Pickleball Slam, now in its third season, will come to Las Vegas next February, headlined by local favorite Andre Agassi.
Las Vegas native Agassi and Steffi Graf will face Andy Roddick and former Wimbledon finalist Eugenie Bouchard in Pickleball Slam 3. Agassi, who won the first Grand Slam with Roddick in 2023, added another title with his wife Graf in February. With an additional $1 million on the line, the winning team will also automatically earn a spot to defend their title at the next Grand Slam event.
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ESPN will again broadcast the Grand Slam on February 16, a day already packed with sporting events including the Daytona 500 and the NBA All-Star Game.
Pickleball Slam, launching in 2023, is a production of Horizon Sports & Entertainment and InsideOut Sports and Entertainment.
“Pickleball’s growth in participation, sponsorship investment and media coverage underscores its growing status in the sports and advertising worlds,” Horizon co-CEO David Levy said in a statement. He added that Slam “plays a central role in this growth, highlighting the sport’s growing appeal.”
In Levy’s words, ESPN has done its part to elevate the event by giving it opening slots after regular-season NBA games. The April 2023 edition attracted an average of 669,000 viewers, peaking at 796,000 viewers during the doubleheader at the end of the broadcast. The event, which featured Agassi and Roddick facing John McEnroe and Michael Chang, outperformed the XFL games broadcast the same day and tied the Bruins/Blues broadcast on TNT in key advertising demos.
Last year’s Slam, in which Agassi joined Graf to face McEnroe and Maria Sharapova, aired in prime time on February 4 after a game between the LA Clippers and the Miami Heat. Although its average audience was 596,000, it peaked at 990,000 viewers, a decent number for a Sunday night.
Although televised pickleball is still in its infancy, there is little doubt that participation rate In the United States, pickleball attracted as many players as baseball, soccer and alpine skiing in 2023.
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