Major League Pickleball is expanding

Major League Pickleball, the pro circuit that counts Anheuser-Busch, Tom Brady, LeBron James, and Kevin Durant as team owners, announced a new format and schedule yesterday.

Starting in 2023, the MLP plans to double its total number of teams to 24, split into two separate leagues (12 teams in each). Each year will consist of six total tournaments with $5 million in combined prize money, spread across two separate “seasons.” Before each season, teams will draft brand-new rosters made up of four players apiece – two men and two women.

• Next year’s events are essentially one giant audition for 2024, when each team will be assigned either to a higher or lower league based on 2023 results.
• This system, known as promotion and relegation, is the same one used by the English Premier League, Spain’s La Liga, and other top European soccer leagues.

📈 Zoom out: Pickleball is the fastest-growing sport in America, per a report from the Sports & Fitness Industry Association. The number of players nationwide rose nearly 40% from 2019 to 2021 (3.4 million → 4.8 million), while the number of courts has more than doubled over the past five years to reach 35,000.