Steve Kuhn is resigning from the league he founded, Major League Pickleball (MLP), we have learned from The Dink. As we reported last month, MLP and the Carvana Pro Pickleball Association Tour (PPA Tour) were to merge in a deal that would preserve their two brands and establish a “unified and definitive professional pickleball holding company,” thanks to an investment of €50 million from SC Holdings and several tour and team owners. Five directors had been named to the board.
Kuhn, it seems, made an alternate proposal just before the paperwork went through: “expand the league and sell more teams to source additional capital,” in The Dink’s encapsulation. “We had heard rumblings that the deal was on shaky ground,” the outlet continues. “Even today, the deal is not done. And now we have inside information that Kuhn had once again formulated a plan to move MLP in a different direction and, in all likelihood, hurt the chances of a merger (whether intentional or not).” Several resignations ensued at MLP, culminating in Kuhn’s own. This has given the merger new life, according to MLP and PPA.
With Kuhn out, the board is reduced from five to four directors: Al Tylis, Jason Stein, Tom Dundon, and Brian Levine.
Kuhn is not quitting the pickleball business. He will continue to run DUPR – a trademarked “global rating system” for pickleball clubs, tours and players – and remain an investor in related pickleball-related ventures. One of these, Picklemall, offers a court-booking app and court cameras to capture gameplay footage in real-time for training. Another, PickleRoll, is a four-foot by four-foot square system that converts any flat space with a hard surface into a pickleball court.
