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Drew Brees #9 of the New Orleans Saints
Gregory Shamus | Getty Pictures Sport | Getty Pictures
Retired NFL celebrity Drew Brees is the most recent main sports activities determine to get in on the pickleball craze.
Main League Pickleball introduced Thursday that the one-time Tremendous Bowl champion has joined the possession group of the Austin, Texas, Mad Drops Pickleball Membership.
The group additionally contains enterprise capital agency Good Alpha Industries, Los Angeles Lakers co-owner Jim Buss and Ryan Serhant of Bravo’s “Million Greenback Itemizing New York.”
Monetary phrases of the deal weren’t disclosed.
“I’m an avid pickleball participant, fan and scholar of the sport,” stated Brees, who performed 20 years within the NFL, in an announcement. “I sit up for serving to increase consciousness across the unbelievable 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 activities as an analyst earlier than they mutually parted methods. Up to now, 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 development.
The pandemic gave the game a serious increase as folks seemed for socially distant methods to be secure in a gaggle exercise. Right now, almost 5 million folks play pickleball nationwide in line with USA Pickleball. The game noticed a participatory development fee of 39% over the previous two years, making it the fastest-growing sport in America in line with The Sports activities Health Trade Affiliation.
The game has additionally attracted plenty of huge title gamers, from billionaire Melinda Gates to celebrities Ellen DeGeneres, Leonardo DiCaprio and the Kardashians.
Main League Pickleball was created by founder and CEO Steve Kuhn in 2021. The league consists of 12 groups of professional pickleball gamers that play in a co-ed format. Along with the previous Tremendous Bowl profitable quarterback, MLP additionally contains different high-profile house owners akin to entrepreneur Gary Vaynerchuk, Milwaukee Bucks proprietor Marc Lasry and former tennis professional James Blake.
“The proficient and passionate Mad Drops PC possession group will additional elevate our competitors and athletes, which contributes to our purpose of rising the sport of pickleball into the world’s most enjoyable spectator sport,” Kuhn stated in an announcement.
Disclosure: NBC Sports activities and CNBC are each a part of NBCUniversal.
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