by Kelly Campbell
After such historic growth year after year, many wonder when, or if, the pickleball boom will ever slow down.
With Apollo Sports Capital’s latest landmark $225 million investment in pickleball, we’re thrilled to say it’s not looking like pickleball will cool off any time soon. The venture brings resources for both professional and recreational players under one singular entity, the largest ever pickleball ecosystem, which is a monumental step for pickleball development.
Read on for all of the details regarding the financial merger, the way Pickleball Inc. is dominating all areas of pickleball, and what it means for pickleballers and the future of the sport.
The $225 Million Merger
On May 1, 2026, Pickleball Inc. announced it had closed a monumental $225 million investment, and the ripple effects are felt in every corner of the sport.
“The PPA Tour, MLP, Pickleball Central, Pickleball Play Solutions, Pickleball.com, and JustCourts are merging to create the leading pickleball technology, retail, and infrastructure platform, with Apollo Sports Capital leading the investment to fund the new business.” – Carvana PPA Tour press release.
The investment by Apollo Sports Capital and Dundon Capital Partners brings Pickleball Inc.’s total funding to $315 million and valuation at $750 million. Tom Dundon and the Pardoe family remain majority shareholders, and the five-person board now includes Al Tylis, Connor Pardoe, Jason Stein, Zubin Mehta, and Brian Levine.
The new capital will expand Pickleball Inc.’s reach across media, events, and day-to-day operations, while folding in assets such as Pickleball Central and its tournament software. On the professional side alone, MLP and the PPA Tour brought in $60 million in combined revenue in 2025, including $30 million from sponsorships, and both leagues are projecting $74 million in combined revenue for 2026. This kind of investment fits a bigger pattern, as investors increasingly treat emerging sports as a place to put serious money.
The press release also goes into specifics on the 2025 business verticals of each, while calling attention to pickleball as “a marquee platform for gender equity, with men and women on court equally during both PPA and MLP events. Additionally, the top 60 women in the sport average over $260,000 in annual salary, the highest average pay in all of professional women’s team sports.”
“Pickleball is one of the fastest growing sports in the world, appealing to players and fans of all ages, and we are excited to be making this structured investment. This is a unique opportunity to support the combination of these assets, effectively reimagining how to create a professional sports league under a single ecosystem and platform for growth. We believe that the Company now has the resources it needs to get to the next level, having already proved itself as the most successful emerging sports league of the past decade.” – Al Tylis, CEO of Apollo Sports Capital.
Aside from the astounding financial investment in pickleball, the collaboration between leading professional play, retail, software, court construction, and media creates the largest singular pickleball ecosystem in history.
Pickleball Inc. is taking on a portfolio of pickleball assets previously owned by Dundon, including Pickleball Central, a leading site for pickleball equipment founded in 2006, as well as PickleballTournaments.com, software that powers thousands of tournaments across all levels of play, and Just Courts, a pickleball court installer. Combined, these newly merged business verticals generated more than $140 million in 2025 revenue. The new capital is meant to further integrate the pickleball business at every level of play and build out a more streamlined ecosystem across the sport as a whole.
“This is a seismic day for the rapidly growing business of pickleball at all levels. This investment allows us to fully integrate the sport into one cohesive ecosystem – uniting professional pickleball, consumer goods, technology, and media under a single, unified platform. By bringing together the best companies in the space, we’re creating an end-to-end experience that serves every pickleballer on their journey, whether they’re a casual enthusiast or a dedicated fanatic. At its core, this is still about building and delivering the culture, fun, and community that define pickleball’s DNA.” – Connor Pardoe, PPA Tour founder and Pickleball Inc. CEO
Pickleball Inc. Domination
This is the first time pickleball has ever had such a powerful, singular force representing every player level, from professionals to recreational players and consumers.
You might remember the infamous on-again-off-again MLP/PPA merger, bringing both major pickleball tours under one entity, the United Pickleball Association (UPA). We’re now fully seeing the positive effects of having a centralized unifying body in professional pickleball play out through record viewership numbers, growing sponsorship and media deals, lucrative and expanding player salaries, and now a $225 million investment aimed at expanding the sport even further. Pickleball Inc. brings major pickleball companies in all areas together, including everything from online equipment retailers to media to all of MLP/PPA.
These are the companies that Pickleball Inc. represents: the Carvana PPA Tour and Major League Pickleball on the pro side, Pickleball Central for retail, Pickleball Play Solutions and PickleballTournaments.com for tournament and league management, Just Courts for court construction, Pickleball.com and Pickleball TV for media and streaming, plus equity stakes in indoor facility franchise Picklr and rating platform DUPR.
That means that Pickleball Inc. will represent the leading tournaments, entertainment coverage and media, and retailers in the sport, which will impact players of every level and intensity. We can assume they will operate together and share resources across every one of these areas, rather than compete against each other or grow separately.
As the largest pickleball ecosystem ever, now all pickleball areas (not just the MLP and PPA) will have the capital and power to have unlimited expansion in the space. The connections amongst all parties, the financial investments and retail revenue for each, all working together will seemingly make Pickleball Inc. unstoppable as the leader in pickleball development on all levels, for better or for worse.
The Pros and Cons of One Centralized Entity
A $750 million valuation sounds like an unqualified win, but pickleball’s own recent history shows that consolidation like this could come with tradeoffs. We’ve covered how impactful a single governing body could be for legitimizing professional pickleball, and it’s clear this centralization of all the other pickleball areas will be huge for pickleball development, but who gets left behind in the process?
Bringing pickleball’s biggest properties under one company creates some clear opportunities for the sport. More centralized capital means more money for media deals, player contracts, events, infrastructure like courts and facilities, and more.
Similarly to the synergy of PPA and MLP when they officially switched from competitors to collaborators, we’re likely to see real benefits from uniting pickleball companies in other areas outside of tournament play. In general, having everything under one roof will lead to more press and mainstream attention, since a single, well funded company has more resources to market these companies and get it in front of new audiences. All represented entities can now work toward the same goals, which will give even more power more efficiently than multiple separate organizations pulling in different directions. This kind of investment and collaboration will also give professional pickleball more legitimacy in the broader professional sports world, which we know has been the ultimate goal for pickleball for years.
At the same time, when one company controls this much of the sport, there is more room for internal disagreements about direction, priorities, and money, especially with so many stakeholders operating together. It also creates a power imbalance between Pickleball Inc. and smaller, independent companies who now have to compete with a company that controls a huge share of the industry. Any time this much power and money sits with one entity, there is a risk that decisions end up serving the company’s bottom line more than the players or the broader pickleball community.
As we know all too well, the only constant in the pickleball world is change. What do you think about the direction of pickleball with Pickleball Inc. leading the charge? Let us know in the comments.
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