Today on Pickleballers, we sit down with the most powerful man in pickleball, Connor Pardoe. He is the CEO of the UPA (the combined PPA Tour + MLP). Connor shares his origin story, how he fell in love with the game, and the napkin-math that became the PPA. He walks us through exclusivity with players, the pivotal partnership with Tom Dundon, the wild Kansas City “Tour Wars” weekend, and why unifying pro pickleball under UPA changed everything.

We dig into the new three-year extensions, the shift toward prize-money-driven earnings, how MLP and PPA now run in distinct seasons, and the bigger vision: turning millions of doers into viewers with bigger moments, bigger purses, and a more premium product for fans and players alike.

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(0:00) – Intro – Connor Pardoe, CEO of PPA & MLP
(2:00) – Early Life
(6:40) – Marriage young, Mormon culture, and family values
(9:57) – First time playing pickleball with his dad
(12:28) – Family life with two sets of twins
(14:39) – Early career in real estate development
(15:55) – First tournaments and falling in love with pickleball
(18:39) – Atlanta event and first exposure to pro pickleball
(20:22) – Founding the PPA Tour: napkin math and early vision
(23:39) – Launching Mesa with $50,000 prize money
(27:35) – Leaving real estate to go all-in on pickleball
(31:12) – Signing Ben Johns and legitimizing the PPA
(35:18) – Partnering with Tom Dundon – equity, not cash
(41:20) – Scaling up operations and rapid growth
(46:21) – Meeting Tom Dundon at 26 and early PPA expansion
(47:19) – Enter Steve Kuhn and the birth of MLP
(50:05) – Early meetings, team pickleball tension, and exclusivity battles
(52:13) – VIBE league launch and celebrity owners lined up
(55:57) – Kansas City chaos – player contracts and the tour wars explode
(1:01:22) – Locking in Anna Leigh Waters and Ben Johns saves the PPA
(1:07:56) – Why unification ultimately helped the sport
(1:12:56) – New contracts – guarantees plus prize money
(1:17:39) – Turning doers into viewers – growing the fan base
(1:20:00) – The future of pro pickleball and closing thoughts