Pickleball’s USD $225M Moment: Apollo Sports Capital Backs the Sport’s Biggest Bet Yet

Pickleball just became a serious business. Even more serious than before.

Apollo Sports Capital has led a USD $225 million structured investment in Pickleball Inc.—the new parent company of the Carvana PPA Tour and Major League Pickleball, presented by DoorDash. The deal creates the largest singularly operated pickleball ecosystem in existence, combining professional competition, consumer goods, technology, media, and infrastructure under one roof. Tom Dundon and the Pardoe family retain majority ownership, rolling in additional assets across facilities, courts, e-commerce, and technology.

The numbers behind the deal are significant. Pickleball Inc.’s newly merged business verticals generated over $140 million in combined revenue in 2025. The sport has been named the fastest-growing in America for five consecutive years, with 24 million players recorded in 2025. According to the 2026 SFIA Annual Report, it is now the fourth most played sport in the United States.

This is not a niche sport chasing legitimacy anymore. It is a business chasing scale.

What the Apollo Sports Investment Is Actually Building

Connor Pardoe, PPA Tour founder and Pickleball Inc. CEO, was direct about what this capital raise means structurally for the sport.

“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,” he said. “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.”

The ecosystem model is the key distinction here. Rather than operating a professional tour alongside separate, disconnected businesses in equipment, technology, and amateur play, Pickleball Inc. is betting on vertical integration—owning the full journey from a first-timer picking up a paddle to a professional competing on the PPA Tour. That is an ambitious model, and USD $225 million gives it the resource base to actually attempt it at scale.

Al Tylis, CEO of Apollo Sports Capital, framed the investment in terms of what the sport has already proven rather than what it might become.

“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,” Tylis said.

The Gender Equity Story

One aspect of Pickleball Inc.’s platform that deserves its own attention is the gender equity dimension. Men and women compete on court equally during both PPA and MLP events—a structural commitment rather than a marketing claim. The top 60 women in professional pickleball average over $260,000 in annual salary, which is, by reported figures, the highest average pay in all of professional women’s team sports.

That is not a small number, and it is not a small claim. It reflects a deliberate design decision baked into how both tours were built—one that the investment and integration under Pickleball Inc. is intended to sustain and expand.

Where It Goes From Here

MLP Commissioner Samin Odhwani pointed to content, media, and infrastructure development as the primary growth vectors the capital raise unlocks.

“The continued and dynamic year-over-year growth data has proven without a doubt that pickleball is no longer an emerging sport, and is instead quickly becoming the next tier one sport in America,” Odhwani said. “This capital raise will allow us to expand our focus into new and scalable opportunities like content, media, and the development of infrastructure to support our fast-growing events.”

The five-person board of Pickleball Inc. includes Tylis, Pardoe, Jason Stein, Zubin Mehta, and Brian Levine.

Twenty-four million players. USD $140 million in combined revenue. USD $225 million in new investment. The sport that started on a backyard badminton court in 1965 now has institutional capital behind it and an integrated platform to match.

The next tier one sport in America. That is the claim. The money is now there to find out if it is true.

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Additional information on Pickleball Inc.’s business verticals, which encompass every level of the sport, from pro players at the very top of the pyramid to casual players enjoying pickleball for the very first time:

Professional Play – Carvana PPA Tour & MLP presented by DoorDash

• Pro pickleball’s leading tour (fall-spring season) and coed team league (summer season), respectively, with a collection of over 150 signed pro players and a combined year-round event calendar bringing the best pros from around the world to markets across the U.S.
• Recently established all-time linear viewership records for both PPA (791,000 avg. viewers on CBS, Jan. 18, 2026) and MLP (499,000 avg. viewers on CBS, Aug. 23, 2025)
• PPA/MLP athletes earn a total of more than USD $33 million in prize money and payouts (USD $260,000+ annual avg.)

Retail – Pickleball Central

• The market-leader in pickleball retail, offering equipment – from paddles to balls to shoes – in addition to accessories and apparel
• World’s largest pickleball retailer, shipping over 1 million orders since its founding in 2006
• Omni-channel, with over 100 Pickleball Central pro shops across the United States

Software – Pickleball Play Solutions

• The software that powers PPA and MLP events—PickleballTournaments.com—in addition to thousands of amateur tournaments and league seasons, annually, with a 90% market share for events and organized play
• PPS website properties average approximately 5 million visits per month
• PPS website properties hosted 4,500 tournaments and 2,000 league seasons in 2025

Court Construction – Just Courts

• The “Official Court Installer” for many prestigious organisations across the pickleball market, including MLP & PPA events, schools, facilities, and community centers

Media – Pickleball.com and Pickleball TV

• Pickleball.com is the go-to online destination for live scores, news, video highlights, merchandise, tournaments, leagues, clubs, ratings, and clinics, offering the latest updates from across the world of pickleball
• Pickleball TV, a joint venture with Tennis Channel, is the only 24/7 digital network dedicated to America’s fastest-growing sport, available on YouTube TV and as a FAST channel on a collection of streaming services, bringing fans live coverage of every PPA and MLP event

Investments in Picklr and DUPR

• Picklr, the leading indoor pickleball facility brand, features over 500 locations worldwide
• DUPR, the world’s most accurate pickleball rating, with over 1 million DUPR rated pickleball players participating in matches, building community, and improving their skill level.