Drew Brees #9 of the New Orleans Saints
Gregory Shamus | Getty Images Sport | Getty Images
Retired NFL celebrity Drew Brees is the newest main sports activities determine to get in on the pickleball craze.
Major League Pickleball introduced Thursday that the one-time Super Bowl champion has joined the possession group of the Austin, Texas, Mad Drops Pickleball Club.
The group additionally consists of enterprise capital agency Good Alpha Industries, Los Angeles Lakers co-owner Jim Buss and Ryan Serhant of Bravo’s “Million Dollar Listing New York.”
Financial phrases of the deal weren’t disclosed.
“I’m an avid pickleball participant, fan and scholar of the sport,” mentioned Brees, who performed 20 years within the NFL, in a assertion. “I look ahead to serving to increase consciousness across the unimaginable gamers and competitions in MLP, serving to develop the game of pickleball and fostering general fan engagement.”
Brees, who retired from soccer in 2021, spent the previous season working for NBC Sports as an analyst earlier than they mutually parted methods. In the previous, the previous New Orleans Saints quarterback has made jokes about “becoming a member of the pickleball tour,” however his most up-to-date transfer comes at a time when the game has seen explosive growth.
The pandemic gave the game a main enhance as folks seemed for socially distant methods to be protected in a group exercise. Today, practically 5 million folks play pickleball nationwide in accordance to USA Pickleball. The sport noticed a participatory development price of 39% over the previous two years, making it the fastest-growing sport in America in accordance to The Sports Fitness Industry Association.
The sport has additionally attracted a variety of huge identify gamers, from billionaire Melinda Gates to celebrities Ellen DeGeneres, Leonardo DiCaprio and the Kardashians.
Major League Pickleball was created by founder and CEO Steve Kuhn in 2021. The league consists of 12 groups of pro pickleball gamers that play in a co-ed format. In addition to the previous Super Bowl profitable quarterback, MLP additionally consists of different high-profile homeowners equivalent to entrepreneur Gary Vaynerchuk, Milwaukee Bucks proprietor Marc Lasry and former tennis pro James Blake.
“The proficient and passionate Mad Drops PC possession group will additional elevate our competitors and athletes, which contributes to our objective of rising the sport of pickleball into the world’s most enjoyable spectator sport,” Kuhn mentioned in a assertion.
Disclosure: NBC Sports and CNBC are each a part of NBCUniversal.