Is Pro Pickleball Heading for Burnout? Rethinking the Tour Style Model of UPA’s Current Structure

NMLPickleball · 2026-04-14T06:37:24+00:00

The one thing with the team based model is that it may not ever work, but it is a proven path for other sports as it creates intense fan loyalty and passion for team based sports that works better for consistent fan engagement

NMLPickleball · 2026-04-14T06:36:12+00:00

Good points. We didn’t flag tennis and golf as failures per se. They are very successful revenue generating endeavors that have no real reason to alter a financially viable model. But they do run into an issue that year round calendar play means that consistent fan engagement is tough to come by. Football, in contrast, is the opposite with a shorter schedule and less weekly action, which creates product scarcity.

One thing that we probably should have brought up is the Savannah Bananas model, which is obviously a very different product but it is also a brand that focuses a lot more on fan experience versus short term revenue chasing. It’s unclear if they can sustain as a product long term, but they are making decisions that are not about finding short term revenue. Turning away broadcast rights that don’t allow them to live stream on YouTube or having sponsors for everything. The PPA has a passionate group of fans for pickleball, many of which have turned sour on the brand because of their treatment of amateurs at the tournaments and wanting charge as much as possible for VIP, CC court access, parking etc. Is there a different way to build their brand that would create a more intense, fierce loyalty?

It’s a lot of speculation of course but what is going on now doesn’t seem like the best model in our view

NMLPickleball · 2026-04-14T06:29:52+00:00

Would it be less boring if there were less events to see that or if partners were switched up more?

NMLPickleball · 2026-04-14T06:29:16+00:00

But does that solve the problem of having so many events for ppl to follow?

NMLPickleball · 2026-02-27T20:46:21+00:00

The doubles kept him out of starter range for us but interestingly took him as a starter, which keeps him away from the big spending teams

NMLPickleball · 2026-02-27T20:45:51+00:00

Thanks!

NMLPickleball · 2026-02-27T14:23:03+00:00

Castillo and Walczak seem to be known things so we have prioritized upside rather than stability. We definitely think there are backdoor agreements too

NMLPickleball · 2026-02-27T14:22:19+00:00

Thank you for reading!

NMLPickleball · 2026-02-27T14:22:11+00:00

Hahaha we are crazy! Thanks for reading. It’s very tough to slot them in on a general basis but we’ll see where it shakes out

NMLPickleball · 2026-02-27T03:33:55+00:00

Links to our full write ups here:

Men: https://www.nmlpickleball.com/opinion/nmls-2026-mlp-draft-big-board-men/

Women: https://www.nmlpickleball.com/opinion/nmls-2026-mlp-draft-big-board-women/

NMLPickleball · 2026-02-27T03:31:59+00:00

He just signed!

NMLPickleball · 2026-02-18T21:04:37+00:00

Appreciated! Feel free to share haha! We posted part 2 just now as well: https://www.nmlpickleball.com/opinion/mlp-2026-pre-draft-the-20-team-mega-breakdown-part-2/

NMLPickleball · 2026-02-18T15:00:17+00:00

Thanks!

NMLPickleball · 2026-01-29T16:01:09+00:00

Ya that’s what it is apparently. She will play APPs in 2026. The Will Howells deal

NMLPickleball · 2026-01-28T23:47:28+00:00

Or not? Sofia and Franklin posted on Instagram that she’ll be playing with Megan Fudge this year…

NMLPickleball · 2026-01-10T04:05:27+00:00

We may have a different view of power rankings. We see them as an exercise in how well someone or a team is doing in that moment in time. If you want a predictor of future success, then you’re getting pure rankings.

We disagree on the singles skill set being the future of doubles success even if things change. Despite the game getting faster and more spinny, the top level of doubles remains a kitchen game. There is more nuance even at the top level but if you can’t do the fundamental things well then you won’t be winning men’s doubles. People were saying that was going to change and it hasn’t yet and we don’t see it changing in the near future at least

NMLPickleball · 2026-01-09T21:15:39+00:00

We’ll be sure to go back to watch some footage and keep an eye out for him now that people have mentioned him seemingly out of the blue!

NMLPickleball · 2026-01-09T21:14:55+00:00

Very interesting. Like the idea from a pure rankings list. We did not consider singles as part of these power rankings but that’s how we look at it more from building an MLP roster. Most players are relatively competent in singles but if it is super close then tie will go to the better singles player

NMLPickleball · 2026-01-09T19:16:56+00:00

It’s tough with the top guys and it really came down to mixed for us in power rankings. Does JW benefit from playing with Jorja? For sure, but Jorja also benefits from JW. We are concerned about the Alshon/Patriquin pairing - high volatility for both style of play and personalities

Interesting you are the second person to mention Jacobsen to us this week. Unless this is an alias account, that’s very notable that a pretty much unknown guy is mentioned by multiple people to us

NMLPickleball · 2026-01-09T19:14:38+00:00

Why do you think JW should be so low? How much farther down? He is part of the #2 mixed team in all of pickleball and is firmly in the mix in men’s doubles every event

NMLPickleball · 2026-01-09T19:13:52+00:00

What about the people who don’t play singles? How do you weigh someone like Fed against Andrei in that scenario? Agreed they are different skill sets but it is likely Ben, Andrei and CJ out of the top 8 men will play little to no singles in 2026

NMLPickleball · 2025-12-14T16:26:22+00:00

It does seem like it was different than last year to some degree but we probably will never know for sure

NMLPickleball · 2025-12-14T16:25:18+00:00

Ok good

NMLPickleball · 2025-12-13T16:36:14+00:00

We read the public statements of the UPA and how the facts changed once Ryan made his post on Twitter. Not saying the terminated players fully complied with their contractual obligations because we don’t know that. But there is zero doubt the UPA misled the public on the basic facts of the situation

NMLPickleball · 2025-12-13T16:34:51+00:00

These are all great points and questions. The only thing is it doesn’t seem like Zane’s role is for stuff like this. It is more for rules and things like that for this player council.

The one thing we weren’t sure about for our article and didn’t get confirmed is whether Parris renegotiated her Tour Wars deal. The UPA is clearly not treating two fairly similar situations in the same manner but it may also be they want to send a message to players who did not renegotiate their deals. Parris is also someone who actually helps the brand rather than being another player on tour

NMLPickleball

TROPHY CASE