Our boys are officially kindergarteners! 💙 Watching Cannon and Grayson walk into school this morning just about broke my heart in the best way. We miss them so much already, but can’t wait to see them grow, learn, and thrive this year! 🍎✏️📚
Courtside with Carli and the older twins today! Watching the world’s best at the PPA Tour and soaking in all the fun. Crazy to see the boys growing up right alongside the tour! #PPATour #PardoeDoubles
We didn’t get around to sending out Christmas cards this year, but we’re still sending lots of love! Merry Christmas to all of our wonderful friends, both old and new, and to everyone who has made our year so special! Feeling extra grateful! ❤️🎄
Carli is patient, kind, loving, thoughtful and so much fun to be around. She is such an incredible mother. We all love her so much!❤️ Happy Mother’s Day!!!
Building a sport, building a business, and trying to make it home for dinner ❤️
CEO and founder Connor Pardoe has always been all in on the PPA Tour, but that doesn’t mean it’s been easy.
All episodes of Partners are streaming now on Prime Video and PPA Tour YouTube.
The PPA Tour started as a back-of-the-napkin idea by Connor Pardoe.💡
Today the tour and its parent company Pickleball Inc. raised $225M at a whopping $800M valuation. 🚀
follow @pickleballers for more pickleball podcast content!
Apollo Sports Capital is investing $225M into Pickleball Inc.
Bringing together @majorleaguepb (MLP) and the @ppatour , the deal consolidates pro leagues, media, and infrastructure into a single platform.
The roll-up also includes equipment, tournament software, and court development, expanding from competition to full ecosystem.
With 24M+ U.S. players and $140M+ in revenue, pickleball is shifting from breakout trend to scaled business.
As top-tier team valuations soar, private equity is betting on emerging sports IP, building vertically integrated platforms beyond leagues.
📸: PPA Tour
Pickeball is big business! Turns out it is a real sport and people do watch and it’s most definitely not a fad. Building a new pro sports league from nothing has been fascinating and fun and crazy at times. Excited to welcome our new partners from Apollo and continue building Pickleball Inc with the leaders @connor_pardoe@sodhwani . And of course my fav team owner in sports Tom Dundon.
There have been dramatic highs and lows in the evolution of professional pickleball over the past 5 or so years, but today is one that EVERYONE involved in the sport should be remarkably proud of. Whether you’re Pickleball Inc CEO @connor_pardoe , MLP Commissioner @sodhwani , MLP’s newest team @pbroyals , one of our professional players, sponsors, or simply a fan of the sport, you have contributed to this remarkable achievement. Yes, pickleball continues to be the fastest growing participation sport in the country, but many have been cynical on its potential as a spectator sport. With today’s $225 million investment in Pickleball Inc (parent of PPA Tour & Major League Pickleball), the financial world has staked its claim in the future of this incredible sport.
If you still haven’t caught the wave, here are a couple of great opportunities to do so:
- Saturday, 12:30 on CBS - PPA’s Atlanta Slam semifinals
- Tuesday on Prime Video or PickleballTV - premiere of the new docuseries Partners
