☕ In a pickle
Unpacking pro pickleball’s sponsorship transformation.
Morning Brew promotes its latest newsletter edition, featuring stories on sports marketing, including the growth of professional pickleball sponsorships. The brand highlights the increasing popularity of racket sports in the US and the shift in sponsorship structures. Morning Brew also mentions its team, including Alyssa Meyers, Katie Hicks, and Jeena Sharma.
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August 27, 2026
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Sponsor Logo: Zoom
Today is Thursday. To promote its new Mac Mini, Apple released a whimsical handcrafted claymation ad. And yes, of course there’s a behind-the-scenes video showing how it all came together.
In today’s edition:
Dill with it 🏓
Social, settled 🧑⚖️
Brand fans 🛍️ —Alyssa Meyers, Katie Hicks, Jeena Sharma
Making a racket
the New Jersey Fives pro pickleball team posing with the Raisin Bran sun mascot wearing jerseys reading
It might feel like you’ve been hearing your neighbor talk about their pickleball habit since, well, forever. But it’s only been about five years since the first Major League Pickleball (MLP) matches.
Your neighbor likely isn’t a pro, but it’s still a fast-changing space, and racket sports are rapidly becoming more and more popular in the US—so it follows that the state of pro pickleball sponsorships is also in constant flux.
In the early years of the sport’s popularity surge, more than 150 brands rushed to get involved, seemingly without much rhyme or reason. By last year, after continued growth and a merger between MLP and the PPA Tour, pickleball sponsorships began to resemble deals in other pro sports, with big-name brands like DoorDash and Anheuser-Busch buying up league, team, and tour naming rights.
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