ESPN Choses Pickelball over ATP, WTA

[jimlosaltos]

This: Remember, ESPN dropped both pro tennis tours, atp & #WTA citing low ratings & matches that are too long.

Now, ESPN is picking up pickelball.

Yes, ESPN has coverage of majors but cancelled coverage of BOTH pro tours.

~~~~~~~
ESPN and the Association of Pickleball Professionals (APP) just announced an agreement for ESPN2 to broadcast eight, one-hour event recap shows on ESPN2, and ESPN+ to stream more than 200 hours of live coverage of eight of the APP Tour’s 2023 events.

[stroke]

Probably does not affect many viewers of pro tennis. I would think any fan that really is interested in pro tennis watches The Tennis Channel(which covers almost all tournaments, or even Tennis TV, which carries all the ATP tournaments except the Majors.

[jimlosaltos]

Probably does not affect many viewers of pro tennis. I would think any fan that really is interested in pro tennis watches The Tennis Channel(which covers almost all tournaments, or even Tennis TV, which carries all the ATP tournaments except the Majors.

Probably true for the highly involved fan. But quite bad for the health of the sport overall, at least in the US.

Tennis Channel's reach is far, far smaller than that of ESPN.

Since the Sinclair acquisition Tenis Channel has been taken off YouTube TV for lack of audience, and cable distribution is more limited. Plus, even Tennis Channel is cutting tennis coverage -- in favor of more pickelball.

Tennis has a media problem that's limiting growth of the sport. ATP's more or less admitted that in its long-term plan and setting up a division to deal with the issue.

Here, in Northern California tennis and pickelball are definitely in direct competition. There's a shortage of courts -- both public and club -- while tennis courts are being increasingly converted to pickelball.

Long term impact? I can't guess myself.

[stroke]

Next up, the Nick Bollettieri Pickleball Academy, and equal pay for all, no matter what.

[arturohernandez]

Next up, the Nick Bollettieri Pickleball Academy, and equal pay for all, no matter what.

I was watching the FX show The Americans and saw them playing a lot of racketball. I realized that it was so popular and may have even been thought to be a threat to tennis.

The problem is that people play paddleball in Latin America and Spain. Pickelball here. No one is going to give up their sport for the other.

Meanwhile, tennis continues to gain popularity worldwide. My guess is that both paddleball and pickelball will be like racketball. Lots of excitement and then eventually people will move on to something else.

Tennis is here to stay worldwide and may not be the new popular kid on the block. But it will keep its place no matter what ESPN does.

https://www.sportrx.com/blog/history-of-racquetball/

[doctorhl]

I was watching the FX show The Americans and saw them playing a lot of racketball. I realized that it was so popular and may have even been thought to be a threat to tennis.

The problem is that people play paddleball in Latin America and Spain. Pickelball here. No one is going to give up their sport for the other.

Meanwhile, tennis continues to gain popularity worldwide. My guess is that both paddleball and pickelball will be like racketball. Lots of excitement and then eventually people will move on to something else.

Tennis is here to stay worldwide and may not be the new popular kid on the block. But it will keep its place no matter what ESPN does.

https://www.sportrx.com/blog/history-of-racquetball/

Pickelball will have to grow and maintain a pro television audience if it is to maintain long term viability. The pro game will reach a plateau because it is a poor pro TV sport like pro Badminton, Squash, and Racketball. It took tennis a long time before it solved its viewing logistics and became a viable TV sport.

[stroke]

Interesting pickleball story. I was in Naples FL last winner for a couple of months and played tennis in the huge subdivision I was renting in. They had about 24 clay courts and a very active tennis community and, to a much lesser extent, paddleball community. Pickleball players in this community were really pushing to have pickleball courts built but all areas that were proposed got huge negative pushback from residents that were adamantly opposed to the inherent noise pickleball produces with their paddle and ball combo. I must say, it is not a pleasing sound. It was quite the debate. Pickleball players were not happy with no pickleball courts.

[jimlosaltos]

Interesting pickleball story. I was in Naples FL last winner for a couple of months and played tennis in the huge subdivision I was renting in. They had about 24 clay courts and a very active tennis community and, to a much lesser extent, paddleball community. Pickleball players in this community were really pushing to have pickleball courts built but all areas that were proposed got huge negative pushback from residents that were adamantly opposed to the inherent noise pickleball produces with their paddle and ball combo. I must say, it is not a pleasing sound. It was quite the debate. Pickleball players were not happy with no pickleball courts.

At local club I visit occasionally, several tennis courts have been converted to paddleball -- with high occupancy. Which means fewer tennis courts.

Perhaps a cultural thing with pickelball, while getting lights on a tennis court can take literally years for permitting, the pickelball group went guerrilla and brought in their own, shorter lights & just did it.

[doctorhl]

It will be interesting to see if the pickleball pro game travels down the same roads of tennis, but avoid others. The pro pickleball game , in its infancy, is currently dominated by a Federer style of control and strategic cunning with fan interest currently rooted in doubles. There are already signs of an evolution of the sport toward dominance by athleticism and power. The paddle industry is poised to be heavily involved as rule development is wrestling with ball and paddle face spin regulations. Marketing, unbound due to a lack of tradition, is stimulated by a " gold rush " mentality. The purchase of pro team leagues has recently been birthed with an eye toward the gaming industry. Television coverage, I predict, will experiment with promoting a "Hollywwood" atmosphere to attract a younger fan base to increase viewrship and attendance to a sport presently identified with the geriatric culture. Time will tell if it is destined to have the holding power of tennis or fades into racketball obscurity.

[don_budge]

Ditto: a great interview on so many levels..

don_budge: your interest in tennis social science and performance analysis might be whetted by comparative analysis of the relatively new sport of pickleball. It is interesting to see the pickleball pro game travel down the same roads of tennis, but avoid others. The pro game , in its infancy, is currently dominated by a Federer style of control and strategic cunning with fan interest currently rooted in doubles. There are already signs of an evolution of the sport toward dominance by athleticism and power. The paddle industry is poised to be heavily involved as rule development is wrestling with ball and paddle face spin regulations. Marketing, unbound due to a lack of tradition, is stimulated by a " gold rush " mentality. The purchase of pro team leagues has recently been birthed with an eye toward the gaming industry. Television coverage, I predict, will experiment with promoting a "Hollywwood" atmosphere to attract a younger fan base to increase viewrship and attendance to a sport presently identified with the geriatric culture. Time will tell if it is destined to have the holding power of tennis or fades into racketball obscurity.

Pickleball is part of the fourth turning. Tennis metaphors life. Society within society. A subset. Many properties hold true. Associative. Communicative. Recipricals. All of it is proof in the pudding. Marketing. Advertising. Propaganda. Hollyweird. They have given it the green light and it will be interesting to see them make it fly.

I am only interested in tradition. Traditional things. The new normal...is not normal at all. Pickleball is a fad. Tennis had deep roots in tradition...but it no longer exists. By definition. It has been engineered beyond all recognition. Only the dimension of the court remains the same.

On the other hand...I think that pickleball is fun. A socially acceptable way to socialise and get some exercise. Easier certainly than tennis. Which is the main point for participation. People don't have the attention span to make the effort any longer.

I wrote a much longer answer...perhaps I will email it to you. Thanks for your message.

[don_budge]

The new normal...is not normal at all.

The new normal:

https://www.foxnews.com/media/lia-thomas-exposed-male-genitalia-womens-locker-room-after-meet-riley-gaines-dropped-pants

Who has the power to make this stuff happen?