by Kelly Campbell
Yes, you read that right –– professional pickleball players have higher salaries than WNBA and NWSL players. We had to do a double-take ourselves, but the numbers don’t lie.
In December, the PPA released an end-of-year summary for the PPA and MLP, highlighting tremendous growth and including the average salary for pro pickleball players this year.
While this is excellent news for pickleball athletes and professional pickleball legitimacy, what does it mean for women’s sports in general?
High Pro Salaries are a Big Dill for Pickleball
The PPA called 2024 a pinnacle year, and there are many reasons why.
First, they highlighted a 40% increase in fan attendance. Over 320,000 fans attended PPA and MLP events and fans watched more than one billion minutes on Pickleball TV. Second, there were more amateur players than ever before –– 27,000+. Even so, ticket sale revenue exceeded registration revenue for the first time. In addition to increased ticket sales, at-home spectatorship grew tremendously. Fans engaged with pickleball on social media more than ever, and there were record-breaking numbers for pickleball broadcasts. PPA and MLP followers on leading social media accounts grew by 40%. MLP and PPA tours broadcast over 350 hours across major networks (including Pickleball TV).
However, the most significant 2024 success comes from salaries: the 130 MLP and
PPA contracted professionals collectively earn over $30 million. The PPA and MLP have over 60 female athletes under contract, who earned a $260,000 average salary, surpassing that of the highest-paid WNBA and NWSL athletes. The average WNBA salary is $119,590, and the average NWSL salary is $65,000, less than half of pickleball. That speaks volumes when you consider the tremendous strides these leagues have also made this year, with record-breaking WNBA merchandise sales, ticket sales, and tripled television viewership via the “Caitlin Clark Effect” and these NWSL wins: abolishing the draft system and tying salary caps to revenue sharing for the first time.
When considering this difference, pickleball’s inclusivity is especially powerful. Pickleball is one of the few sports that has always had equal pay for men and women. Although pickleball average salaries are greater than those of the WNBA, the median salary (a more accurate depiction when you consider how huge some big-name salaries are) is over $6 million. So, while the impressive PPA salaries are great for pickleball overall and for female pickleball athletes, this does highlight how much work there is to do to address gender pay inequity in other sports.
Why Pickleball Players Are Earning More
There are a few key reasons why pickleball players could be earning more than WNBA and NWSL players. The main overarching theme is that pickleball’s novelty is on its side and is primarily responsible for the reasons listed below. Because pickleball is still new and trendy, it’s heavily in the spotlight compared to other sports as up-and-coming. It’s one of the first modern sports to become as dominant and popular as it has, which means a newer generation controls its trajectory. Opportunity is abundant. All of these factors contribute to increased pickleball salaries because of the unprecedented growth and pickleball popularity:
- Media Attention & Modern Tech: Pickleball has come up in the age of tech and social media, which helps pickleball popularity spread. Between pickleball influencers, celebrity involvement, pickleball entertainment facilities and shows, and increased access to professional TV coverage, pickleball has had more eyes on it in the last few years than other sports did at their inception.
- Investors: Investors recognize the opportunity of pickleball, and there’s a lot of money being funneled into the sport. Celebrities, professional athletes, and other wealthy business people are capitalizing on pickleball popularity and fueling growth with their pockets.
- Gender Equity: Pickleball’s rise is happening at a time when there’s more focus on equal pay in sports. Women athletes today are more celebrated than they were throughout the rise of other core US sports, which largely contributes to pay equity amongst male and female pickleballers. Pickleball’s biggest star, Anna Leigh Waters, is a female athlete who’s smashing stereotypes and making history.
- Competition and Smaller Leagues: Despite tremendous growth, compared to other sports leagues, pickleball is still small, and there are way less pickleball pro athletes and aspiring pickleball pros than there are for other sports. As funding and popularity for pickleball increases, there’s a significant increase in pickleball investment, which is distributed amongst a relatively small number of athletes. Unlike more established sports leagues, pickleball athletes have less competition for prize money and sponsorships.
- PPA and MLP Merger: Despite a tumultuous journey to partnership, the merger of the PPA and MLP last year centralized professional pickleball and brought the sport’s greatest stars together. This increased fan attendance and interest.
What Next?
It’s an exciting time to be a pickleball lover, and it’s great to finally see tangible proof in the numbers that pickleball is valuable and here to stay. Having salaries that match or surpass that of other professional athletes is one of the most apparent steps we’ve seen signifying that pickleball popularity is not just a phase but a staple as a core US sport.
Still, the news of pickleball salaries surpassing those of other deserving athletes, specifically female athletes in sports that have been around for much longer and have male counterparts with astronomical salaries, highlights a need to address the gender pay gap between men’s and women’s sports. We hope that pickleball’s continued rise as a gender-united sport fosters a culture that uplifts and supports female athletes across sports and can lead the charge in closing the pay gap between men and women athletes.
February 5, 2025, is National Girls & Women in Sports Day. Help fight against gender pay inequity by supporting aspiring women athletes in your life, watching or attending an upcoming women’s sporting event, following female athletes on social media, and getting involved with or donating to the Women’s Sports Foundation.
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