Tom Brady can't stay away from sports -- as evidenced by his brief NFL retirement this past offseason -- and is finding new ways to stay involved. Brady is now joining the pickleball craze by buying one of the Major League Pickleball expansion teams, along with four-time major tennis champion Kim Clijsters, as part of an ownership group led by Knighthead Capital Management.
The news comes just a few weeks after the league announced that the NBA champions trio of LeBron James, Draymond Green and Kevin Love were joining an already impressive list of MLP owners. Other well-known names involved in the league include Drew Brees, co-owner of the Milwaukee Bucks Marc Lasry and entrepreneur Gary Vaynerchuk.
"Look, I've been trying to find a way to extend my professional sports career beyond my 40s. Even in my 50s, 60s, 70s. As long as I can, right? And I think I got the answer. Seems like everybody else has the answer too. Pickeball," Brady said in an Instagram video.
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback has already earned seven Super Bowl rings through his NFL career that started with the New England Patriots in 2000. Vaynerchuk, who has said multiple times that his life goal is to buy the New York Jets, started teasing the concept of competition against Brady.
"Welp I thought it would be on the football field but looks like we will start on Pickleball" he wrote on Twitter.
In the official press release, MLP said the new team will be 50% female-owned, which they pointed out was a "testament to the league's foundational mission of gender equality." While there are men's and women's doubles categories, the sport also has co-ed teams playing in mixed doubles.
Clijsters, a former tennis world No. 1, regularly plays pickelball with Wall Street bond saleswoman Callie Simpkins and financial advisor Kaitlyn Kerr, who are also part of the ownership group.
"Of course, I'm excited at the investment opportunity," Clijsters said on a statement. "But what excites me the most about becoming an MLP owner is that I get to help shape the future of pickleball, a sport I have come to love, with great people – who also happen to be some of my best friends. I'm thrilled to help showcase professional pickleball and make an impact on the sport through my experience gained in the top levels of professional tennis."
Pickleball is similar to tennis in a lot of ways, but it is more accessible to athletes of all demographic as it relies less on physical ability and more on mental skill. MLP Founder Steve Kuhn said his goal is to reach 40 million pickleball players by 2030.
MLP debuted in 2021 with eight teams and expanded to 12 teams this year. The league is adding four more clubs for the 2023 campaign.
The 2022 season is wrapping up this coming weekend in Columbus, Ohio with 48 players competing for a prize purse of $319,000. CBS Sports Network will broadcast the finals on Sunday at 7:30 p.m. ET.
