Major League Pickleball Reveals Schedule and Structure for 2023

The merger between Major League Pickleball and the Professional Pickleball Association's VIBE has changed the course of pro pickleball. Since the merger was announced, the PPA and MLP have been working behind the scenes to determine what the league, or better yet, leagues, will look like.

Let's start there. MLP will include 24 teams in 2023. The 24 teams will be split into a Premier League and Challenger League, each containing 12 teams. Each team will have a roster of four players, two men and two women. The Premier League will draft the first 48 players before the Challenger League drafts.

The league now boasts a player prize pool that ranges between $8-10 million. It is the highest payout schedule in pro pickleball history.

League & Team Schedule

Major League Pickleball will play six events in 2023. The events are broken into two seasons that are each played over three events. The first season championship will take place in June and the second in December.

This is a big change from how MLP existed in the past. The first four MLP events were played start to finish in a single weekend. In 2023, results from the first two events will contribute to the seedings for the season championship months later.

In addition to MLP, the PPA will have 25 tour events next year.

14 Tour Events
4 Majors
4 World Championships
1 PPA Tour Finals
2 Special Events

Here is a look at the year as a whole.

Starting Date	Tournament	Rank	City, State
1/12/2023	PPA Masters	PPA Tour	Palm Springs, CA
1/26/2023	MLP Arizona	MLP	TBD, Arizona
2/1/2023	Desert Ridge Open	PPA Tour	Scottsdale, AZ
2/16/2023	Arizona Grand Slam	PPA Tour - Major	Phoenix, AZ
2/23/2023	Indoor National Champs	PPA Tour	Minneapolis, MN
3/9/2023	Florida Open	PPA Tour	Holly Hill, FL
3/16/2023	Austin Championships	PPA Tour - WCS	Austin, TX
3/23/2023	MLP Mesa	MLP	Mesa, AZ
4/5/2023	Red Rock Open	PPA Tour	St. George, UT
4/13/2023	The Showcase	PPA Tour	Newport Beach, CA
5/4/2023	North Carolina Championships	PPA Tour - WCS	Charlotte, NC
5/18/2023	Atlanta Open	PPA Tour - Major	Atlanta, GA
6/8/2023	Orange County Cup	PPA Tour	San Clemente, CA
6/15/2023	MLP San Clemente	MLP + Championship	San Clemente, CA
6/22/2023	Nashville Championships	PPA Tour - WCS	Nashville, TN
7/13/2023	Denver Open	PPA Tour	Denver, CO
7/20/2023	TBA	PPA Tour	TBD
8/17/2023	Tournament of Champions	PPA Tour	Brigham City, UT
8/24/2023	Kansas City Championships	PPA Tour - WCS	Kansas City, MO
9/7/2023	Cincinnati Open	PPA Tour - Major	Cincinnati, OH
9/14/2023	Peach Cup	PPA Tour	Atlanta, GA
9/21/2023	MLP Atlanta	MLP	Peachtree, GA
9/28/2023	Texas Round-Up	PPA Tour	Dallas, TX
10/5/2023	Global Cup (USA vs. World)	By Qualification**	Washington, D.C.
10/19/2023	PPA Championships	PPA Tour - Major	Las Vegas, NV
10/26/2023	Texas Open	PPA Tour	Dallas, TX
11/2/2023	MLP La Quinta	MLP	La Quinta, CA
TBD	PPA National Championships	PPA Tour	Orlando, FL
11/30/2023	PPA Tour Finals	By Qualification**	San Clemente, CA
12/7/2023	MLP San Clemente	MLP + Championship	San Clemente, CA
TBD	PPA MGM Event	By Qualification**	Las Vegas, NV

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PPA-MLP Player Tour Card

Now that we have the schedule, we need to talk about what players can expect on their side. Any player that wants to play in MLP must commit to play for two years and play 5 PPA events in addition to the 6 MLP events.

The PPA-MLP also introduced the creation of player tour cards. Players will be invited to be either Gold or Silver Card Members.

A PPA-MLP Tour Card Committee "analyzed past tournament performance and history (quantity of events), current PPA Ranking, DUPR, and overall player marketability" to determine who would be offered a Gold card.

The gold card players will have more benefits and more commitments than silver card players, including tour exclusivity.

*How did you select who was offered Silver or Gold? The PPA-MLP Tour Card Committee analyzed your past tournament performance and history (quantity of events), current PPA Ranking, DUPR, and overall player marketability.

The most glaring difference for players is the earning potential of the gold card. Both MLP and PPA prize money is doubled for gold card players.

In 2022, that would have meant a player that won an MLP title would walk away with $50K instead of $25K. BLQK won two titles in 2022 and their roster would have collected $100k each with this model.

We don't know yet how many players will receive the gold card offer. But it's clear that exclusivity is still a valued part of the equation.

All players in MLP will need to hold either the gold or silver tour card. Any interested player has until Dec 5 to apply for the biggest draft in the history of pickleball. Submit your name here.