Pickleball Slam, now in its third season, will come to Las Vegas next February, featuring hometown favorite Andre Agassi.
Agassi, the Las Vegas native, and Steffi Graf will face Andy Roddick and one-time Wimbledon finalist Eugenie Bouchard in Pickleball Slam 3. Agassi, who won the first Slam with Roddick in 2023, added another title with Graf, his wife, last February. With another $1 million at stake, the winning team will also automatically earn a spot to defend their title at the next Slam series event.
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ESPN will once again televise the Slam on Feb. 16, an already packed day in sports with the Daytona 500 and the NBA All-Star Game.
Pickleball Slam, launched in 2023, is a production of Horizon Sports & Entertainment and InsideOut Sports and Entertainment.
“Pickleball’s surge in participation, sponsorship investments, and media coverage underscores its rising status in the sports and advertising worlds,” David Levy, Horizon’s co-CEO, said in a statement. He added the Slam “plays a pivotal role in this growth, showcasing the sport’s expanding appeal.”
To Levy’s point, ESPN has done its part to elevate the event by giving it the lead-out slots after NBA regular-season games. The April 2023 edition attracted an average of 669,000 viewers, peaking at 796,000 viewers during the doubles match at the end of the broadcast. That event, which featured Agassi and Roddick taking on John McEnroe and Michael Chang, out-delivered XFL games airing the same day and tied the Bruins/Blues telecast on TNT in key advertising demos.
Last year’s Slam, where Agassi joined Graf to compete against McEnroe and Maria Sharapova, aired in primetime on Feb. 4 after a L.A. Clippers/Miami Heat game. Though its average audience was 596,000 viewers, it peaked with 990,000 viewers, a decent number for a late Sunday evening.
While televised pickleball is still in its infancy, there’s not much question about participation rates around the U.S.. Pickleball attracted as many players as participated in baseball, soccer and downhill skiing each in 2023.
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