Jorja Johnson of the Hard Eights holds her Franklin paddle during the Major League Pickleball finals match against BLQK at Pickle & Chill on October 16, 2022 in Columbus, Ohio.
Emilee Chinn | Getty Images
Major League Pickleball is getting new leadership as it looks to capitalize on the rise of America’s fastest-growing sport at the professional level.
The team-based pro pickleball league announced Wednesday it has named finance and media executive Julio DePietro as its chief executive officer and former NFL executive Bruce Popko as chief operating officer.
“The additions of Julio and Bruce signify another landmark step forward in the evolution of Major League Pickleball,” said MLP founder Steve Kuhn.
DePietro and Popko will be tasked with steering the league at a time when the sport of pickleball has seen explosive growth at the amateur level.
“We’re pretty confident that we have both the platform and the product. We’re at just the beginning of this hockey-stick growth,” DePietro told CNBC.
DePietro was formerly a partner at Citadel where he worked alongside Kuhn for many years. In 2022, he purchased a stake in the Florida Smash MLP team, calling the investment a “no-brainer.” As part of his new role, he will soon divest his stake in the Smash.
In the year-plus that he’s served as an owner in the league, DePietro said, team valuations have seen 100-times growth. Teams today, he said, are going for as much as $10 million. Previously, teams were being scooped up for as little as $100,000.
With more than 36 million people playing pickleball last year, DiPietro and Popko say their biggest challenge is converting all of the new casual pickleball fans into MLP followers.
The rapidly growing sports league has attracted dozens of high-profile athlete owners and investors including NBA superstars LeBron James and Kevin Durant as well as Tom Brady and Drew Brees of NFL fame. In November, beer maker Anheuser-Busch bought a team.
Season One Super Finals at the Life Time Rancho San Clemente in San Clemente, California. The Seattle Pioneers play the Los Angeles Mad Drops in the Premier League mixed doubles competition.
Source: Major League Pickleball
Popko’s background includes more than 30 years working in the sports industry, with previous COO roles at the Buffalo Bills and Pegula Sports & Entertainment.
“One of the things that I’ve learned over the years in sports is that the most avid fans are those fans that participate in the sport directly, and that’s why I love this sport so much, because we have such a great running start,” Popko told CNBC.
Popko said he will focus on three pillars once he steps into his role: growing sponsorships, building the media rights business, and licensing and merchandising strategy.
As they continue to build the fanbase, DePietro says MLP is just scratching the surface in terms of the opportunity and monetization.
“We have barely turned on any of the advertising knobs, much less the subscription knobs, we think there’s a massive…
Read More: Major League Pickleball names new CEO, COO