Major League Pickleball: Behind the Scenes with Texas Ranchers Owner Evan Floersch

What sport attracts celebrities like Lebron James and Lil Wayne? Why that would be the fastest growing sport in America of course.

Hey everybody, this is Chris Brandt here with another FUTR podcast.

Today we have with us Evan Floersch, Co-Owner and CEO of the Major League Pickleball team the Texas Ranchers. So we are going to get an inside look at a new and emerging sports league and see how you too could be a team owner, and find out what's in store for this exciting new sport!

Welcome Evan

https://ranchers.com/

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Transcript

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What sport attracts celebrities like LeBron James and Lil Wayne, why that would be the fastest growing sport in America? Of course, today we have with us Evan Floersch, co-owner and CEO of the Major League pickleball team, the. Texas Ranchers. So we're gonna get an inside look at a new and emerging sports league and see how you too could be a team owner and find out what's in store for this exciting new sport. Welcome, Evan. Chris, thank you for having me. I'm excited to, to talk to you about this. Um, my, my daughter's probably even more excited that I'm talking to you about this 'cause of some of the dynamics of this, but, um, this is a really cool thing, uh, for those of us who are, you know, part of that. Pickleball crowd in this ever-growing sport. Could you tell me a little bit though, uh, about, you know, how you got started and how you came to pickleball and like, gimme your, gimme a little bit of your background before we dig into all this. Yep. It's a wild, uh, rollercoaster like story. Um, you know, I, I always grew up around sports, always wanted to be in sports. I played college soccer at Emory. Um, and was, went through the entrepreneurship track there. So I had a great sports experience, uh, growing up. And then also, uh, you know, went through education, wanting to be a builder, and, uh, brought that, uh, after a few, uh, companies, uh, I built in the media space and tech space. I made a hard left here in Austin, Texas, realized, uh, you know. Humbly, this was, uh, a pretty sport deprived market. A as, as much as it's growing, uh, today. Yeah. And wanted to have a part in, in bringing more sports teams here to Austin, you know, as, as life often, uh, goes. Uh, the first attempt at it was a, a pretty dramatic failure. Went after one of the expansion teams for major league pickleball as the league was expanding from 12 to 16 and. I am not LeBron James, Tom Brady, Anheuser-Busch, and Kevin Durant. So my name was not accepted, but knocked on this older Texas Gentleman's door. Tim Klich, who was the one of the founding eight investors in Major League pickleball and owner of the Texas Ranchers at the time. And, you know, asked him if he wanted, uh, to, to sell the, the team to us. And he, he realized in that moment, and he'll tell you this, uh, himself, that, um, you know, was one of the best decisions he made, uh, choosing to have in his words, uh, uh, a smaller piece of a larger pie. So we've came in as strategic partners. Brought in the, the investors and the, and the ops shops that we, um, have at the Texas ranchers today. And, um, you know, we're, we're working well to, uh, working well together to, you know, bring, um, Texas ranchers to more austinites, more Texans every day and put more paddles in hands and hopefully, you know, position ourselves as America's pickleball team. I think you're well on your way so. I I think that, um, you know, for those who are uninitiated in the, the joys of pickleball, what, you know, what do you think, you know, from a spectator sport? It, it actually is really fascinating to watch. And, and I, you know, like when I, like, there's all these streamed, you know, matches and, you know, there's tons on YouTube and stuff like that. And every time I come across'em, I'm always like, sucked in and I'm like always watching.'cause it's like a very fast-paced game. Um, you know, like, what, what is it that's. So magical about pickleball that it's attracting so many people and making it a great spectator sport. As a spectator sport. I think it's different than, uh, why so many people are participating. Yeah. Um, you know, first you're seeing a, a very wide top of funnel because it is such an accessible sport. Uh, what we like to say at the league level is. You know, a 7-year-old can understand it and a 7-year-old can compete. And so, although I will say I am a lot older than that and I cannot always figure out the scoring that is fair, I get lost sometimes. I'm like, who's serving what the, that's fair. And so we've, we've standardized that, uh, to make sure that it's as, as simple as possible for, for beginners because that is a point of friction for people. Uh, but it is one of the least intimidating sports to, to get into. And, um, at the same time, it's very layered. Like a video game where if I am playing like a, a tennis player, uh, with my tennis, uh, background, uh, before, before high school, um, you know, I could still get my, my butt kicked by an older individual who knows how to play the game the right way. And, and I think that is, uh, translating into a pretty compelling spectator, uh, and TV product because. The people that we're seeing watching pickleball are avid pickleball players who more quickly than other sports are moving down the funnel, um, and becoming active viewers and, and watching tournaments every single weekend because I. They understand how layered it is and how difficult it is, uh, what these pros are doing and these athletes are doing, and, um, how a incredibly athletic, uh, pro pickleball, uh, is at the, at the highest level. So, um, I think that's really translating into what we're seeing and, and why we're having such. You know, strong numbers on the viewership front. It's interesting that you mention, you know, like the older players who, you know, like really excel at the sport. And it, it's, it's an interesting sport because there's, there's a lot of different ways to approach it, you know, like from a, like a power and speed kind of way. But the, but the thing that, you know, those older players sometimes have is they always know where to be standing. They always know how to be prepared, and they've got like good reaction time to the ball. So even though they're slow, they're brutal. You know, they're, they're just really, you know, come at you. You can't hit it past them. It's too small of a court to do that. So, uh, yeah, they, they know, they know where to be, and they also know where to put the ball to put you under pressure, which is, uh, you know, something that you, you see at the, at the pro level as well. Yeah. No, no, no doubt about it. Um, it, it's, it's really, it's a fun game and it, it, it really lends itself to a lot of, uh, good matches with different levels of players and everybody can continue to have fun. Um, alright, so, so, you know, I mentioned like, you know, the, the complexities of scoring and things like that, but, but you know, like how at the pro level I'm, you know, they don't have those issues 'cause they, you know, they're not confused, like, like me on the, on the court. Um. So how, talk about how, like, how the matches work.'cause the, the, the major league pickleball has a little bit of a different format, doesn't it? It does. Correct. So how, how does that all work? Just as some history? There was, uh, the PPA, which, uh, is very analogous to a TP tour, WTA and tennis, where you show up on behalf of yourself and your doubles partner. Major League pickleball was founded in 2021 by Steve Kuhn, who wanted to bring a team, uh, format to the sport of pickleball. And though they, uh, just last year, uh, merged and became one unified league with the best players in the world. Uh, so when you show up in a PPA tour event, you are playing. A best of three or best of five series and singles doubles, uh, or mixed doubles. Same gender doubles or mixed doubles format. Uh, when you play in major league pickleball and you're playing against another team, there is the ability to play up to five games. Uh, think of it, think of these games as sets in tennis. Uh, so when you play against another team, you'll play men's doubles against their two men. Uh, you'll play women's doubles in the second matchup against their two women. And then you'll play two, uh, iterations of mixed doubles. So, uh, we have four players on our active roster. All four of those players, um, two men, two women will play against all of their four players. And if it's two, two, after those four games, that the novelty with major league pickleball is that fifth dream breaker set we call it, where you play singles, pickleball, and your four players rotate every four points. Yeah. If that the singles pickleball is, is tough too. That's a fast game. That's a fast game. It's, it's, yeah. Well that, that's, that's really interesting. So like, so you're, you're not playing in big like, you know, hundreds of people competing all at once kind of matches. This is really team versus team kind of play here. It is, it is. It's less bracket. There's a traditional, regular season format that happens from April to August, uh, including an innovative mid-season tournament in July. Like we're seeing in the NBA. In the NHL. Uh, and then we have playoffs for two weeks. So the first one is early August in San Diego, and then the coveted, uh, MLP Pritchard Cup is awarded to a team in the championship, uh, at the end of August in Central Park. That's awesome. That's awesome. I can't wait to, to see these, uh, teams like grow and, and, and play. What, what happens if, so you've got four players on your roster. What happens if like somebody gets injured, somebody gets. Sick or you know, do you have alternates then too? Is that how that works? Or? This is the first year we are introducing alternates. So we have a five and six reserve player, one male, one female. And uh, it is our choice to bring these, uh, additional players on site at tournaments in case one of our active four players goes down with an injury. So that was part of the draft process this year, was making sure you were drafting a, a five and six to round out your roster and. Uh, that was something that impacted us negatively. At the end of last season, we had our top female player, uh, at a tu Toa, um, go down with a Achilles tendonitis, and we had aspirations of winning the championship. Four teams make it to that championship and I. You play a semi-final and then a, a final or a bronze medal match. And we actually came in fourth out of four team. So we, we, uh, even though it was a great feat to make it to that place, uh, we're, uh, eager and and hungry to finally, you know, crown ourselves. Uh, MLP Championships, MLP champions in 2025. That, that would be really hard because injuries do happen in pickleball and it's like, it's, it is an intensive sport. Mm-hmm. Um, and, and I gotta imagine like, now, does that give you a little opportunity to have a little bit of a farm league and you can kind of rotate these, these players in as alternates and things like that? Great question. Our, our mission here in Austin, uh, which was quick or which was previously, uh, just as of last December in 2024, named the capital of pickleball. Uh, our mission is to put more paddles in hands every single day. And we know that the sport as you know, Chris naturally, uh, addicts people, uh, in the best possible way. And if we are doing our part to get more beginners into the game, it will do its work to, to, you know, turn those, uh, new beginner level players into avid pickleball players. So, um, we do have a talent development pipeline being formed right now with the Minor League pickleball team. Here based in Austin with the best semipro or amateur pickleball players, uh, that are based here in Austin or around the Texas metros. I gotta, I gotta get practicing'cause I gotta get on one of those. Yep. We've got a try trial coming up so you could fly in for it. You have a senior league? There is a senior league, the NPL it's called for, uh, 55 plus. And, um. And I, again, they use, utilize the same format that MLP does with teams and franchises and some notable owners like Vince Vaughn as well. Um, oh, wow. Yeah. Well, he's local. He's a Chicago guy. He is, he is. You know, maybe I could, uh, talk him into putting an old guy on the game. That's definitely who to call. How, how did you come to become an owner of the, the Texas ranches here? Like what, what was the, the, what was the mechanics of that and, and, and the drive that kind of made that happen? Yep. So we, uh, we created a, what we did when we bought the team, we created a board, uh, that, uh, you know, votes on the, the direction and certain decisions of the organization. And then I invested in the team myself, um, and. That is how you get the economic interest, um, in, in a, in a pro sports team. It is. You have to have skin in the game, uh, if you want. Yeah. Any sort of the upside. Uh, and so for, for myself, um, that's, I, I see these assets as attractive investments. Um, I see sports, uh, across the board now as an attractive asset class. And, um, thus, you know, I wanted to make sure I was, uh, diversifying my portfolio. And, and taking a controlling interest in, in the Texas ranchers. But, um, it is really, we have one entity, uh, that owns and operates and, and owns the rights to the Texas ranchers that I, uh, invested in and took a controlling interest in in 2020, uh, two. You mentioned when the league was expanding the first time, it was a little bit too rich for your blood. Um, but uh, you know, like, and, and, and it is interesting 'cause there's a lot of like celebrity owners in the league. I mean, you mentioned you've, you've thrown out name dropped a lot of people here already, but I mean, like, who are, like, who are some of the more prominent, you know, people as owners in this league? In the league? Uh, I would say LeBron James is, is is one of the top. We have Lil Wayne. Uh, as an LP in the Texas Ranchers and Scotty Scheffler and, uh, Bijan Robinson. Micah Parsons, a few names you probably know. Uh, and then we've, uh, and competitively. Drew Brees was one of the early pioneers. Uh, when you think of a strategic investor, uh, that opened the door for the LeBrons and others. He invested early on in the La Mad Drops, the Los Angeles team. Uh, mark Cuban owns the Dallas team. Uh, you know, the, uh, I would say the next, uh, biggest name is Patrick Mahomes. Naomi Osaka, who owned a stake in the Miami Pickleball team. But we could, we could go on and, and make for, go on for 10 minutes here. So, uh, I think they, it, it really shows just the how attractive, uh, major league pickleball as an asset. Uh, it was at the time and still is in my opinion. Yeah, I mean it's, it's, it's, it's a, it speaks, uh, you know, a lot to, to the, the value of what's going on here. If you know, like all those kind of high, high profile people are, are, are getting into it. Yeah. But I wanna talk about one of the ones that you mentioned here, Lil Wayne.'cause. That's, my daughter is obsessed with Lil Wayne, and she's like, oh my God, I gotta start playing pickleball. Oh, this is, this is amazing. You know, she wants, you know, she wants to wear all the, the, the Lil Wayne pickleball swag too. When, when it first, when it eventually comes out. But you know, I. Tell me a little bit about, um, like how, how did, how did Lil Wayne get involved in this? Because that's, that's a fascinating story. It is. He was playing, uh, according to his agent, was playing, uh, and busted his ankle playing pickleball. Uh, saw that, uh, his agent, Mike g at United Talent was investing in the Texas ranchers, called him up and, and said, you know, how do I, how does he get involved? So, um, that was serendipitous. Uh, but, uh, in my opinion, you know. We, what we do really well and why I think we're an ownership group and, and the Texas Ranchers brand and franchise organization that, um, you know, is still attractive to strategic investors like Lo Wayne, um, is we meet them in the middle, you know? Yeah. We are one every, the pre, the first thing that we ask, uh, those who are interested in investing in, in being a part of our ownership group is do you like pickleball? If they don't like pickleball, we hang up the phone. No, not actually, but, um, it's not gonna be the right fit. I don't know why we would even be on the call in the first place. Um, right. And then the second question we ask, where I love to have the conversation is, what superpowers are you willing to leverage to increase shareholder value and strengthen the, the Texas Ranchers brand? Uh, and that's a great question because. We get them talking about what they're most excited about doing and how, you know, as you know, with someone like Lil Wayne, his time is very limited. Um, sure. And he gets pulled in a hundred different directions. Uh, if we have a conversation and he lights up about, I. You know, merchandising and fashion and pickleball, uh, and the lack thereof, uh, in the current pickleball landscape and his passion to, uh, bring higher, more elevated designed, um, you know, items to the Texas Ranchers fan base. I. That is a fun conversation to have for sure. Whereas someone like Miles Garrett or, or Bijan Robinson who really care about, uh, you know, impacting their local communities here in Texas, they, that conversation kind of centers around, okay, how do we then build courts and some of the underserved communities that lead a pickleball court and, um. You know, or where are areas where pickleball can positively impact the, their community that they care about. So, uh, that really has been a, a great formula for making sure not only that we have. The interest and excitement of someone like Lil Wayne involved, but they are actively showing up and frequently showing up for the Texas ranchers, there is a big difference between being a name on a press release and actively engaging it to increase shareholder value. I. For sure. And I love the fact that like, pickleball has become like, Hey, let's, let's build up this community with like, you know, some pickleball courts.'cause it is such a low lift kind of thing relative to other things. You don't need a big stadium, you just need a court and a net and some rackets in a ball, you know, in order to go, or even a, some chalk and a portable net if you're on a tennis court. Not to. Absolutely. Yeah. Yeah. Not to take over the tennis culture, but you can get two pickleball courts for one tennis court. I will say it's a good investment because if you think about it, most pickleball is, you know, doubles. So that's, you know, you're serving eight people versus, you know, the. Two people that you usually get out of a tennis court. So I'm just, you know, I know there's a lot of controversy about converting, but you know, I'm saying if I'm a racket club, uh, administrator, uh, or, or builder, you know, in my opinion, I'm, and what we've already seen is a lot of, probably 50, over 50% of those tennis courts are being converted in pickleball courts because of the exact economics that you just shared. Chris, in my town, there's a whole bunch of, uh. Tennis courts that are being converted. And it, there's a lot of debate about it, as you can imagine. But, uh, the pickleball one out on that, what you get in, uh, utilization, the space utilization you, uh, I think you also lose in the, in the noise and, and, uh, the whacking of pickleball, unfortunately. Yeah. There, there are a lot of signs, no pickleball playing after like nine,

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00 PM kind of stuff, you know, because it, it does get a little loud. I understand. One of the things that's interesting about the Texas ranchers in particular, and the way you, you, you're kind of operating this, is that you've made, um, ownership of a sports franchise a little bit more accessible for everyday people. I. Can you talk about what you're doing on that front? Because I think that's really interesting. One, we are not a closed door. We don't have a closed door policy. If someone is excited, like I said, uh, really cares about pickleball and wants to bring something different to the table, and that can, even if they don't have a platform like someone like Lil Wayne, um, we have, we have that call with them because it is not about, in my opinion. It's not about scarcity. It really isn't. Uh, and I think that is an ego game that, uh, sports assets have, uh, played in and, and franchise owners have played in, um, for the, you know, in, in our past. But historically what you see is one I. Uh, typically older, uh, white individual, um, owning the team or what we're seeing today, uh, is I think, uh, there's over 40% of, of sports owners and ownership groups in the Big four leagues are actually next gens who inherited the franchise from, you know, either Oh wow. The patriarch or matriarch of the family. And to us, you know, I, I think what we're losing out on not having a bigger piece of the pie. We are gaining by increasing the size of that pie to the analogy that Tim Glitch used when we were initially purchasing the team. Because what we have is an incredible ownership group. Sure. 40 to 50 people each getting their own stake, uh, which takes away from my individual stake and my opportunity, my upside. But, uh, especially in an emerging sports landscape, we are getting, uh, we are harnessing the power of the collective and we're getting something different that a single individual, myself. I cannot sell a merchandising collection as well as Lil Wayne can probably do with his following, you know? So, um, but I also can't sell brands as well as the leading sports marketer. Um, and so it is. A good, I, I would say experiment that is working pretty well, I'd say to date on harnessing the power of the collective and democratizing ownership and not making it just about, you know, limiting the seats at the table. I absolutely love that because when you look at, you know, ma, other major leagues, sports, it's, it is so like entrenched, you know, in, in the ownership and it's, and, and, and quite frankly, in some markets it's. Wildly frustrating the way that, that they operate, right? Um, and, and, and there there's no way to like unseat these people, you know? So it's, you gotta kind of take it. Fans want, fans want interesting people that care a lot about their organization, and that's why we ask the first question to even like pickleball, because we don't want someone. Representing our team that doesn't actually enjoy pickleball or if they're showing up in a public setting for our franchise, uh, they're showing up in a negative way. And so, um, that's what you see actually play out sometimes, and you're seeing it currently even in the home. The state of Texas I'm currently in with the Dallas Mavericks new ownership group came in and completely ruin the continuity that was built and put in place by an incredible owner in Mark Cuban who. As, you know, as everyone knows, shows up courtside to almost every home in away game. So Sure. That is a, a night and day difference, and unfortunately, you're starting to see that play out, uh, and damage the, the Dallas Mavericks organization. Well, now that Mark Cuban's into pickleball, I assume we're gonna see that, uh, amazing rise of, uh, of, of the teams and, and pickleball to follow. Right? Yeah, he's, he's at court. He sits courtside at some of his Dallas Flash games, so. Um, he is, he is a great example of Sure. A, a single individual. He deserves to, uh, have the only seat at the table, but an individual that really cares about his franchise. And, and it, and it resonates. It trickles down into, you know, uh, attendance that matches. It trickles down to the brands that wanna work with the team, uh, the players that want to play for the team. So we're doing something very similar just with. 40 individuals instead of one. Well, too bad he's not from Chicago. You know, we could, we could use a little bit of that, you know, stuff here. Definitely. Um, so how, how does, what, what are all the, all the points of monetization around this league? You know, you, you talk about kind of growing the league and, and, you know, the, the financial impact of all that. How, how does, how does that all work? What, what are all the kind of elements that go into that? So very similar to other. Sports leagues and sports organizations. It's driven by sponsorship, merchandising, gate receipts, uh, so gate receipts, being ticket sales for events, uh, for what makes pickleball different is in no other sport could you host an amateur pickleball tournament or an amateur tournament alongside a professional tournament. And that is really something core and unique to pickleball and RP and l. Versus, you know, a major league baseball team. You don't have an amateur baseball tournament going on while next door to a a Cubs, uh, a Cubs home game. So. Um, that is, that's the o really only difference. Um, what we're seeing on the sponsorship side is brands, especially now with the merger, Chris brands are investing millions of dollars into gaining access and exposure to the still growing pickleball market. The 50 million plus players who are playing in the US and the, the, and some of the million, uh, that are starting to pop up around the world. Um. And so sponsorship drives a lot of the revenue. Uh, merchandising, uh, and ticket sales are, are, you know, jostle for the the first, second place. Um, but for us, we also have local revenue, which is different than team level revenue. Local revenue is local events, uh, tournaments, clinics, leagues, because just. Giving, uh, you know, the amateur, uh, very recreational participant in an environment to compete and play pickleball sometimes is a bit more compelling than, uh, you know, trying to incentivize them to show up and, and, and attend a pickleball match. So we, we lean into that. And also the fact that we only host one tour stop in Austin. We need to have programming going on throughout the year to, to make the numbers make sense. Well, I know in, in other, you know, sports, uh, there is the, like the TV revenue share and things like that. And, and, and there's a very complicated formulas in some of these into like, of course, what markets get what. And you know, you know, obviously being in a bigger market, you know, has its advantages, you know, financially. How, how does that all work in, in pickleball? If I had to guess, we're about 18 months from that golden ticket in, in American sports, that media rights deal that you mentioned. Right. Um, we're hitting our, hitting our numbers. Uh, like I said at the start of the call, those who are participating in playing pickleball are quickly moving down the funnel and becoming active viewers, which is great, but that doesn't, that doesn't come into place until, and you don't see, you know, the kind of, um, business and the valuations that you see in, in some of the big four and major league soccer. Because we don't have that media rights deal in place yet. So, um, how that works when that deal happens is, you know, there's profit sharing. We are actually one of the few leagues alongside Major League Soccer where owners have equity in the league itself. And so, um, you know, a, a good way to think about it is. Uh, once you know profits are made, then um, you know, the teams, the franchises will, will get their prorata share. It. It, I mean, it sounds like the, there's a lot more, uh, there's lessons that have been learned from the past in other leagues that are being applied to this league, which I think is interesting. There's a lot, it sounds like there's a level of fairness like that, that's trying to be built in here that you don't see o in other places too. There is a real focus on what the main business is, which is the TV rights deal, the media rights deal. So the people at the board of directors level, al tireless, you know, uh, being one of them, comes from Major League Soccer. Uh, they are solely focused on creating the most compelling TV product for the sport of pickleball, knowing that that is the name of the game. We will, they can divide and con, we can divide and conquer as a league and make sure the Texas ranchers are showing up in Texas and, and you know, increasing participation and providing programming and environments to, to continue enjoying pickleball. But the driver of growth in pro sports in America is that media right deal. And there is a monomaniacal focus on making sure that we get that right. Uh, I, I would say that's the one knock at the moment with pickleball or the stigma around pickleball is it's a bit more fun to watch in person than it is on tv, and we hopefully can, uh, turn that narrative around. Uh, starting with this year, uh, with just the season being April to August, not a lot of competition in that window, Chris, um, at the same time. There is a real concerted effort to attach and associate summer nights with watching pickleball or experiencing pickleball. And I think it's a, it's a brilliant strategy and I'm excited to see it play out this year. I think it's really fun to watch 'cause it's so fast paced. I mean, it's not like, you know, you're, you're, you're seeing like these incredible, like crazy fast rallies.'cause like, when people get up to the, you know, the. Kitchen. Mm-hmm. This is called sort of the non volley zone, and they're like slamming them back and forth. I mean, it is like super fast reflexes and, and, and the way to, you know, that, that people, you know, move across the court and, and, and some of the shots. It's just, it's, it, it's so fun to watch and it's not like you're sitting around like when something gonna happen. It is. And I would say we have an appre. You and I have appreciation for the sport. We've played it, we've also seen the pros play it, and there's a huge difference between me as an athlete and Christian Alsan, our top player. Um, yeah. I think what we need to do, Chris, uh, and what each franchise needs to continue to focus on is how are we elevating the stories, uh, of our athletes? How are we showcasing our athletes? If you look at the NBA for example. That was a real, uh, conscious effort by. The NBA league too, when they had a talent like Michael Jordan, uh, you know, come, come to the league. They put Michael Jordan everywhere, brought him overseas, put him on tv. Like that is, and we're seeing the same thing play out with the WNBA with Kaitlyn Clark. Um, yeah. And we need to do a better job on, on putting our players up on pedestals, telling the stories. I think we've got a great media content strategy at the Ranchers, but I'd love to see a, a bit more investment from some of the other franchises. Well, yeah. And, and it's interesting you mentioned that 'cause you have some players on your team that have some really interesting backgrounds too. I mean, could you know what, what about, what about their stories? I mean, what, what are the, the really compelling stories that you think are gonna be coming out of your team? One, I, I love to highlight just because she is an all-star, as Tina Snick. Uh, a bit older of a player, uh, but still very like youthful in the way she plays. She played, uh, Olympic, uh, or tennis at the Olympic level for Slovenia and got into a terrible car accident and took up pickleball, fell in love with pickleball and within 12 months became one of the top female players on the tour. And we love her story. We love telling her story. We love Tina in general. Uh, we think she is the rock of our team. Whereas there's another story of, of our young gun, uh, Christian Alsan who came from college tennis, was a national champion at the University of Chicago. And, um, before going into his senior year, quit tennis to pursue pickleball full-time. Wow. And talk about that. Going from national champion, college tennis player to taking the risk of eating. You know, dirt, I would say for, uh, a few months to understand pickleball, understand, believe in its growth, and commit yourself to a different sport. Um, he has shown what it takes to, again, uh, sacrifice, uh. Uh, sweat and, and give it and give your full commitment to the sport of pickleball. And for those, uh, gifted athletes like Christian Alsan, uh, we're now starting to see, uh, uh, the fruits of his labor play out in and the amount of medals that he is winning on the PA tour. And hopefully that translates into him, uh, lifting the Prichard Cup here in August for the Texas ranchers. Well, I mean, you talk about, uh, you know, commitment and, uh, you know, passion for it. That, that that's a guy who sounds like he's really got it. And that's a guy that we wanna invest in. Among the other players on our team, we brought Christian, we're the first team to do the first international exhibition match in Madrid, Spain, with our partners, hoa. And we brought him over and he was surrounded by hundreds of pickleball players who all knew who Christian was, uh, and wanted to watch him play and. It's different, but, uh, it's different with seeing the, and it's exciting too to see the growth of, of pickleball in, in a market like Spain. And, um, we'll, we'll continue doing that just like the NBA did in the early days with bringing their, their teams over, uh, out east. I. The feeder sports for pickleball are really fascinating 'cause you get a lot of tennis players and it's a very different game than tennis. So it, it is not a small adjustment to go from tennis to pickleball and you see that a lot. But um, you know, they have great sense of, you know, the reaction time to the ball and things like that. You know, they got sort of a lot of those fundamentals. But the other sport that really feeds pickleball is oddly ping pong. And I don't know that, you know, people think of the ping pong table in their basement, but I don't think people have seen like real ping pong played at the professional level and how incredibly fast and intensive that sport is, which is another really cool one to watch. Mm-hmm. Um, you know, and, and even like, you know, there's like Ben Johns and, you know, he, he came out of the, the, the ping pong side of things and he was, you know, a very top ranked pickleball player there, you know, so I mean, there's definitely, you know, both sides of that. That, that coin can really, you know, excel in this sport too, right? Definitely. You get the length, athleticism power, uh, you know, reflexes of a college tennis player and you mix that with the hand speed and reaction time of, of a ping pong player. I. And you get something pretty, pretty remarkable. So we're seeing that, we're seeing a lot of raw talent. Typically what you see, Chris, is they, they, especially in tennis, uh, for those who come over from tennis, they start out really strong. And in singles, pickleball, uh, next to come is typically mixed doubles. And then. Really the, the game that is so much different than tennis is, you know, gender doubles in pickleball, men's or women's doubles. That is where you see the, the, the furthest part of the, the learning curve for ex tennis players. Um, what we see, Jack, I mean two great examples, great individuals, great athletes, Jeanie Bouchard and Jack Sok, who came over from tennis and they have not broken the top 10 in, in pickleball. Both are incredible singles players, but on the double side. Are still a bit, um, off the, the top, uh, kind of cohort of, of pro pickleball players. So how do you, how do you, uh, go about making pickleball cool and you know, like, how, how, how are you gonna grow all of this? What's, what's, what's the secret formula here? I think content, uh, is, is a key driver telling the stories of our players, uh, showing how, uh, interesting of individuals they are. Uh, the egos, the charisma that, uh, someone like a Christian Alsan has and, uh, showcase that, put that in as many screens as possible, whether that's with a streaming, uh, network deal or, or going direct to consumer and doing our own long form content and distributed on YouTube. Uh, we are heavily, I would say, the most aggressive movers in that space when it comes to, um, or when we think about us versus the other franchises, and then. Uh, doing cool, uh, different things that people in the pickleball market, uh ha or maybe even the racket sport market, have yet to see. And so that could be, uh, a collection, a collaboration on merchandising with an iconic, you know, rapper. Or it could be, you know, doing a really fun, um, you know, uh, event with, uh, a streamer, um, who opens up our audience to, uh, or opens up the Texas ranchers to a totally different audience. There are different ways to, to chop it up, but. What we like to say at the Ranchers is we're constantly focused on doing different and better things than not just the other franchises, but what's been done previously in racket sports? What's coming up? I mean, I, I'm sure there, you know, the season's kind of getting rolling here, right? So like what, what's, what's on the agenda? We have, we are unveiling our 2025 official kit in the coming weeks, and then we'll kick off the season at the end of April in Orlando. Uh, we then take off at MLP Cor, uh, Columbus. We are not participating in that tournament in Ohio. Um, but we are Then the third tournament of, of the tour is MLP Austin, and that is going to be a, a pickleball festival is, is how we're describing it with pro pickleball, amateur pickleball tournament going on. I. Uh, obviously the best pickleball players in the world from Christian Alsa, Anna Lee Waters playing here in Austin in our hometown, uh, as well as live concerts in the evening. And even, uh, a collaboration with the beach volleyball community here, where we're hosting an a VP sanctioned, uh, professional beach volleyball tournament. Uh, the same weekend at the same venue. So it is going to be, uh. What we're expecting, we're on pace to sell anywhere between 10 to 15,000 tickets, uh, over the four day period. Um. You're gonna see a lot of, uh, Austin's finest food beverages. Um, and like I said, live entertainment. Some of the, the top musicians and, uh, and bands here in Austin, uh, entertain those who choose to participate. Um, in MLP Austin over Memorial Day weekend with us, I. And that is so Austin too. I mean, that sounds like such an Austin festival, the Great Food of Austin, the great music that Austin's known for. I mean, that'll, that'll be wild and beat volleyball is such a cool sport too. I love that. That's a fun one to watch as well. Yeah. Um, definitely. Yeah, I mean, it just sounds, uh, sounds like a ton of fun. And, uh, I unfortunately we don't have the big stadiums here in Chicago, so you're not making a stop here yet. So I'm gonna, I'm gonna work on, you know, like seeing if I can talk some people into building a stadium. Yeah. You need a 2000, 2000 capacity stadium at this point with where pro Pickleball is at. If you want to host a, a pro pickleball tour stop. So, um, 2000, isn't that that big? I mean, you know, it's, it's not, you know, you could, you could do it soldier field, you know, you figure out it's not soldier field. Yep. You'll have to talk to the SLOs and, and Ricketts, the, the owners in the Chicago slice about bringing one in the 2026 season. All right, well, I'll, I'll get on that. Uh, rickets, some of the rickets live here in my town, so, you know, maybe I can go knock on some doors, knock on the door and, and get arrested. You never know. I knocked on Tim Glitches door two years ago. Now we're, now we're owning, owning and operating the ranchers could be the same thing with you, Chris. Yeah. Yeah. Well, I, I'm, I'm, I'm rooting for the ranchers right now 'cause I, I, I'm excited about what you got going on there. I think it sounds, sounds really exciting and, uh, I'm gonna have to, you know, check out our, our local team and, and, and see how, how, how they're doing this year. So, um, it, it'll be really fun. Um, so if it, if people wanted to like, check out the Texas Ranchers, where should they go? ranchers.com. ranchers.com. Uh, we're, that's the official home for the Texas Ranchers, ranchers pickleball on social media. And then shopping. Our merchandise is just shop ranchers.com. I. But we have, uh, you know, everything that you can find on ranchers.com from access to our social media, our content to where to buy merchandise to some of the local events that we have coming up, including MLP Austin. And then if like people wanted to stream pickleball, like where's the best place to go for that? For some of the marquee matchups, we'll be on Fox, CBS and ESPN this year. Um, as well as local, some regional deals that we're working through. Uh, in the, in the region that we're in currently. And then, um, what is incredible is, uh, the joint venture that we have with the tennis channel. It's called Pickleball tv. It can be found on Amazon Prime Video. Um, and pickleball is on 24 hours a day on pickleball tv. It's, so, it is a, a great way to watch pickleball, um, if it's a smaller tournament. Uh, not for major league pickleball, but for, you know, just general professional pickleball. Uh, you'll also be able to find it on YouTube. Uh, there's a lot of it on YouTube for sure. Yeah. Yeah. And I always see the pickleball stuff come up in my feed. So I'm excited for this, uh, this season. And, uh, you know, good luck to you guys. I hope, I hope you just crush it and, uh, you know, we will see you at the, you know, with the cup in your hand at the end of the season. That's the goal every single year, Chris. That's the goal. I appreciate it. Yeah. Thanks so much for being on, uh, great talking to you and, uh, good luck. You as well, Chris. Thank you. Thanks for watching. I would love to hear from you in the comments and if you could give us a, like, think about subscribing and I will see you in the next one.