Professional players and celebrity investors all hoping to cash in on pickleball boom

It's no secret that the sport of pickleball is growing at a rate faster than anyone involved expected.

Pickleball courts are quickly encroaching on areas usually reserved just for tennis across the United States. At the professional level, sponsors and TV networks are falling all over themselves trying to get a piece of the action. The latest development is that big-name celebrities are trying to find ways to be attached to the sport with a funny name but serious financial upside.

Recently sports heavyweights like LeBron James and Tom Brady have gotten involved, investing in teams in the fledgling Major League Pickleball tour that will debut in 2023. That has prompted a new merger between two rival leagues, which will change the landscape of the sport at the pro level, and increase the financial opportunities for the world's best players.

All of the top pickleball players competed in the desert this past week for the Margaritaville USA National Pickleball Championships and that afforded the opportunity to ask them what they think of the remarkable growth of the sport they love and what the future holds.

And while most of them adhere to the "a rising tide floats all boats" theory that all this publicity is good for the game, it's clear that the ever-changing landscape of pro pickleball when it comes to the different leagues and formats is still very much in flux.

More: Tyson McGuffin outlines his next big moves ahead of USA Pickleball National Championships

Celebrity influx

Anna Leigh Waters, the 15-year-old superstar who proved again that she is the unquestioned top women's player by winning the triple crown in the desert on Sunday with championships in women's singles, women's doubles and mixed doubles, said she can't believe what's become of her life in the past year.

"We're starting to get on national TV networks now and starting to see some really big sponsors get into the sport, it's just really cool to be a part of," Waters said. "It's really been a dream come true, and now to have big celebrities wanting to get involved, it's kind of crazy."

Waters said it's almost comical to think of the idea of being a pickleball celebrity, but it's real. She said she gets recognized on the street now and celebrities follow her on Instagram. She's had the opportunity to play pickleball with some of her idols like Michael Phelps.

"Mark Cuban followed me on Instagram, and that was pretty amazing because I've been a big fan of them all growing up," she said.

I responded by asking Waters, "Oh, you're a fan of the Dallas Mavericks?"

And she said "No, Shark Tank."

Cuban, incidentally, is also among the big names investing in pro pickleball.

Ben Johns, only 23 but considered the greatest pickleball player of all time, said he gets it. He understands why people like LeBron and Brady would want to get involved. And it's not just about money.

More: What makes Ben Johns, pro pickleball's greatest player, so good at this still-growing sport?

"I can definitely understand it. The growth right now is unprecedented. For guys like that, they've already got it made, but if you want to invest in things that interest you and new things going forward, pickleball makes sense," said Johns, who won the men's singles and men's doubles titles on Sunday at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden. "Everyone can see its potential in different ways, but also I think it's one of the most predominant sports that athletes play with each other so there is a bit of a personal investment too, not just money."

And that strikes at the reason the sport is so popular in general. Anyone at any age can play it and scratch that competitive itch.

"Like Lebron James and Tom Brady, they can play each other in pickleball and be on an equal playing field," Johns said. "That wouldn't happen if they tried to play any other sport. I think that's part of why they are getting behind it. I hear from so many pro athletes about how much they play pickleball."

Pickleball boom

Let's put some numbers to that growth.

Pickleball is the fastest-growing sport in America with more than 4.8 million people playing the game, according to usapickleball.org. By 2030, pickleball is projected to attract an estimated 40 million players worldwide.

The pandemic was actually a major driver in the surge as it provided the perfect combination of a way to safely stay active and social while indoor gyms and bars and restaurants were shut down.

From 2016-2019, pickleball grew by an average of 7.2% annually in the U.S. from 2.8 million to 3.5 million players, but it took a huge leap between 2020 and 2021, increasing 39.3% to 4.8 million.

So with the sport gaining popularity, particularly with the fastest-growing segment being players ages 18-34, it's no surprise that the pro version of the sport has also grown exponentially in recent years.

Take it from Irina Tereschenko who has been playing pro pickleball since 2013, though no one might have noticed until the last couple of years.

"I turned pro about 10 years and it was slow the first five or six years, but it's been growing like crazy since," Tereschenko said. "And it's not stopping any time soon. We haven't reached our capacity in the United States, and then imagine internationally if we had tournaments in cities like Hong Kong or Moscow or wherever. It would be epic."

Different leagues like the Professional Pickleball Associated (PPA), Major League Pickleball (MLB) and the Association of Pickleball Professionals (PPA) made it confusing for fans to follow and tested the allegiances of top players. There are a lot of acronyms, but not a lot of cohesion. Tereschenko said she doesn't mind.

"There are many options for professional players if you want to compete as a team or individually, East Coast, West Coast, want to play just the biggest events, or you want to play some of the smaller events," said Tereschenko. "I'm just super-happy to be a part of it."

While the popularity is soaring, the payouts for pro pickleball players at individual tournaments are not huge yet.

The singles champions on Sunday in the desert, an event that is not affiliated with any league, only take home $5,000 and the doubles champs receive $14,000. So for someone like Waters, winning all three events, she maxes out at $33,000. The team-based Major League Pickleball, on the other hand, awarded $100,000 to the winning team at its most recent event in Columbus, Ohio, in October.

But that may all be about to change.

A mega-merger

A potentially huge turning point for the players occurred just last week as two of the most powerful pro leagues merged.

The Pro Pickleball Association is the preeminent league and is where most of the top players play. Major League Pickleball is the upstart team-based league that has all the big-name investors joining.

To combat the MLP, the PPA started an offshoot, its own league called PPA Vibe, to go against the MLP with the added selling point of having all the well-known players involved. Mark Cuban invested in a team in the PPA Vibe league, but just seven days after the announcement of the PPA Vibe League both leagues merged.

“We have agreed to a strategic merger to unify the sport of pickleball as a global, co-ed, team-based league featuring the greatest players, biggest events, and visionary owners," MLP founder Steve Kuhn and PPA co-founder Tom Dundon, both millionaires from Texas, said in a joint statement. Terms of the merger were not disclosed, but the joining leagues will live under the Major League Pickleball branding.

It's a little bit like if the PGA and LIV Golf merged in the way thatt takes the pressure off the top players not to have to choose sides. And even more specifically, they won't have to choose between being part of team pickleball or playing solely as an individual.

The PPA individual tournaments will continue as they are with the big-name players eligible to continue playing in them. And overarching individual events like the USA Pickleball Nationals in the desert also will be open to all of the top players.

"Pickleball is so young in the sense of being a professional sport and there's so many opportunities. There just isn't a set-in-stone way into how pickleball should be run yet," said Jessie Irvine, one of the top pro doubles players in the world. "With big-name celebrities and athletes getting involved, it's great for the sport because it brings more visibility and makes people more aware of it and I think it's good overall."

It all adds up to one overriding theme: It's a great time to be one of the best pickleball players in the world as money-making opportunities through winning, sponsorships and appearance fees are about to start soaring.

"Nobody could really see it coming like this," Johns said. "It's like riding a wave, and I'm very fortunate to be in the sport at the right time at the top of that wave. The sky's the limit for pickleball right now, and I don't see that trend slowing down any time soon."

Shad Powers is a columnist for The Desert Sun. Reach him at shad.powers@desertsun.com.

Sunday's winners

The winners at the 2022 Margaritaville USA Pickleball National Championships held Sunday at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden:

WOMEN'S SINGLES

Gold: Anna Leigh Waters

Silver: Lea Jansen

Bronze: Salome Devidze

MEN'S SINGLES

Gold: Ben Johns

Silver: Julian Arnold

Bronze: Tyson McGuffin

WOMEN'S DOUBLES

Gold: Anna Leigh Waters & Catherine Parenteau

Silver: Jessie Irvine & Anna Bright

Bronze: Parris Todd & Lauren Stratman

MEN'S DOUBLES

Gold: Ben Johns & Collin Johns

Silver: JW Johnson & Dekel Bar

Bronze: Matt Wright & Riley Newman

MIXED DOUBLES

Gold: Anna Leigh Waters & Riley Newman

Silver: Catherine Parenteau & Ben Johns

Bronze: Parris Todd & JW Johnson

This article originally appeared on Palm Springs Desert Sun: Pickleball: Professional players, celebrity investors all hoping to cash in