3 Takeaways from the Latest Tour Wars Saga Between MLP and the PPA
There was a PPA event in Kansas City and an APP event in Philadelphia this past weekend. You normally know what the drill is. We bring you some takeaways, you read them and we do it all again for the next tournament. However, the latest battle taking place in the pro pickleball Tour Wars has made the results from this weekend so insignificant in our view. This is the biggest battle within the Tour Wars that we have seen to date and it is not close to over as of the writing of this article.
Instead of our usual takeaways, we are going to bring you our takeaways from the latest saga in the Tour Wars. The caveat to these takeaways is that information is becoming old very fast. Our most recent piece became partly stale after only a couple of hours as Jack Sock was announced to the PPA. So we’ll look to provide as much information as we can that’s relevant and give some takes on what it means for pro pickleball right now.
For a list of players that have been announced to have signed with the PPA and MLP, you can go to the Dink’s blog or their Twitter as they are most on top of the up to the minute changes.
1. MLP is the Leader in the Clubhouse – We have seen in past battles of the Tour Wars that things can change on a dime. Making proclamations about which tour is winning the war can be foolhardy. That being said, there is little question that right now MLP is the leader in the clubhouse by a significant margin, even after the slew of signings announced by the PPA late Sunday – Dekel Bar, Julian Arnold, Lauren Stratman, Tina Pisnik and Tammy and Martin Emmrich.
As we noted in an earlier article, MLP seems to have learned its lesson from the ghosts of Tour Wars past. The PPA caught MLP on their heels both when Tom Dundon purchased the PPA and last November when they came forward with gold touring cards along with the Vibe Pickleball League.
There are different versions being thrown around of what led to this situation of mass signings – pro pickleball’s version of siblings telling their parents that the other one started it. Tyler Loong and Jimmy Miller presented a PPA friendly version of events as fact on their latest King of the Court podcast. Having taken in a bunch of information over the past few days, in our view, there’s no way we can confidently present one version as definitive. There is contention as to things such as who took the first shot and who was upset on the MLP side of the table, but who started it really doesn’t matter at this moment.
Despite the PPA supposedly locking in Anna Leigh Waters and Ben Johns, the end result has been MLP putting the PPA on their heels this time around by being first to the punch to lock in key players like Tyson McGuffin, James Ignatowich and Anna Bright. The MLP contracts are exclusive this time around and contemplate a full schedule for their players.
There are a whole bunch of factors that go into why players are choosing one entity over the other, but we are have seen most of the legacy big names (and pro tennis players) go with the PPA and the newer guard with MLP. Really, the biggest factor in these decisions come down to money, but when the money is close most players are opting to go with the people they trust more.
This may oversimplify matters, but the PPA prioritizing a select group of players over equality for the greater good might be hurting them in a big way. However, the biggest thing to make MLP the current leaders were the coups of Tyson McGuffin and Riley Newman from the PPA. No matter what the reasons are for the PPA being behind right now, it has left the PPA with a lot of “cap space” and pushed them into a situation where they have likely overpaid substantially for their recent signings such as Tina Pisnik.
MLP still has a significant majority of the better talent signed with the biggest holdouts still being the Johnson siblings and Dylan Frazier. The other wrinkle is that it is becoming fairly public knowledge that a good number of PPA announced players have not signed new, binding contracts, which does not appear to be the case for the MLP announced players. The word is that PPA players have signed Letters of Intent whereas MLP players have signed binding contracts.
There is potential for players to flip on both sides as the two entities continue to talk to everyone, but the flipping is more of a possibility with PPA players. The biggest possible flipper who is being thrown around is one Benjamin Johns. Now, this whole leader in the clubhouse thing could change fast if the PPA can do what it did in November and lock in the Johnson’s and Frazier because the problem for Ben currently is there is no competition for him.
It would take a huge number and some creativity on MLP’s part to flip Ben over. The information we have tells us that Ben has had equity in the PPA since he signed initially so it comes down to more than loyalty to the group that has treated him so favorably over the past couple of years.
MLP could truly put a nail in the PPA coffin if they can land the big holdouts and flip one of the two players who have the ability to provide real legitimacy to MLP – Ben Johns and Anna Leigh Waters.
There is a lot still to unfold as the parties continue to make phone calls, negotiate and sign players. It wasn’t very long ago that the PPA was the leader in the clubhouse. MLP has flipped that script. The question is whether they can keep the momentum going.
2. Still Many Unanswered Questions – For as many answers as there are based on player signings, there are a bunch of big questions left to be answered that go beyond the remaining dominoes left to fall.
Of course, the first question is where will all the players come out in the wash? This was already discussed it in the first takeaway, but the biggest ones to watch are the reportedly signed players. Beyond Ben Johns, there could be other players wanting to make a move so they don’t get left in the dust. If the PPA really has announced some of these new signings without having players locked down, it could mean more movement is set to come. Of course, JW and Dylan are as meaningful as anyone right now.
What happens for the rest of 2023? The PPA was supposed to have equity in MLP as a result of the intended merger agreed to in principle back in November 2022. It also resulted in PPA owner, Tom Dundon, and PPA Commissioner, Connor Pardoe, being provided with ownership of separate MLP teams, the Seattle Pioneers and Utah Black Diamonds.
We already had a season 2 draft for MLP, but we may have a chunk of the best players exclusive to the PPA. We also have a ton of previous PPA gold card players locked into MLP deals. Will the PPA run their pro events with or without the MLP exclusive players for 2023?
Connor Pardoe responded to a random Facebook post at about 2:00 am EST on Monday, August 28th that their next in Cincinnati will be “BIG”. Pardoe loves his cryptic social media messages so it’s hard to say what that means exactly. Unsurprisingly, his comment means there is an intention to continue business as usual on the PPA Tour going forward.
Could there still be a merger between the PPA and MLP? You can’t rule it out. It almost happened before when no one thought it would. The arms race caused MLP to feel backed into a corner and they traded equity for peace. A merger is far less likely to happen in August 2023, but it can’t be ruled out entirely. We have also heard some very unconfirmed rumblings there are discussions happening between the APP Tour and MLP, but we can’t give those rumblings any more credence than speculation at this point.
This leads to whether pro pickleball will be fragmented going forward. Fans were the big winners when the PPA and MLP allegedly merged. The prevailing wisdom the past few days is that the fans are big losers because we won’t see the best talent all in one place.
First off, we don’t know that pro pickleball will be as fragmented as everyone is assuming it will be. The player signings announced may not be the foregone conclusion that a signing announcement should be so let’s wait and see there.
Even if it is fragmented, can we really be so sure that is a loss for fans? So much depends on how this plays out because the other way this could go is that it makes the future of pro pickleball better than ever.
We describe this as the Tour Wars and the reality of a war is that one side ends up winning. Even if no one wins the war after this battle, it may have put the wheels in motion for one entity to be the main tour/league. Regardless of which entity prevails, the best thing for pro pickleball is likely one entity prevailing when all is said and done, and some short term fragmented paid could be the best long term gain. It forces improvement and creativity, whether it is the PPA or MLP.
What about legal issues? Breach of contract for former PPA, now MLP, players is being thrown around so casually. There are also questions between MLP and the PPA regarding the intention to merge and the agreements made to that effect. It’s dangerous to speculate on legal issues with having such a small part of the picture, but it’s safe to say there is a good chance legal issues will arise. Whether the legal issues spill over into impacting the product on court is a whole other can of worms.
These are only some of the bigger unknowns we have brought up. There are many other pieces to this largely unfinished puzzle.
3. Backing up the Brinks Truck for the Players – One thing that is certain in all of this is that pro pickleball players are giant winners as a result of this. We had concerns that the gravy train would slow down following the MLP and PPA truce, but it has been the complete opposite. So many players are receiving lifestyle changing money relative to their standing in pro pickleball, from stars to fringe pros.
Just look at all the pros who have signed what are supposed to be guaranteed, multi-year deals. The past couple of years, any financial guarantees players have had have been in the form of appearance fees. To have the stability that comes from a guaranteed contract is a major shift, and changes the game for players across the sport. Pro pickleball has become more of a full-time job and now it can be that for so many more players.
With all this money being thrown around, there are people asking where all the money is coming from? With pro pickleball currently operating as a negative return on investment endeavor, how can either the PPA or MLP be affording to pay players 6 and 7 figures over the next 3 years?
It is a fair question to ask, but it is likely only relevant for the entity that falls short in this saga. If MLP “succeeds”, they have the benefit of a previous influx of cash flow from investors banking on pro franchises being the wave of the future. Not to mention that MLP has a roster of very rich people who should understand that MLP is a long-term ROI play. If the PPA “succeeds”, Tom Dundon has his amateur side investments that supplement the investment in the pro game, and he would probably be willing to keep the train chugging so long as the pro side is more secure.
At the end of the day, the amateur side of pickleball is probably the surest bet financially and both entities involved have big stakes on that side of the coin (MLP has DUPR and PPA has Pickleball Central and the tournament software).
Beyond the competition concerns, a bigger fear for players could be for those who choose the wrong side. If one of the entities folds, where does that leave the players who chose the entity that doesn’t survive? This is what also could cause players to flip one way or the other. Not wanting to be left behind.
It is also unclear what this situation means for new players and how either entity is going to handle up and coming talent that will want to be paid in accordance with market value. Josh Gartman, new GM of the DC Pickleball Team, described this situation as NBA free agency on steroids. We have seen in past NBA free agencies that unique circumstances have led to unsustainable pay days for players (think Allen Crabbe and Chandler Parsons in 2016). This could be the same for pro pickleball, albeit with very different circumstances. It is pretty much impossible for these salaries to be sustainable going forward when the pro game doesn’t make money.
No matter what, it appears that playing pro pickleball, without supplementing income elsewhere, will be a viable career for more than a handful of players over the next three years and potentially beyond. That’s not anything that players should have been banking on at the start of the year.
Agree or disagree? Let us know in the comments below or email us at nmlpickleball@gmail.com. Follow us on Twitter, Instagram, Threads and Facebook. Also, listen and subscribe to our podcast on Apple, Spotify and YouTube!
Just an excellent analysis and summary. Not sure how this will pan out in the long run, but I am certainly happy that so many more players will see financial rewards for their work and talent.
Thanks, Scott. It will be fascinating to watch unfold
Thanks for working without a full staff (maybe there are pickleball journalist wars, too?), and keeping us up to date.
Hahaah thanks Fred. So much going on that we want to share. Appreciate you reading and interacting
#1. Loong said on his “emergency” KOTC podcast that Ben had signed a new 3 year contract. He seemed certain of it. The letter of intent could have 2 sides: PPA needs time for their lawyers to draft the contracts so could only get the letter of intent ready on such short notice. Or PPA hopes to leave room to “negotiate” out of some of their verbal promises.
#2: Winners. With different players in each entity, neither needs to lose. When PPA had Johns but APP had JW and a bunch of up and comers like Ignatowich and Bright, both attracted views/fans. Tyson has a big fan base so his fans will watch him no matter where he goes. Sock fans will watch Sock whenever he shows up for a PPA event. AL has fans that will follow her. MLP never had big viewership numbers so they may see a slight increase. PPA will do what they need to do to keep their numbers up — maybe spread out the big tennis names amongst their events. Or do exhibitions at their events with other sports pro athletes like in the past. What is a given is that they will schedule a PPA event on every week-end that has a MLP event – a la what they did with many APP tournaments. If they are smart, PPA and MLP will do YT streams for everything. Don’t lose any wannabe fans by streaming on CBS Sports Network or ESPN+. Co-stream if you must but don’t turn fans away. I know I didn’t watch some MLP events in the last 2 years because I knew there was no chance of watching the finals.
Long term it’s hard to see how there is enough viewership in pro pickleball to sustain multiple different things right now, but it’s not out of the realm. Always agree on the YT streaming stuff
I’m starting to see names being signed that I haven’t come across before. I’ve been watching and taking notes on players since October. I had 198 men and 157 women, but did not have Roscoe Bellamy (MLP) or Kaitlyn Christian (PPA).
Kaitlyn has 16 matches in DUPR, with a doubles rating of 4.88. She does have a 5.83 singles. Searching, I found a Wikipedia page for her. She is a successful tennis doubles player. (I know absolutely zero about tennis). She is 31 years old.
Roscoe, it turns out, just finished UCLA, played tennis there and has played a bit of pickleball already. Probably lots of upside . . . but I wouldn’t know.
I see a lot of established, and a bit older, middle-of-the-pack pros aren’t getting any love right now. Maybe they will get their chance when the two entities start their separate seasons.
Charlie: NML wrote this for the APP Cincinnati Open in May 9-14, 2023: “Of note is Roscoe Bellamy, son of top senior pro Beth Bellamy, making his pro debt this weekend.”
NML wrote this for Singles Rankings in November, 2021: “Gritty cannot quit Kaitlyn Christian (I actually had to talk him out of having her in the top 5 in our initial rankings this year).”
Kaitlyn played some in 2021 and was signed with Selkirk. She did some doubles matches with Tyson. But she never reached her full potential because she was still involved with tennis. Her doubles was bad. Roscoe is young and fairly untried but could have a high ceiling.
Jimmy and Tyler (King of the Court) released part two of their podcast this evening. A big theme is that the money being doled out is outrageous and out of control. Marginal players, who have never even medaled in APP, are being given $200+k contracts. Jimmy asked Tyler how much he got and Tyler said $5 million (!?!?!?!). Tyler brought up the fact that minor league baseball players and NBA G-League players are only making 50k per year, and now we have big bags of cash being thrown at pickleball players. They are both gobsmacked by what is going on.
Tyler said in chat he was joking about the $5M. ($5M for a guy who hasn’t made a podium in 2023 would be “outrageous” though). KOTC PPA/MLP discussions have had an obvious PPA slant, so I’m taking anything they say about this topic with more than a few grains of salt.
Thanks for the info. Yeah, I figured he must be joking about that number. Even Ben Johns wouldn’t be offered THAT much. Tyler must have received a pretty good chunk of change, though. Good for him.
Ben likely wouldn’t be offered that much in pure salary either, yes.
That’s a good eye as well. There has clearly been a PPA slant to discussions, which is interesting because at the beginning of KOTC Jimmy did not appear to be a fan of Connor despite Tyler being pro PPA. Tides have been shifting and it has shifted clearly towards PPA in this round of Tour Wars
Speaking of tides shifting towards PPA, did y’all see the Selkirk poll results?
https://www.selkirk.com/blogs/news/selkirk-sport-survey-reveals-an-overwhelming-preference-for-ppa-tour-among-pickleball-fans?_kx=r90uRNdg7Qi6VrE5wdFuhfd6qZdccBctUapGeX3x0Vo%3D.XWRFYw
IDK if this is just a PPA/Selkirk relationship bearing fruit or actual poll results.
This would seem to be another notch in the PPA and Selkirk long-standing relationship. That’s full speculation but the timing is so coincidental and there’s not enough insight into what went into the survey data results. It is likely actual results but how they got that data who knows
Don’t think Tyler was being serious with that comment as they seemed to make some jokes after. Also, Jimmy somewhat corrected Tyler this time regarding his comment about PPA being profitable. The pro tour is not profitable or breaking even currently. We are very confident about that. It is the other stuff that is profitable like PB Central
Thank you for your post. I sure hope Sock finds his way. Will be interesting where JW, JJ, and DF go. Can see how APP could fit into the MLP as a pre-pro venue.
APP could fit in possibly as being able to help run events or feeder events
This whole issue is fascinating and sad. The PPA and MLP both play a role in promoting the great sport of pickleball, and could complement each other so well. As fans, we have more years of “chaos” in the sport – too bad for us – we want to see the best play the best.
As far as MLP “winning” with the player recruitment, they need to fill 24 teams, and how they do it with free agency or a draft is going to create winners and losers within the teams; more chaos. Also, how many of the players we are calling top end (Bright, Iggy, Staksrud, etc.) were at the top at the beginning of 2022? Their reputations grew from success on the PPA tour in 2022 and 2023, when they supplanted/passed up previous top end players (Zane, Jay, Simone, etc). The PPA will have good players playing their tourneys, and they will develop as they get better repetition against the PPA players. Do any APP players jump at higher $ with PPA? Does MLP supplement APP as their development league with $?
As others have said, too much ego and available money on both sides. In the long run, neither league will be financially feasible without some outside funding ie advertisers, TV. Since the PPA is connected to PB Central and PB brackets, they have recurring cash flow to invest into PPA – MLP does not have that now. In addition, PPA can help the equipment manufacturers sell their product by advertising and selling in PB Central. MLP has to figure the financials out besides investors dumping money into the teams – values won’t continue to rise without reason.
Sorry it all had to come to this. I will still watch both.
Appreciate the comments. There is a lot of money being thrown around and there’s not much chatter about what happens to new players that come into the sport and what money they get. Hard to say
A lot of people are drawing the comparison to PGA/LIV, which makes sense, although I think the fact that the PGA was clearly the more established, prestigious tour makes the analogy breakdown a bit. What came to mind for me, as someone who’s been following MMA for a while, is the era of the 90s-2000s where the UFC and Pride FC co-existed. The UFC was nothing like the juggernaut that it is today, and many would agree that Pride was the more successful, respected organization, at least among fans. The talent was relatively evenly spread out, although fans of each organization would disagree on the particulars of that. There were a number of years where the two co-existed with minimal conflict, with the UFC even sending a fighter to participate in a Pride FC tournament (although the expected reciprocation never happened). While there were many, many dream crossover matchups that we as fans wanted to see, we understood that they were unlikely to happen in that time period. Eventually Pride’s parent company ran into such significant financial troubles that they were all but forced to sell to the UFC’s parent company. While there were talks of still operating the two brands as separate organizations with occasional crossovers, the UFC ended up absorbing most of Pride’s roster and killing the brand.
All of that to say, there is relatively recent precedent of a sport (particularly one that is fairly niche as a spectator sport at the time) having a divided playerbase and still being able to motor along for a decade. I don’t know that I would go as far as to say that that’s what I think will happen here, but it is very possible, especially in the near term.
Interesting analogy. We have no knowledge of this and appreciate you sharing this. It is possible for sure that they can co-exist but it can’t be constant fighting
I understand why the “Julie Johnson Pickleball Academy” group are holding out but I’m wondering why you think Jessie Irvine has been holding out so long? Maybe it’s money, maybe she wants to see how things shake out? I’m also wondering if her stock has dropped enough that neither side is willing to meet her demands. Most of her recent partners are at MLP – I don’t think she’d feel particularly complimentary to the PPA group of signed folks. Maybe she also prefers PPA format versus MLP? Interesting.
We have no info on Jessie but she doesn’t move the needle for either party so it is not out of the question she overestimated her market value. But we haven’t heard anything about that
A few more podcasts are dropping today with more to come (possibly Zane’s). Anna Bright was solo. She rambled a lot so some of it was hard to follow. I found Rettenmaier’s to be the most coherent of the 3 (including KOTC here). Also Rettenmaier and Graham seemed to be the most realistic about future – another entity could come in eventually and another battle for supremacy. Both AB and Travis seemed to think it’d be unlikely they’ll finish the PPA 2023 tournaments. Neither expressed a strong wish to do so.
Thanks for the info. We’re working on getting through podcasts. Travis and Graham have been doing a good job with their podcasts
Agreed. I thought Travis and Graham were pretty succinct and didn’t over speculate. Also, they seemed a bit more sober in their thoughts on the future. Anna did provide some good insight into the turmoil occurring at KC PPA and some of her thought process on making a decision. Interested to listen to Zane’s take.
They understand the risk of pro pickle as a long term viable sport
Graham said that some players are getting “pieces of a tour, pieces of a team”
So like the deal Ben is alleged to have with the PPA, MLP is doing the same
Based on nothing but that statement, that’s my current guess then for the Julie Johnson players. They’re negotiating as a group, they want their own MLP team, and guarantees they can play on that team. I imagine they’re asking for some massive consideration from the PPA as well.
This is what’s taking so long. Probably something that has to be approved the the BoD, or a vote of the other owners, or something time-consuming.
Of course, they might just be on vacation. IDK.
Graham did sound really uncertain about the sustainability of the MLP’s spending spree. Loved the video bomb in that episode, too
Fred: From the results I’ve seen, the Johnson crew have to be the hardest working players out there. They deserve to be rewarded extremely well for all their dedicated effort: JW, Dylan, Jorja, Milan, Gabe. And lots of ceiling left.
This is good speculation probably and good puzzle piecing. Some creative alternatives that provide more upside and certainty. It does sound like there is more ongoing negotiation. And agreed on Graham. He didn’t sound too happy with this shift
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