Major League Pickleball matches to air on Tennis Channel while Association of Pickleball Professionals signs deals with ESPN and CBS

Pickleball has soared in popularity, with more than 36 million Americans playing the sport last year. Now the Tennis Channel is poised to capitalize on that surge. ESPN and CBS are also getting in on the action.

What's the deal?

The APP is one of a handful of new professional outfits aiming to take advantage of booming interest in the sport, which combines elements of tennis, ping-pong, and squash. LeBron James, Tom Brady, and Kevin Durant recently announced investments in Major League Pickleball, which competes with the APP and the Professional Pickleball Association.

A longtime Tennis Channel executive said pickleball has already seen a very natural overlap with existing tennis sponsors. He doesn’t worry about pickleball cannibalizing the sport that’s been his bread and butter. APP Chief Marketing Officer Tom Webb said about his group's media deals: “Over 36.5 million Americans played pickleball in 2022 and this media package enables those fans to tune in to our world-class tournaments and introduces the sport and its best players to millions more.”

The bottom line:

For the Tennis Channel audience, Levine thinks pickleball’s fast-paced action will help attract new fans of the sport. The network once broadcasted a special pickleball celebrity exhibition featuring sports legends like Tony Romo, Jordan Spieth, and John Isner.

Read: CNBC, Deadline

Steph Curry doc ‘Underrated’ lights up Sundance with standing ovations

The film&emdash;from Sundance vet and award-winning director Pete Nicks, Apple Original Films, and A24&emdash;debuted inside Park City’s Eccles Theatre to a capacity crowd that included Ryan Coogler, a producer of the film, beloved coach Bob McKillop and a handful of Curry’s teammates from Davidson, the Cinderella stars of March Madness in 2008, including Jason Richards, Thomas Sander and Andrew Lovedale, all of whom appear in the film.

The behind-the-scenes glimpse offers insight into Curry’s personal life as he juggles the demands of a superstar career with fulfilling a promise he made to his mother when he left Davidson early in favor of a career in the NBA that he would eventually get his college degree. The film also features never-before-seen footage of Curry’s childhood and time on the court when he was just an aspiring athlete with big dreams. Also adorable: scenes featuring his home life with three children including a scene-stealing son, Canon W. Jack, as well as footage of his time at Davidson including a rap cameo on The Davidson Show.

Read: Hollywood Reporter

Yeti takes slow and steady approach to sports marketing

Rather than shelling out millions to have its products and logos plastered on billboards or TV screens, the Austin, Texas-based brand lets the communities that embrace its products and brand dictate where they prioritize and invest. “When we started, the product was adopted by the fishing community, so we joined the fishing community,” Yeti chief marketing officer Paulie Dery says. “The product then found other communities—ranching, rodeo, the backcountry snow world, the alpine world, equining and then it found, strangely, the culinary world, and then it found surf and skate.

This month, Yeti is investing further in the surf community through a global partnership with the World Surf League (WSL). The three-year partnership, which spans the WSL Championship Tour as well as the Challenger Series, is a testament to the brand’s growth on and around the water.

Read: Forbes

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Inside the Kansas City Chiefs' TikTok dominance

Once a week, the Kansas City Chiefs hold a different kind of tape session, when seven employees from across departments gather to review their personal TikTok feeds. “We just try and find people who are on different sides of TikTok,” KC director of social media Alex Merry said. SportsTok? Of course. MomTok? Check. CatTok? That’s where Merry comes in. “We have everything covered,” she said. “It’s fun to set aside, like, 30 minutes a week to talk about just crazy, wild things, which I feel like you don’t often get the luxury to do in a business setting.”

The scouting sessions are paying off. Sports teams have started taking TikTok seriously, and with a league-high 2.5 million followers on the platform, the Chiefs have the early lead. (The Eagles, Cowboys, and Lions are all tied for second with 1.9 million followers each.) The Chiefs’ social playbook mirrors coach Andy Reid’s by incorporating plenty of creativity.

Read: Sportico

'I’ve become so big you can’t ignore it': KSI outlines his masterplan to make Misfits Boxing the next WWE

JJ ‘KSI’ Olatunji. YouTuber, rapper, entrepreneur, multimillionaire. Now boxer and promoter. Considering the punishing nature of the fight game, in and out of the ring, surely there are easier ways for the social media sensation to make a living? “With Misfits we’re trying to make it as big as the UFC, as big as WWE. [Misfits is] based on entertainment with boxing included into it. I think the sky’s the limit.”

KSI’s ambition for his latest boxing venture shouldn’t be taken lightly in the context of his own meteoric rise. Having started off making gaming videos in his bedroom, he has built a vast online audience – including 41.4 million YouTube subscribers and 12.4 million Instagram followers – that readily supports the Londoner’s various endeavors. Another recent one is Prime Hydration, a drink that has caused such a stir that people are queuing outside shops to get it.

Read: SportsPro

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