MAJOR LEAGUE PICKLEBALL UNVEILS DYNAMIC LEAGUE FORMAT FOR 2023 INCLUDING: 24 TEAMS FEATURING HIGH PROFILE OWNERSHIP GROUPS, TWO SEASONS WITH MAJOR EVENTS ACROSS THE U.S., AND A PROMOTION AND RELEGATION SYSTEM
MLP will be the first major American professional sports league to implement a promotion and relegation system by introducing top-tier MLP Premier Level and upstart MLP Challenger Level with teams competing in two 3-event seasons to solidify their spot in the top Level
MLP Mesa Full Match Schedule Revealed!
With just five days left until MLP Mesa from January 26th - 29th, we’re excited to share our schedule for the full four-day event. Given the expansion to twenty-four teams, we’ve got you covered with a summary of the new gameplay format followed by a breakout of both Challenger and Premier Level schedules. To learn more about our new league structure and view all of our team lineups we encourage you to head over to the newly created League section of our site.
MAJOR LEAGUE PICKLEBALL ANNOUNCES FINAL TWO TEAMS OF LEAGUE, ST. LOUIS SHOCK AND ORLANDO SQUEEZE, WITH OWNERSHIP GROUPS LED BY THE CHAIFETZ AND DEVOS FAMILIES RESPECTIVELY. BOTH TEAMS JOIN LEAGUE AHEAD OF FIRST TOURNAMENT OF 2023 SEASON.
NFL star, Odell Beckham Jr., joins D.C. Pickleball Team ownership group League finalizes four new corporate sponsors for 2023 season including Cirkul, Hospital For Special Surgery, Fromuth Pickleball and Pickleball United The new owners finalize the league’s ownership groups at 24 and the four corporate partners bring MLP’s total to eleven across a diverse set of major consumer categories
MAJOR LEAGUE PICKLEBALL ANNOUNCES NEW OWNERSHIP GROUPS COMPRISED OF DYNAMIC LEADERS ACROSS SPORTS, BUSINESS, AND ENTERTAINMENT
New owners reflect MLP by Margaritaville’s strategy of attracting a diverse community to pickleball and reaching different audiences and markets. Teams will start the 2023 season in MLP Challenger Level and have revealed team names, locations, and rosters; With the first pick of the draft, the D.C.Pickleball Team selected 10-time ATP Tour titleist Sam Querrey, who begins his journey into pro pickleball.
Margaritaville Joins Major League Pickleball As Title Sponsor Branding The League ‘MLP By Margaritaville’
MLP will collaborate with global leading lifestyle brand to elevate the live experience for fans, players and MLP events nationwide. Major League Pickleball and Margaritaville today announced title sponsorship of the fast-growing professional pickleball league, branding the league as “MLP by Margaritaville.” This marks a seminal moment for the sport with one of the largest commercial deals ever for MLP, adding a world class partner to elevate the live experience for fans and players.
MAJOR LEAGUE PICKLEBALL PREMIER LEVEL DRAFT REVEAL SHOW 2023: LIVE UPDATE
Major League Pickleball Premier Level Draft Thursday, December 15th, Live at 9 PM ET on the Tennis Channel. Join us for the MLP 2023 Premier Level Draft live from Las Vegas at the Mandalay Bay Convention Center. Tune in as we reveal the lineups of all 12 teams of our new MLP Premier level in the company of some of the famous owners in professional sports. Bookmark this page as we provide live updates from the show and reveal each team as they’re selected!
TO CELEBRATE GARY VEE’S BIRTHDAY, THIS NOVEMBER 14TH WE’RE CHANGING OUR NAME FOR THE DAY FROM MLP TO MLVEE!
While 364 days a year we may be MLP, today we’re excited to announce that on every November 14th we will officially be changing our name to MLVee in honor of Gary Vee’s birthday.
JOINT STATEMENT FROM MAJOR LEAGUE PICKLEBALL'S STEVE KUHN AND PROFESSIONAL PICKLEBALL ASSOCIATION'S TOM DUNDON
We are proud to announce that Major League Pickleball and the PPA Tour’s VIBE Pickleball League 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. This league will continue to live under the “Major League Pickleball” brand name and format.
ANHEUSER-BUSCH REIMAGINES SPORTS MARKETING WITH PURCHASE OF MAJOR LEAGUE PICKLEBALL TEAM
America’s leading brewer enters ownership space in new Major League Pickleball expansion team for 2023 seasonNEW YORK, New York (November 8, 2022) – Anheuser-Busch, one of the largest and most influential sport sponsors in the U.S., is building on its commitment to bringing fans closer to the sports they love with the purchase of a Major League Pickleball (MLP) team starting for the 2023 season.
MLP AND DUPR PARTNER WITH LIFE TIME IN STRATEGIC ALLIANCE TO ELEVATE FASTEST-GROWING SPORT
Chanhassen, Minn. — Nearly five million people are now playing pickleball accordingto the latest data from the Sports and Fitness Industry Association and today, Major League Pickleball(MLP) and DUPR (Dynamic Universal Pickleball Rating) announced a strategic alliance with Life Time(NYSE: LTH) to continue elevating the sport through hosting tournaments and events at iconic LifeTime locations, adopting the DUPR official rating system across all Life Time clubs, partnering onimproved technology and offering shared marketing support.
SEVEN-TIME SUPER BOWL CHAMPION TOM BRADY, TENNIS HALL OF FAMER KIM CLIJSTERS HEADLINE OWNERSHIP GROUP OF MAJOR LEAGUE PICKLEBALL EXPANSION TEAM
Brady and Clijsters join Knighthead Capital Management, LLC in the Purchase of a Major League Pickleball (MLP) Team Watch the 2022 MLP season finale in Columbus this weekend, Oct. 14-16, on YouTube, MSG Networks, and CBS Sports Network.
The Road to MLP Columbus 2022
The stage is set for MLP Columbus 2022! We'll share all event updates leading up to our event below. Setting the stage - in Episode 2 of our new podcast, Inside MLP, you’ll get fresh insights and analysis of who will face off during the group play round for our upcoming event in Ohio on October 14-16th.
MLP Brings Live Statistics to Professional Pickleball
Major League Pickleball (MLP) continued to elevate the sport earlier this summer, bringing an innovative pickleball statistics company, 002Stats, to provide live statistics and insights for its latest competition in Newport Beach, California. Immediate game results stats were delivered to the broadcast crew and detailed boxscore stats were provided to team owners and captains.
MLP Columbus Shuffle Draft Update
Welcome to The MLP Shuffle Draft Update - your one-stop shop and feed of draft updates as they’re happening in real-time. We’ll be sharing all the details on the eligible pool, player pickups, waiver wires, participating teams, and of course the draft picks right here. So bookmark this page and follow us on our social channels for all the alerts and notifications pertaining to the MLP Shuffle Draft!
First trade announced for MLP Columbus!
Looks like the jackrabbit's out of the bag!Mad Drops Pickleball Club and the Jackrabbits just completed the first trade leading up to MLP Columbus, October 14th-16th.This weekend’s summertime swap, saw four players making the switch with Mad Drops Pickleball Club sending Adam Stone and Vivienne David to Jackrabbits in exchange for Mary Brascia and AJ Koller.
MLP Columbus Shuffle Draft Announcement
As we head into our next event, MLP 2022 Columbus, our owners have the chance to remix their line-ups by dropping a player on their team in exchange for an available player from the draft pool. Trades made prior to Newport Beach earlier this summer had a big impact on performance. Will trade strategy impact our next event as much this time around? It'll be exciting to see.
MLP Newport Group Stage Draw Announcement
With MLP Newport a week away, we completed the draw for the Group Stage of the event.The format for MLP 2022 Newport Beach has 3 groups of 4 teams competing within their Group to determine who advances out of the Group Stage. Each team plays the other 3 teams in their group and the top 2 teams in each group advance to the knockout rounds.
MLP Series Beer City July 24th
Major League Pickleball hosts three marquee events in 2022, each held over three days, featuring 48 players competing together on co-ed teams of four in our Unique MLPlay™ format with the highest prize money in pickleball, $100,000 for the winning team.Throughout the year, MLP also hosts a series of events with partners who leverage the unique MLPlay™ format. This Sunday, July 24th we head to Grand Rapids, Michigan for the MLP Series Beer City event. Read full post to see list of MLP athletes competing!
Knockaround Sunglasses Named Official Sunglasses of Major League Pickleball
AUSTIN, Texas (July 14, 2022) – Major League Pickleball (MLP) announced today an agreement with Knockaround, the original, affordable sunglasses and lifestyle brand out of San Diego, to be the Official Sunglasses of MLP.As part of Knockaround's multi-year sponsorship, the brand will immerse itself at all MLP events, including through on-site activation spaces, signage and hospitality opportunities, as well as promotion on social media and MLP livestream productions."We are thrilled to welcome Knockaround to the MLP family," said MLP President Brooks Wiley. “Their dedication to fun, creativity and excitement is the perfect fit for what MLP is all about. We look forward to working with Knockaround to showcase our two exciting brands.”"I am beyond excited that Knockaround is partnering with Major League Pickleball,” said Adam Moyer, Founder and Chief Creative Officer of Knockaround. “Pickleball is the fastest growing sport in the US and it’s clear to me why—it’s fun, full of energy, and can be enjoyed by people of all ages. Those ideals align perfectly with what Knockaround is all about and MLP has packaged them wonderfully.”At MLP’s first event of the season in Austin, Texas, team BLQK defended their title as MLP Champions and became the first and only back-to-back winners in league history. MLP will continue its 2022 season with events in Newport Beach, Calif., (August 5-7) and Columbus, Ohio (October 14-16), giving its twelve teams two more shots at taking home the Pritchard Cup and $100,000 grand prize. MLP offers the largest prize purse in professional pickleball at $319,000 per event.
Shuffle Draft Pool Announcement Released
Our Shuffle Draft pool is in and our draft is underway! Here’s our list of available men and women who meet the criteria to be drafted, sorted by highest Doubles DUPR. Players must have a current DUPR of 5.0+ and have played 3 or more professional pickleball events. Team owners have the option to drop either 0 or 1 players and can choose a new player from the pool. Full results from the shuffle draft will be announced on July 6th. Let’s go!
BLQK DEFEND MAJOR LEAGUE PICKLEBALL TITLE, WINNING HIGHEST PRIZE MONEY IN PROFESSIONAL PICKLEBALL AT MLP 2022 AUSTIN
BLQK defend their title as Major League Pickleball Champions, knocking off the Florida Smash 3-0 in Sunday’s Final match and hoisting the Pritchard Cup for the second-straight competition as the first and only back-to-back winners Major League Pickleball will continue its 2022 season with events in Newport Beach, California (August 5-7) and Columbus, Ohio (October 14-16), giving its twelve teams two more shots at taking home the Pritchard Cup as MLP Champions and earn the highest prize money in professional pickleball
Major League Pickleball is back in 2022 with the highest prize money in professional pickleball - $100,000 for each event to the winning team
48 of the world’s best professional players line-up at Dreamland for MLP 2022 Austin from June 3rd-5th, kicking-off the three-event competition for this season’s Pritchard Cup, televised by CBS Sports New MLP Team Owners unveiled joining Gary Vaynerchuk, Brené Brown, Marc Lasry, and James Blake Additional MLP events announced in 2022 for Newport Beach, California, and Columbus, Ohio
The Biggest Prize Money Event in Pickleball Just Got Bigger!
Major League Pickleball announced during the 2022 Live Draft Reveal Show that the prize money for 2022 would exceed $100,000 for the winning 4-player team in each of the 3 events. That means each player on the winning team will walk away with $25,000 each, by far the biggest prize money in pickleball history.
GARY VAYNERCHUK ANNOUNCES THE 5s AS MAJOR LEAGUE PICKLEBALL TEAM NAME; ANNOUNCES RYAN HARWOOD AS THE 5s GENERAL MANAGER AND UNVEILS THE 5s LOGO
The 5s take part in MLP’s 2022 Draft and MLP competitions throughout the forthcoming season, the first of which will take place at Dreamland, Dripping Springs, Texas, from June 3 – 5, 2022.
MAJOR LEAGUE PICKLEBALL WELCOMES NEW OWNERS INCLUDING GARY VAYNERCHUK, ANNOUNCES 2022 DRAFT AND FIRST 2022 EVENT DATE
Gary Vaynerchuk Joins New MLP Team Owners for 2022; MLP Grows from Eight Teams in 2021 to 12 for 2022 MLP Draft will be revealed via livestream from The USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center, Flushing Meadows, NYC, May 28th, 2022; First 2022 MLP Team Competition to take place at Dreamland, Dripping Springs, Texas, June 3 – 5 with CBS Sports Network Set to Exclusively Televise Finals on June 5
MAJOR LEAGUE PICKLEBALL ANNOUNCES INCREASED PLAYER PRIZE POOLS FOR 2022
Austin, TX (January 20, 2022) - Major League Pickleball (MLP), the elite pickleball competition that showcases the world's best pickleball players in a unique team format while helping grow the game at the grassroots level across the USA, has announced an increased prize pool for players competing in MLP events in 2022. Among the increases introduced by MLP are more prize money, new draft cash bonuses, and lodging allowances, totaling $217,000 for the 32 players drafted to MLP in 2022.
Fans vote major league Pickleball as inaugural dink awards event of the year
Major League Pickleball picked up its own award in early January, winning ‘Event Of The Year’ in the inaugural Dink Awards.The Dink has quickly established itself as one of the premier sources of online news, information and content for all things pickleball.
BLQK are mlp season one champions
Before a live national television audience watching on CBS Sports Network and a full and spirited audience assembled courtside at Dreamland in Dripping Springs, Texas, BLQK defeated Chimeras in the Major League Pickleball Season One final on Monday night, 3-1, capturing the first-ever Pritchard Cup in MLP history.
Three teams vault into contention for MLP final on a dramatic Sunday
Thanks to a battle between two top teams that capped off a full day of Major League Pickleball action on Sunday, the race to Monday night’s finals will come down to the final round of matches starting Monday morning at 9.30am.
Day two of MLP's Season One
On the second day of Major League Pickleball’s season one, three teams — Discovery Warriors, Chimeras, and Team BLQK — continued their excellent first-day form and solidified their bids to be finals contenders, with other teams positioning themselves for a decisive set of matches coming up on Sunday.
MLP's season one begins will full day of action and three undefeated teams
In the first day of action for Major League Pickleball’s season one on Friday, each team played two matches, with the Discovery Warriors and Chimeras currently leading the pack, with Team BLQK, The Lions and the Pickle Ranchers right behind them.
Major League Pickleball's Season One opens tomorrow
The long-anticipated launch of Major League Pickleball’s first season is here! On Friday, Nov. 5, all eight teams selected via the historic Oct. 1 draft will converge onto Dreamland in Dripping Springs, Texas, with each team playing two matches on day one, then again until the end of the round robin stage on Monday, Nov. 8.
Major League Pickleball Announces Season One Sponsors
DUPR, Ranch Rider, Richards’ Rainwater, Franklin and Michelob ULTRA Among Sponsors of MLP Season One; First-Ever MLP Competition Set for Nov. 5-8 at Dreamland - Dripping Springs, Texas, Featuring 32 of the World’s Best Pickleball Players
Major League Pickleball draft recap: Eight teams choose who will go to battle in November
Major League Pickleball held its first-ever draft on Friday night, and 32 of the world’s top pickleball players found new potential partnerships and new four-person teams, readying for the upcoming Season One from Nov. 5-8 at Dreamland in Dripping Springs, Texas.
Major League Pickleball prepares for innovative draft for eight new teams
Before Major League Pickleball season one kicks off Nov. 5, the first-ever MLP draft needs to take place to field the eight four-person teams. That draft is coming on Oct. 1 via a streamed event held live from Dallas, in which the MLP ownership groups will determine their lineups and start their course in MLP’s inaugural campaign.
