The pickleball project invested by James Brady is valued at over $750 million.

Recently, the pickleball sport has witnessed its largest and highest - value financing in history. Apollo Sports Capital, a sports investment platform under Apollo Global Management, announced the completion of a $225 million investment in the American Pickleball Group, Pickleball Inc., with Dundon Capital Partners led by Tom Dundon participating in the follow - on investment. Tom Dundon is the owner of the NBA's Portland Trail Blazers and the NHL's Carolina Hurricanes, and is also one of the earliest institutional investors in pickleball.

With previous financings included, Pickleball Inc. has a cumulative financing of up to $315 million, and its valuation stands at $750 million. Connor Pardoe, the founder of the PPA Tour (Professional Pickleball Association Tour in the United States), described this financing as an "earth - shattering moment in the development of pickleball".

In recent years, international organizations related to pickleball have been seeking to introduce it into the Olympic family. Professional tournaments have been expanding continuously, and sports brands, equipment manufacturers, professional athletes, and capital institutions have been pouring in. This has enabled a new sport originally with a "community entertainment" flavor to gradually grow into a professional sports event with a complete business ecosystem.

01

$225 million: The largest financing in pickleball history is born

In the past few years, there have been two forces in the professional pickleball arena in the United States. One is the PPA Tour (Professional Pickleball Association Tour in the United States), founded in 2019 by Connor Pardoe. It follows the mature structure of professional tennis, with the core logic of "individual elitism": players participate in global tours as individuals to compete for points and rankings. Pardoe's goal is very clear - to build the PPA into the ATP or the PGA Tour in the pickleball world, and to drive the influence of the tournaments by establishing the personal commercial value of top - level players.

On the other hand, there is the MLP (Major League Pickleball in the United States), which emerged suddenly in 2021. Its founder, Steve Kuhn, adopted the "franchise" model: centered around city teams, through drafts, trades, and revenue sharing, he tried to replicate the success of the NBA and the NFL. Due to its high financial nature, this model quickly attracted a group of sports superstars such as LeBron James, Kevin Durant, and Tom Brady to become team owners as investors.

Between 2021 and 2023, the two sides were engaged in a fierce resource - grabbing battle. It was not until February 2024 that they announced a strategic merger and established the United Pickleball Association (UPA) as a holding entity, with Pardoe serving as the CEO. In the first year after the merger, the financial performance improved significantly. In 2024, the number of on - site spectators at professional tournaments exceeded 320,000, a year - on - year increase of 40%. The ticket revenue exceeded the registration fees of amateur players for the first time. At the same time, the total player contracts exceeded $30 million, and the broadcast duration on mainstream channels such as FOX and ESPN exceeded 350 hours.

It was this turning point that led to the final entry of Apollo Sports Capital. Al Telles, the CEO of Apollo, not only actively promoted the merger of the two sides but also valued the complete industrial jigsaw puzzle behind Pickleball Inc., the new parent company of the PPA Tour (Professional Pickleball Association Tour in the United States) and the MLP (Major League Pickleball in the United States).

After this round of financing, Pickleball Inc.'s assets cover every aspect of the pickleball sport:

Tournament end: It controls the two core professional IPs, the PPA Tour and the MLP;

Equipment end: Pickleball Central, an equipment platform with over 100 stores across the United States, and Just Courts, which focuses on court construction;

Tournament data end: A tournament management software with 5 million monthly active users and an equity stake in the DUPR scoring system covering millions of players;

Communication channels: A professional broadcast channel deeply bound to the Tennis Channel.

In 2025, the combined revenue of multiple business segments under Pickleball Inc. exceeded $140 million, and the PPA Tour and the MLP expect the overall revenue to continue to grow in 2026.

02

Pickleball moves towards mass - participation, professionalism, and commercialization

Currently, the development of pickleball in the United States has entered a new stage.

The participation of the general public has more than doubled. According to the 2025 participation report of the Sports & Fitness Industry Association (SFIA) in the United States, the number of pickleball participants in the country has reached 24.3 million, a 22.8% increase from 2024 and a cumulative increase of 171.8% in the past three years. For reference, around 2020, this number was only about 4 million. In five years, the number of participants has expanded nearly six - fold. The report specifically pointed out that both high - frequency participants and casual players have increased, and the transformation trend from "trial participation" to "stable participation" is clear.

Pickleball is the fastest - growing sport in the United States

Different from traditional emerging sports, the most special thing about pickleball is that it has both the attributes of a "low - threshold mass sport" and a "professional sports league". It can expand the participating population as quickly as badminton and can also establish a professional tournament system, a star economy, and a commercial copyright system like tennis and golf. Globally, more than 800 million people in Asia have at least come into contact with pickleball once. At the same time, the market size of pickleball equipment is expected to nearly double before 2031.

More and more tennis players are switching to pickleball. In 2025, more than 150 professional players participated in the tournaments, and more than 90% of professional pickleball players have a tennis background.

The income of professional players has increased significantly. Anna Leigh Waters, the world's top female pickleball player, has an after - tax annual income of nearly $4 million, and her cumulative career prize money has exceeded $7 million. The rest of her income comes from a racket cooperation with Franklin (worth $10 million over three years), a league contract with the UPA (about $1.5 million), and sponsorships from brands such as Nike. Ben Johns, the world's top male player, has an annual income of nearly $3 million.

Anna Leigh Waters has signed a contract with Nike

The annual income of mid - level players is usually between $150,000 and $400,000, coming from tournament prizes, appearance fees, and small - and medium - sized sponsorships. Players at this level can maintain a full - time professional status, but their income fluctuates significantly with performance and lacks stability. Bottom - level players cannot make a living solely from competitions. They rely on teaching and training, online courses, social media monetization, and even side jobs unrelated to pickleball to make ends meet. Research shows that only a few top - level players can obtain a stable income of over six figures.

This structure is not new in individual sports. The same is true for the lower - level tours of tennis and golf. In 2025, the league contract system introduced by the MLP has begun to provide a guaranteed income for signed players.

03

Over 90,000 participants in a year: Pickleball in China is on the fast track

Turning our attention from the global to China, we can find that this sport is also developing at an accelerating pace.

In 2024, the Ball Sports Management Center of the General Administration of Sport of China conducted a research on the "Investigation Report on Pickleball in China". The report shows that there are about 300 domestic enterprises related to pickleball products, and most international brands are manufactured by Chinese enterprises on an OEM basis.

Data from Qichacha shows that as of October 2025, there are nearly 400 domestic enterprises related to pickleball, and more than 40% of them were established within one year. The number of registrations in 2024 increased by 125.58% year - on - year to 97, and 143 were registered in the first three quarters of 2025, a year - on - year increase of 138.33%. The enterprises are concentrated in East China (34.92%) and South China (33.17%).

2025 is the first full year for the Tennis Sports Management Center to serve as the national governing body for pickleball. In this year, nearly 300 pickleball tournaments of various types were held in China, with more than 90,000 participants on the official platform. The number of annually registered referees and coaches exceeded 3,000. The search volume on Baidu increased by 234% year - on - year, and the online sales scale increased by 1059% year - on - year. "Pickleball +" has driven regional catering, accommodation, and cultural and tourism consumption, with the highest single - event consumption exceeding $5 million.

On the consumer side, pickleball has positioned itself as a "substitute for badminton" to attract young users in first - tier and quasi - first - tier cities. Public reports show that the price of a set of entry - level equipment (two rackets and two balls) is between $100 and $200, with a much lower price threshold than most racket sports.

Sporting goods and sports enterprises have become active participants in the development of pickleball in China. The sports brand Li Ning not only actively sponsors and promotes pickleball tournaments but also launches products such as the Sortie Pro pickleball shoes. Feifan Lingyue officially became the operating unit of the Chinese Pickleball Series in May 2025, responsible for the organization, promotion, and commercial development of national - level tournaments. Currently, it has formed a five - core tournament system, including the Chinese Pickleball Tour Singles Tournament (CPC, divided into different levels such as CPC - 1000 and CPC - 600), the Youth Tournament (CPC - J), the City Challenge Tournament (CPC - T), the National Championship, and the National Tournament. Orange Lion Sports has been promoting pickleball in the Shanghai market since 2024.

This large - scale financing is a positive signal for the industry. What we are more concerned about is the possibility of pickleball being included in the Olympic family.

Currently, there are three major international pickleball associations in the world: the Global Pickleball Federation (GPF), the International Pickleball Federation (IPF), and the World Pickleball Federation (WPF). The three parties are exploring a merger with the goal of establishing a single international governing body to gain recognition from the International Olympic Committee and strive to include pickleball in the 2032 Brisbane Olympics. Once this is achieved, it will directly promote the acceleration of the establishment of official national associations, the injection of government funds, the standardization of competition standards and referee systems, and a significant increase in media copyrights and sponsorships.

However, whether pickleball can truly make the leap from the "fastest - growing sport" to a "mature professional sport" still depends on the governance of the league, the stability of the professional system, and the long - term healthy development of the grass - roots ecosystem. At least for now, this $225 million financing has brought this sport one step closer to that goal.

This article is from the WeChat official account "Sports Business" (ID: sportsmoney), written by Ma Lianhong and published by 36Kr with authorization.