Major League Pickleball Team Values Skyrocket to $10 Million
As reported by Andrew Cohen of Front Office Sports, Major League Pickleball Team Valueshave Skyrocketed to $10 Million.
- Team values have seen a 100x growth over the past two years, according to new MLP CEO Julio DePietro.
- MLP team co-owners include Tom Brady, Patrick Mahomes, LeBron James, Kevin Durant, and many more stars.
DePietro, who bought a stake in the Florida Smash MLP team in 2022, was announced as the league’s new CEO on Wednesday. He told CNBC that MLP team valuations had seen 100-times growth, soaring to $10 million valuations after being acquired for as low as $100,000 since the league began play in 2021.
The value surge could result in profits for many athletes with ownership stakes in MLP teams. Team co-owners include NFL greats Tom Brady, Drew Brees, Larry Fitzgerald, Josh Allen, and Patrick Mahomes, NBA stars LeBron James, Kevin Durant, Jayson Tatum, and Devin Booker, Olympic swimmer Michael Phelps, the WNBA’s Jewell Loyd and Haley Jones, MLB pitcher Justin Verlander, and tennis stars Naomi Osaka and Nick Kyrgios.
More than 36 million people played pickleball last year. Bruce Popko, a veteran NFL executive and former chief revenue officer of the Buffalo Bills, has also been hired as the new chief operating officer of Major League Pickleball.
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Author: David Keech
David Keech is a retired teacher and works as a sportswriter, sports official and as an educational consultant. He has reported on amateur sports since 2011, known as 'KeechDaVoice.' David can be reached at [email protected]
