NEW YORK CITY, NY – SEPTEMBER 21: Anna Leigh Waters of the New Jersey Fives rallies the ball throughout a Main League Pickleball match on September 21, 2024 at Wollman Rink in New York, New York. (Photograph by Andrew Mordzynski/Icon Sportswire by way of Getty Photographs)
Icon Sportswire | Icon Sportswire | Getty Photographs
Pickleball is paying off for America’s greatest gamers.
The Skilled Pickleball Affiliation stated on Thursday that the league is seeing progress in all the pieces from attendance to gamers, and even wage.
In truth, the common pay of the greater than 60 ladies on the PPA Tour and Main League Pickleball was $260,000, in keeping with the league. That’s greater than the highest-paid WNBA player’s annual salary and greater than double the average salary of National Women’s Soccer League athletes.
The league stated professional pickleball gamers earned greater than $30 million collectively. That is based mostly on wage alone and doesn’t embody endorsement offers.
Professional pickleball has come a great distance since its inception.
Final December, some gamers formed a collective to voice their issues about the way forward for Main League Pickleball after they had been requested to take a 40% pay lower.
In February, Main League Pickleball and the Skilled Pickleball Affiliation completed their long-awaited merger, creating the United Pickleball Affiliation. The deal additionally included $75 million of outdoor funding.
The PPA Tour and Main League Pickleball retained their very own distinct manufacturers. The PPA Tour options a person bracket-style tour, whereas MLP is a team-based format.
For the reason that creation of the United Pickleball Affiliation, the off-court drama has died down and the league has been working to refine its product and its enterprise, led by stars like 17-year-old Anna Leigh Water, and high gamers Federico Staksrud and Ben Johns.
NEW YORK CITY, NY – SEPTEMBER 21: Ben
Johns of the Carolina Pickleball Membership rallies the ball throughout a Main League Pickleball match on September 21, 2024 at Wollman Rink in New York, New York. (Photograph by Andrew Mordzynski/Icon Sportswire by way of Getty Photographs)
Icon Sportswire | Icon Sportswire | Getty Photographs
“It is simply these immense efficiencies that happened as we had been capable of merge, and consequently, it was nice for our enterprise,” stated Samin Odhwani, United Pickleball Affiliation’s chief technique officer.
Odwhani stated being beneath one umbrella created cross-promotional alternatives for gamers and likewise opened doorways with sponsors and their gross sales crew.
In consequence, the sponsorship enterprise grew by 50% year-over-year with greater than 50 sponsors throughout each the PPA Tour and MLP manufacturers.
Odhwani initiatives that UPA income ought to high $100 million within the subsequent few years.
Viewership and curiosity additionally stay robust. In 2024, the league stated 320,000 followers attended PPA Tour and MLP occasions, up 40% from the yr prior. It additionally marked the primary yr through which income from ticket gross sales surpassed income from newbie registration, the league stated.
Followers tuned into 350 hours of pickleball tv in 2024 throughout Fox, CBS, ESPN, Amazon Prime, Tennis Channel and others, in keeping with the UPA.
PickleballTV, a three way partnership between the UPA and the Tennis Channel, stated followers watched greater than a billion minutes of the game this season.
“2024 was the very best yr ever for professional pickleball,” Odhwani stated. “We had 320,000 plus attendees at our occasions, 27,000 amateurs enjoying and candidly, only a unified league.”
Heading into the brand new yr, UPA stated its priorities embody increasing media rights partnerships, rising the newbie enterprise and persevering with to construct current professionals into family names on the planet of sports activities.
Source link