The best golfers in the world went back and forth and traded verbal jabs through the media and beyond during the past year. 

Then they made up. Sort of. The PGA Tour and LIV golf co-existed for a short while, but truly coming together was best for the sport and more importantly, for the fans, so when the two sides agreed to a merger, it shouldn’t have been surprising, considering how the history of professional sports has been shaped.

Before there was the NFL as we know it, there was the NFL and the AFL. The two were separate, before joining together and now your Sundays are filled with football.

In basketball, before we got the behemoth that’s the current NBA, there were two professional basketball leagues in the United States - the NBA and the ABA. 

Those were years ago, but the mergers are still happening. In September, there were reports the USFL and the XFL have considered coming together. The WTA and the ATP, the women’s and men’s top professional tennis tour are discussing a merger. Even in the world of professional fighting, UFC and WWE merged. 

And in paddle sports, the World Padel Tour was acquired by Qatar Sports Investments, which ran Premier Padel. The two competing Padel tours are now one and are set for the 2024 season as a single, unified league. 

Of course, anyone in the pickleball world knows about the MLP and the PPA coming together as well.

Is this the best step forward for pickleball?

“I think so,” said PPA Tour player A.J. Koller. “The game needs to land TV deals to be profitable long term. Everyone under one roof is the best way to accomplish that.”

We’re still waiting to see all the details of how it will look on the court for the world’s best pickleball players, seeing as how each tour has a different format. However, the fans will win in the end.

“I worry a little about getting the entities, the different formats to mesh well together,” Koller said. “But I’m hoping for the best.

All signs point to the best days of pickleball are upon us. Pro tournaments are filled with new players, the tour events, MLP included, have been popular and players from all over the globe are getting involved.

A merger between the two sides makes good business sense.

“It will get more international,” Koller said of the near future of pro pickleball. “I’m excited to start getting players from other countries to come in. The quality of the athlete will continue to rise and new players with more diverse skill sets will start playing. That will be fun.”