, much like the recent T-Swift + NFL collab that broke the internet. The vast majority of professional pickleballers come from a tennis background, per CNBC, and many current and former tennis players have invested in pro pickleball, including Naomi Osaka, James Blake, Kim Clijsters, Sam Querrey, Nick Kyrgios, and Lindsay Davenport.

• Pickleball, with its faster-pace, could also serve as a funnel to attract new fans to both sports. During Major League Pickleball professional matches, the ball is in action about 40% of the time, compared with 16% at professional tennis matches.