The PPA Tour has recently released its calendar for its new season, and there are quite a few changes in it compared to previous seasons.
For one, the new season will run from June 2025 to May 2026, with the competition culminating in the PPA Tour Finals at Life Time Rancho San Clemente from 4 to 10 May 2026. This means the PPA Tour season for next year will run from autumn to spring just like professional basketball (NBA) and hockey (NHL). This is a stark departure from previous seasons, as the PPA Tour has loosely followed the calendar where the season traditionally started in January and ended in December.
“The PPA Tour Finals are the culmination of all the hard work and competition from the athletes throughout the season,” the PPA Tour said in announcing the revamped calendar. “Only the best players from the season will qualify for—and compete in—the PPA Finals, which will put the final stamp onto the 2025–26 PPA Tour season and crown the season’s champions of America’s fastest-growing sport.”
What’s in Store for the Next PPA Tour Season
The 2025–26 PPA Tour season will total 21 events:
- Worlds in Dallas (worth 3,000 points)
- Three Slams (Cincinnati, Masters, and Atlanta; each worth 2,000 points)
- Five Cups (San Clemente, Virginia Beach, Las Vegas, Mesa, and St. George; each worth 1,500 points)
- 11 Opens [Bristol, Las Vegas, Sacramento, Lakeland (FL), Daytona Beach, Lakeland (MN), Cape Coral, Newport, McKinney, Nashville, and Sacramento; each worth 1,000 points]
The new calendar is also notable because it streamlines the Carvana PPA Tour season with that of Major League Pickleball (MLP presented by DoorDash). That is because after the PPA Tour season ends in May, the MLP season will then begin and run through August.
“We are thrilled to end our season with the PPA Finals at one of the most spectacular and beloved venues on tour—Life Time Rancho San Clemente,” said Connor Pardoe, Founder and CEO of Carvana PPA Tour. “This slight restructure of the tour calendar will allow long-standing, and brand new, fans to better follow both the PPA Tour and Major League Pickleball.”
Why the New Calendar Makes Sense
Ever since the PPA Tour and MLP merged in 2024, their respective seasons have inevitably overlapped. This has made it difficult for pickleball fans to follow both leagues, with PPA Tour events usually interspersed with MLP events, and vice versa. Even the players had to adjust accordingly from competing in the PPA Tour to competing in the MLP, and back again.
This overlap will no longer happen with the new calendar, as the seasons are well-defined: The PPA Tour will run from June 2025 to May 2026, while the MLP season will be from May 2026 to August 2026.
Without these overlaps—last season, three PPA Tour events occurred right during the MLP season—fans can focus solely on the PPA Tour first, and follow the action exclusively until champions are crowned in the Finals come May 2026. Then, right after, they can turn their attention to the MLP season. The same applies to players, who can channel their full attention to the PPA Tour first before turning their focus to the MLP.
Furthermore, having well-defined and distinct seasons puts both the PPA Tour and the MLP in a better position to secure sponsorship and media rights, as sponsors and media entities will not have to worry about events potentially overlapping. This will lead to more revenue streams for both the PPA Tour and the MLP, and could potentially help pickleball attract an even bigger fanbase.
In short, fans, players, and pickleball itself stand to be the big winners of this revamped, streamlined calendar.
