Pickleballtv officially launched on YouTube TV on Thursday.

The debut was marked by a two-hour live special of Pickleballtv Live featuring Steve Weissman, Jessie Irvine, Matt Manasse, and Dave Fleming, along with special guests Anna Leigh Waters, Anna Bright, and Connor Pardoe, the CEO of the PPA Tour and MLP.

Pardoe covered several topics of interest with the panel.

Here's a transcript of the segment.

PICKLEBALL LIVE: So much has happened since you started the PPA and the MLP, so how would you characterize the evolution of pickleball?

CONNOR PARDOE: When you think about pickleball and how much it's grown, I mean, look at where we're at tonight, having this great studio show and debuting on YouTube TV. If someone told me five years ago that it was going to look like this, I probably wouldn't believe them. It's been absolutely a blast to be a part of. And the funnest part about it is the next five years are going to be even bigger. It's going to grow even quicker. We've got a great team, and it's been really fun to just be along for the ride.

PICKLEBALL LIVE: You mentioned what you're hoping to accomplish in the next five years. Can you give us a little peek under the tent? 

CONNOR PARDOE: When you look at the next five years, when you think about professional pickleball, our goal is to continue to professionalize the sport. It's wild to think that a sport that started out as mostly an amateur sport, we're the first ones that came in and professionalized it. We took a sport that was an amateur backyard sport and we've got a real sports property now. We're driving real sponsorship dollars and real ticket sales. The events just keep getting better and better. When I started the PPA Tour, I saw a little thing called AVP Beach Volleyball. I remember circling that and telling my best friend, Conner Ogden, I remember sitting down in our office when we only had five people and I said, 'I want to be bigger than that.' And right now, we're bigger than that. We're much bigger than that, if you look at the revenues, if you look at where the sport is today. Our next goals, we're starting to look at some of the other larger sports properties, looking at what the PGA is in the United States or maybe even a little bit starting to look towards tennis, so we have a couple other sports properties we have our eyes on now. Our goal is just to get a little bit better, a little bit bigger each and every day, each and every week, each and every event, and every single year, and we've got the right group around us doing it.

PICKLEBALL LIVE: Connor, you were just in Asia. Did you guys ever think the PPA would become as international as it's slowly becoming?

CONNOR PARDOE: No, definitely not. It was so fun. When I thought about it back then, I didn't even really think about international pickleball. I remember a couple years in, we started thinking, 'Hey, Canada might be interesting,' and that was tricky with COVID, and we still haven't quite been able to make that happen. But Asia, it's just totally exploding. It's my second time there this year. We just did a two tournament stint, one in Malaysia and one in Vietnam, and the sport is growing internationally. The thing that really makes me so happy is the reason it's growing so much is because everybody watches the US PPA Tour. They're watching Pickleballtv. They're watching the matches on YouTube. These players, when they're going over there, they're like stars. People are starstruck to see them, and I think it gives kudos to two things. One, to the players. We've really created a professional product, and we've got really talented players that are able to showcase their skills and that are appealing to an international audience. But I think also the platform, like having the platform to be able to do it. Having those two things together, I really think we should be growing pretty quickly internationally. Asia's the one that makes the most sense right now, but who knows, it could be Europe, it could be other places down the road.

PICKLEBALL LIVE: How has the game personally changed for you? Are you getting to play as much? Has watching the pro players helped your own game as well?

CONNOR PARDOE: I started the PPA Tour because I love pickleball. I started playing in tournaments, and I saw that there was an opportunity to do something bigger than what was currently happening. I remember my first year, Jesse was talking to me and she's like, 'Man, why aren't we charging these spectators? Why aren't we selling tickets for these people to come and watch?' It was actually at the Texas Open. It's so funny to see where it's come today. As for me, I don't get to play as much as I would like to. When I started the tour, I actually had my first set of twins the same year, so when I get free time, I like to try to spend it with them the best I can. But, you can maybe catch me on the court, sneaking out early if I'm at a tournament to try to get a 6:00 a.m. match in.