Excitement is in the air surrounding the National Pickleball League (NPL), as the league prepares for its first official tournament season starting in June. The NPL is the premiere Champions Division (Ages 50+) professional pickleball league that strives to champion the sport’s senior pro players.
In today’s press release, the NPL officially announced its second team: The Boca Raton Picklers. The league signed a team purchase agreement with co-owners Carl Foster and Rick Retamar, making the Boca Raton Picklers the newest addition to the NPL for its inaugural year.
Ahead of the first tournament event, the NPL is set to host a live player draft in April where each of the league’s six teams will select 16-20 players for their roster, as well as a Draft Combine event in March to allow players a chance to meet and familiarize themselves with the NPL going into the draft.
During the regular season, the NPL will host 5 major tournaments at Chicken N Pickle locations across the nation. There will then be a big Championship Weekend event hosted at the newest Chicken N Pickle venue in Phoenix, AZ.
Teams will participate in 16 team competitions during each of the tournaments consisting of 4 lines of men’s doubles, women’s doubles, and two mixed doubles matches. The NPL recently announced that they have $100,000 in prize money support for winning teams at their events.
In February, the NPL announced its first team: Naples JBB United, owned by Naples Pickleball Center. This makes the Boca Raton Picklers the second NPL team based in Florida, which is currently pickleball’s epicenter and home to many of its pro athletes.
Picklers co-owner Carl Foster is excited to be a part of the NPL’s first season. He sees the league’s potential in creating a platform for pickleball’s Champions Pro level players.
“We are thrilled to bring the first professional pickleball franchise to Southeast Florida. We believe in the NPL’’s mission of creating a competitive platform that showcases the many talents and personalities of Champions Pro (50+) players.”
Carl Foster, Co-owner of the Boca Raton Picklers
The league’s founders, Rick Witsken, Beth Bellamy, and Michael Chen, are equally thrilled to have Boca Raton join their organization and believe that the Picklers ownership team will also help them achieve their goals of creating a league that focuses on supporting its players.
“We couldn’t be more excited to have Carl, Rick and their terrific team in Boca join us. They are excellent partners who are interested in growing the great sport of pickleball and are strategically aligned with our mission of making the NPL the very best it can be.”
NPL on the Boca Raton Picklers
Now that the league has the Boca Raton Picklers, that leaves four more teams to be announced in the next few weeks before the Draft Combine March 24-26. Expect a series of exciting announcements to come leading into the combine weekend!
Follow the NPL’s website for more upcoming team announcements, registration details, and other information about the league!
