UPA Makes Bold Move with Contract Restructuring, Keeps Eye Out on Long-Term Viability

With the professional pickleball circuit—mainly, the PPA Tour and MLP Presented by DoorDash—growing by leaps and bounds, it almost seemed inevitable that complications would arise in terms of ensuring sustainability and long-term viability. This appears to be the inflection point that has moved the United Pickleball Association (UPA), the governing body of both the PPA and MLP, to restructure player contracts in a move that’s ostensibly mean to ensure stability in both leagues and in the pro level in general.

The UPA put the wheels in motion for this restructuring on Monday, 23 June, when it emailed all players signed to both leagues about new player contracts that would stay in effect until 2028. That extension up to 2028 is among the notable changes to this uniform player’s contract, which would have ended in 2026 if the current deal is followed. Along with this extension, the new contract will also split players’ guaranteed annual salary into thirds and spread it out over 2026, 2027, and 2028, assuring pickleball pros of a livelihood until that time.

Money, Money, Money!

Additionally, the new contract will include prize money for the players on both the PPA Tour and MLP on top of the USD$11 million in guaranteed salaries and the USD$5 million in international prize money. In other words, players will have more earning opportunities as pickleball pros that are apart from whatever sponsorship deals they will get, if any. This additional money pool will be categorised into four tiers:

• Gold Contract: Players who signed in Fall 2023, a.k.a. the tour wars period, are eligible for the Gold Prize Money Grid. The signing window is from 1 July to 15 August 2025.
• Standard Contract: Current UPA players who signed after the tour wars have access to the Standard Prize Money Grid. The signing window: is from 15 August to 23 September 2025.
• New Player Contract: Non-UPA players who signed before the deadline are eligible for the Standard Prize Money Grid. The signing window is from 23 September to 1 November 2025.
• Futures Contract: Players not signed by 1 November 2025 have access to Futures Prize Money Grid, with a six-month minimum contract period.

Here are the prize pools of some tournaments for Gold Contract holders:

Here are some prize pools for Standard Contract signees:

Sign Up, Play More—But for the UPA Only

The restructured contracts will continue to enforce exclusivity and will require players to compete in 15 PPA Tournaments, 6 MLP Events, and 4 additional player-selected events.

The PPA Tournaments include 3 Slams, 4 Cups, 1 World Championship, 6 Opens, 1 International Tour Stop, and the PPA Finals (if qualified). MLP Events, on the other hand, include 5 Regular Season Events, 1 Mid-Season Tournament, and the MLP Playoffs (if the player’s team qualifies). For the four additional events, players can choose any four from PPA Tour Opens, PPA Tour World Championship Series Events, PPA Tour Challengers, PPA Tour International Events, or Future MLP Events.

It should be noted that the UPA recently dropped the hammer on one of its rising stars, Quang Duong, who was both fined and suspended after playing in a non-UPA event, thus violating the exclusivity aspect of the previous UPA contract. The restructured one will keep this exclusivity clause and ask players to play more at the same time.

Transforming the Ranking System

The restructured contracts also outline a new PPA World Ranking and transforms it to a comprehensive system designed to identify the pro tour’s best of the best across divisions. It is a composite ranking that takes into account performance across doubles (men’s and women’s), mixed doubles, and singles. The rankings are determined using a weighted point system based on each player’s PPA Tour results over the course of 52 weeks:

• Gender Doubles – 50%
• Mixed Doubles – 35%
• Singles –15%

Aside from identifying the top players at the pro level, the PPA World Ranking will also have a bearing on MLP appearance fees, among other things, as the higher the ranking, the bigger the pay. This restructured ranking system will be among the new innovations that the UPA is introducing along with the new contracts.

Indeed, the UPA is in a period of transition at the moment, and it is one that could directly impact how the pro tour will evolve over the years. In fact, it might mean the difference between the PPA and MLP growing stronger or fading to obscurity.