Support Pro Pickleball Players--Payout 5th-8th (Gofundme)

 

Support Pro Pickleball Players--Payout 5th-8th

$2,295 raised of $100,000 goal

Did you know that over 90% of Pro Pickleball Players do not earn enough in prize money and sponsorships to sustain their living? Can you imagine being number 5, 10 or 20 in the world in a sport and not being able to afford the hotel rooms, air travel, or even tournament entry fees? To go home at night to your family after 9+ hours on the court, hundreds of dollars spent competing, dried tears still stinging your sunburned cheeks and say, “I fought hard but took 5th”, and you don’t have $1 to show for that effort? And this is supposed to be the fastest growing sport in America?

I’m donating $1,000 of my own money to kick-off The Pro Player Fund, which will be immediately matched by DUPR, MLP (Major League Pickleball), and The Dink. This is a fund that will pay out 5th-8th place to all male and female professionals--including Senior Pros-- in doubles, mixed doubles and singles.

Why? Because without financially supporting these players we will not have pro tours, we will not have viewership, we will not grow the game. This isn’t just the right thing to do — it’s what we as a community need to and should do.

The goal is simple—raise $100,000 by 12/31/21 that will go 100% back into pro players' pockets throughout events in 2022.

Excesses to this goal will be paid out to a mix of players, referees and volunteers--without whom our events and tours would not exist.

Let’s fight to help keep these warriors in the sport and to attract new ones. Let’s grow the game and show appreciation to those who are helping grow it. 

Gofundme Page

[The Cost of Pro Pickleball] by Rob Nunnery

I've been wanting to write on this subject for a long time. I'd actually like it to be a running post that gets updated each week as well.

The idea comes from a movement that I saw with entrepreneurs and business owners that would post their financials for all to see. Hello John Lee Dumas and Pat Flynn.

They'd basically share all of their costs and expenses along with their revenue broken out by category.

It was a new concept that no one really had done and people loved the transparency of being able to see what real business financials were behind the scenes.

While I've signed NDAs and can't disclose my exact sponsorship and endorsement earnings (not that exciting anyways!), I will share as much as I can so that you can understand the costs that come with trying to play pro pickleball for a living.

I also think that posting this will be a wake up call for me in terms of how much money I'm spending out of my own pocket by playing all of these tournaments.

Even with sponsorship money, I'm still paying out of pocket for quite a bit (as are many pros).

Just out of the gate, I'm paying a minimum of $325 per tournament just to play men's and mixed doubles. And I’ve played singles in a handful of tournaments this year which brings the total entry fee to well over $400 for that tournament. (Read More)