MLP and PPA Tour Release 2024 Combined Events Calendar

In a landmark piece of pro pickleball news, the PPA Tour (PPA) and Major League Pickleball (MLP) announced an impending merger earlier this autumn (details here). Then, Steve Kuhn announced he was stepping down from MLP.

While we still lack details on the merger's status, the organizations have today released their first joint announcement: an integrated 2024 schedule of events.

The list includes a total of 34 combined and standalone events across 25 U.S. cities and 18 states, promising to "bring pro pickleball to more fans than ever before."

Both PPA and MLP will have season-ending championships that will be the pinnacle of the athletes’ and teams’ results throughout the year. In addition, there will be a dedicated off-season for players following the final event of 2024.

The combined PPA/MLP schedule:

A combined schedule of PPA Tour/MLP events for 2024.

Note the TBA location events in June, August, and October. We'll be sure to update this story and publish in subsequent ones when those dates have announced locations.

PPA 2024 details at a glance:

PPA Tour structure that features Slams (worth up to 2,000 ranking points), Cups (worth up to 1,500 points), and Opens (worth up to 1,000 points).
The ranking points on the PPA Tour will qualify them for the PPA Tour Finals in San Clemente, Calif.
Every PPA Tour stop will provide pickleball enthusiasts of all levels with the opportunity to “play where the pros play” in amateur divisions across ages and skills.

MLP 2024 details at a glance:

New structure: 24 MLP teams will play a regular season schedule and be split into six divisions of four teams each.
Teams will play at least 40 matches over the course of the regular season, facing every other team at least once.
Division opponents will meet three or four times and teams will play everyone in their “rival” division two or three times.
The two-week MLP Playoffs will follow the conclusion of the 2024 regular season.

New tour structure details

PPA Tour Slams and Cups:

PPA Slams (4 events, each worth up to 2,000 points) and Cups (six (6) events, each worth up to 1,500 points) represent the opportunity for athletes to earn the most ranking points on the PPA Tour.

These marquee stops will see the top players in the world battle across singles, doubles, and mixed doubles in search of a coveted “triple crown.”

New for 2024, PPA Tour Slams and Cups will feature a progressive bracket schedule, with one round of all three events being completed each day (i.e. R32 of singles, doubles, and mixed doubles on Wednesday, R16 of each event on Thursday, etc.).

PPA Tour Opens

PPA Tour Opens will showcase the traditional PPA Tour event model across 15 tour stops featuring top pros, with Singles Thursday, Mixed Doubles Friday, Gender Doubles Saturday, and Championship Sunday. Players will play in at least seven of the 15 PPA Opens over the course of the year.

PPA Finals

The PPA Finals in San Clemente, CA - Dec. 5-8 - will be the culmination of a player’s season.

Based on results and points accumulated during the 2024 calendar, the top eight singles players, men’s and women’s doubles teams, and mixed doubles teams will qualify to compete in a round-robin tournament to see who is crowned champion in each discipline at year’s end.

MLP Regular Season

The 2024 MLP regular season schedule will consist of 15 total events. At each regular season event, a collection of the 24 MLP teams will appear and play multiple matches, with results determining a team’s regular season record.

Every MLP match features Men’s Doubles, Women’s Doubles, and two Mixed Doubles games to 21, plus a Dreambreaker tiebreaker, if necessary.

Nine of MLP’s 15 events will take place on the front end of the PPA Tour Slams, Cups, or Opens and be played the first weekend of these combined nine-day pickleball extravaganzas.

The remaining six events will be MLP Showdowns that bring the excitement of the unique MLP format to a variety of team markets.

MLP Mid-Season Tournament and MLP Playoffs

MLP will host two Championship events in 2024. The Mid-Season Championship will see all 24 teams in action over four days (Thursday, July 11-Sunday, July 14), in Grand Rapids, Mich., with a champion crowned at the end of the weekend.

The season-ending MLP Playoffs will take place over two four-day weekends in two locations and will take into account teams’ performance across the regular season, culminating with a full-season 2024 champion.