United Pickleball Raises $15M for Expansion and Player Incentives

The United Pickleball Association, the parent of Major League Pickleball and the PPA Tour, will announce Friday that it has raised $15 million in a new round of funding, to help the league add incentive pay for players, upgrade the broadcast experience and pursue international expansion.

“This raise is, in some ways, a stamp of approval for the steps that the business has taken forward in the last 15 to 18 months, where we’ve seen really strong growth on our revenue categories, like sponsorship, like ticketing,” Samin Odhwani, UPA chief strategy officer, said. UPA’s revenue is now $70 million.

The latest funding round comes solely from existing investors and shareholders of UPA, including Dundon Capital, the family office of Carolina Hurricanes owner Tom Dundon; Al Tylis, owner of Club Necaxa of LigaMX; and SC Holdings, led by Jason Stein, all three of which also invested in a previous $75 million preferred investment round. With the new round, UPA has raised about $100 million, including a $10 million bridge loan taken in January.

“What we’re aiming to do … [is] offer more incentive-based compensation that rewards those that are winning more,” Odhwani said, adding that having more money on the line for winning tournaments should help the storylines around competition. “We’re going to keep base salaries [too], because people can do the sport full-time and invest in themselves.”

UPA also aims to invest in improving the broadcast experience with partners Tennis Channel Fox, CBS and ESPN, such as putting mics on players, adding more cameras and upgrading equipment to help transfer the crowd excitement to viewers.

A third goal is to expand internationally, the executive said. “The sport has grown a ton in the U.K. and Asia, so we have started having conversations around joint venture partnerships with various operating organizations, taking a page out of the Formula 1 model.”

UPA also wants to grow junior player opportunities, perhaps a pickleball version of Junior USTA or Little League, Odhwani added.

The moves all seek to build upon the business momentum seen by UPA since it was formed by the merger of MLP and the PPA Tour last year. UPA says combined revenue is up 40% year over year, with commensurate ticketing sales gains, while there has been a 200% jump in social media impressions and records on PickleballTV and YouTube for individual event viewing.

“What’s validating in some respects is we didn’t have to go externally to raise capital,” Odhwani said. “Our current shareholders said, ‘We like where this is going, let’s double down.’”