Major League Pickleball, the premier professional pickleball league for team competitions, was first founded in 2021. The league runs team competitions throughout the year with a prize purse given away at each event. Last season the MLP traveled to three separate destinations to put on their events.
This year MLP will be having a massive expansion in teams and ownerships. People like LeBron James, Kevin Durant, Tom Brady, Kim Clijsters, and even the beer brand Anheuser-Busch have bought into MLP. Next year it is rumored that MLP will be expanding it’s team competition play to at least six events that will see them traveling to new states and locations. With the rapid growth that pickleball is seeing, there is a real shot that we see the sport introduced into the college level.
The first step in ushering in pickleball to the college level would be building it out in earlier school systems first. It is such a cheap and accessible sport there is no reason every gym class in America should have the opportunity to play pickleball. The next step would be to ensure that there is a big enough player pool for collegiate pickleball to happen. If every school can create a pickleball team or program alongside an already established tennis program, the process would be seamless.
So is pickleball a college sport? Only time will tell. There is one thing for sure, pickleball is on a meteoric rise and is not looking to slow down. With the innovation and passion of Steve Kuhn at Major League Pickleball, there is a real possibility that we even see the sport in the Olympics one day. If your school offered pickleball lessons or courts to play, would you grab a paddle and try out the sport? Let us know on twitter @137pm.