Pickleball Lands A Few Television Deals

It’s no secret that live sports, when compared to other programming genres, are more popular than ever before. Hence, it makes sense that television and streaming companies are making deals with various pickleball leagues. Pickleball has been the fastest growing sport in the United States over the past few years with millions now playing the sport.

Earlier this month, The Association of Pickleball Professionals (APP) struck an agreement with CBS and ESPN to televise and stream some matches. Under the deal, CBS will televise 12 hours of live coverage of tour events and ESPN2 will provide an additional eight hours of recaps. In addition, there will be 200+ hours of live streaming across ESPN+ and as well as their own APP TV. No financial terms of the deals were announced. Although the APP includes college and international matches, they are not part of the CBS/ESPN package. Earlier this month the APP began its fourth season in Punta Gorda, Florida.

Last November CBS televised a prime-time pickleball event called Pickled hosted by Stephen Colbert and was streamed live on ParamountPARA
+. The event featured 16 celebrities (eight teams) vying to win the “Colbert Cup”. Profits for the one-time event went to Comic Relief, a not-for-profit organization. Sponsors included Claussen Pickles and Oofos Active Recovery footwear. The two-hour special wound up with an average audience of 2.24 million.

As its popularity grows, there are now several pickleball leagues competing for players, sponsorships, investors and media rights. There has also been some consolidation. In 2022 the APP and one-time rival Professional Pickleball Association united. In addition, also in 2022, the Major League Pickleball merged with Professional Pickleball Association. Another recent entry is the National Pickleball League.

In 2021 the Tennis Channel began televising pickleball events from the PPAPPA
. In 2023, the Tennis Channel announced they would be televising events from Major League Pickleball that will also be streamed. The cable network has also been airing a series of pickleball matches involving celebrities with more live televised events expected.

The televising and streaming of events come at a time when pickleball’s popularity is growing. The Sports & Fitness Industry says 4.8 million people are now playing, an increase of 39.3% in the past two years. A recent report from the APP found that 36.5 million had played pickleball over a 12-month period ending in August 2022. In October 2022 YouGov released a pickleball participation survey and found 10% of Americans have tried playing pickleball. Participation was greatest among adults 18-29 at 20%.

USA Pickleball describes the sport as a combination of tennis, badminton and ping-ping. Similar to tennis, the sport can be played indoors and outdoors and as a either singles or doubles format. Also, fueling its popularity is the relatively inexpensive equipment needed to participate and its less arduous than playing tennis. Despite its recent popularity, pickleball was first developed in 1965 near Seattle.

The sport’s popularity has attracted a number of well-known celebrities. For example, the winner of the “Colbert Cup” was singer Dierks Bentley and Phil Keough, long-time host of The Amazing Race. The pair defeated comedians Tig Notaro and Will Ferrell in the finals. (Emma Watson and Sugar Ray Leonard were pre-tournament favorites.) Also, this April tennis greats John McEnroe, Andre Agassi, Andy Roddick and Michael Chang will compete for a $1 million prize in the first Pickleball Slam held at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Hollywood, Florida.

Pickleball’s popularity is creating more events coupled with more sponsorship deals and financial investments. For the 2023 season Major League Pickleball expanded to 24 teams and six events with prize money reaching $2 million for the year. By comparison, in 2021 there were eight squads and with only one event. In addition, last December the MLP named Margaritaville, a hospitality company founded by Jimmy Buffet as its first title sponsor. A number of blue-chip advertisers are sponsoring pickleball events such as Anheuser-Busch which also acquired a pickleball franchise. Among the investors include LeBron James, Tom Brady, Drew Brees, Patrick Mahomes, Naomi Osaka, Kevin Durant, Mark Cuban, Eva Longoria, Heidi Klum, Chris Evert, Michael Phelps and a host of others.

Pickleball isn’t the only sport that struck a media rights agreement in January. The Saudi Arabia backed LIV Golf announced a multi-year agreement with the CW to televise and stream 14 live events beginning this year. Financial terms were not disclosed. For the CW, which was acquired by Nexstar last year and best known for its primetime dramas, it marks their first foray into televising and streaming live sports. LIV will be producing each tournament. Paramount, NBCUniversal, Disney and Warner Bros Discovery which televises the more established PGA Golf were not interested in the media rights of LIV Golf.