This is not a fad, this is a phenomenon

Pickleball is projected to have 22.3 million players by the end of 2023, according to UBS. Major League Pickleball CEO Julio Depietro and COO Bruce Popko join Yahoo Finance Live to discuss the growing popularity of the sport, how to convert pickleball players into viewers, brand relationships, and more.

Video Transcript

[AUDIO LOGO]

SEANA SMITH: Major League Pickleball has announced two new big players when it comes to its leadership team as it looks to capitalize on the sport’s fast growing popularity. The number of people playing pickleball surging a staggering 86% from just a year ago.

Julio Depietro has been named– has been appointed as CEO, Bruce Popko as COO. They both joined us now. Julio and Bruce, great to see you both. Congratulations on the new positions. Julio, let me start with you and start with that surge that we’ve seen in popularity. What gives you the confidence that that type of momentum can continue?

JULIO DEPIETRO: I think the clearest metric that we have is the avidity rate, which is kind of a fancy word for saying that basically when people start playing, they keep playing. And, you know, I don’t know anyone who has started playing that doesn’t still play and, you know, play– the more they play, the more they want to play.

My father is 80 years old. And a week after his 80th birthday, I took him to play for the first time. And I checked back in with him about three months later. And I had– I speak to him every week. But I hadn’t asked him about pickleball, funny enough. He said, “Yeah, I play five days a week now, two hours– two hours a day. Again, 80 years years old just picked it up. And he’s playing 10 hours a week. So that’s kind of when I realized we had this is not a fad. This is a phenomenon.

AKIKO FUJITA: Bruce, it’s one thing to play it’s another to watch a competitive league. Last I checked, there’s 36 million people who’ve played pickleball. How do you convert those 36 million into MLP followers?

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BRUCE POPKO: I think the biggest thing for us is to go where they want to be, to present our product, to present our players in the spaces that they’re most comfortable, whether that ends up being social media, on broadcast during events, or as part of community events, as the 24 teams begin to lay their claim in their local markets and really begin to develop those local fan bases.

SEANA SMITH: And Julio, what’s also critical is developing those sponsorship relationships, those brand relationships that we know is so important to the growth of a league. What does that strategy or what does that opportunity look like for the league?

JULIO DEPIETRO: Well, we already have a number of great sponsors. And Margaritaville is our title sponsor this year. Toyota is a big sponsor. So just the conversations we’re having this year relative to last year, it’s night and day. And we continue that trajectory to continue. We expect that trajectory to continue.

AKIKO FUJITA: Bruce, as a former executive, you know, in…