About a month after the MLP and PPA Tour finalized their long-awaited merger, league leadership spoke Sunday on the opening panel of the inaugural RacquetX conference in Miami.
RacquetX’s “Ultimate Pickleball Panel” at Miami Beach Convention Center on March 24 included PPA Tour president Bryce Morgan and MLP strategic advisor Anna Worcester alongside Association of Pickleball Professionals CMO Tom Webb and USA Pickleball CEO Mike Nealy.
The racquet sports conference will span more than 2,000 attendees, 150 speakers and sponsors such as Adidas, PlaySight, Wilson, NOX, Pickleball United, and many more.
“For the first time ever, the PPA, the MLP, and the APP will all be on stage with USA pickleball,” RacquetX CEO Robyn Duda told NoVolleys before the event. “They’re going to be discussing where we’ve come but also where we think the future is going in a very united front.”
Duda, an events industry veteran, co-founded RaquetX in April 2023 alongside investor Marco Giberti of Vesuvio Ventures. The three-day conference runs Sunday through Tuesday, March 26 with panelists serving the B2B market across pickleball, tennis, padel, squash, etc., as well as speakers from the NBA, MLB, tech companies, and others outside the racquet sports industry.
“It felt like there was a big need for this. There was no place to unite this industry that’s been on this rocket ship—or at least some of the sports that have been in the industry on a rocket ship,” Duda said. “It didn’t feel like they were all really supporting each other as much as they should, and they definitely weren’t learning from each other. That’s what we launched with the premise that we’re creating an ecosystem and community from player to maker.”
Miami Open, APP Serve Up ‘America’s Racquet Week’
RacquetX coincides with the APP Miami Open sponsored by Chase and tennis’s Miami Open, which will also host the Major League Pickleball All-Star Tournament from March 27-29. Various ticket packages for RacquetX include access to the Miami Open and APP tournament.
“We are hoping this week becomes America’s racquet week. We’re trying to unite the industry,” Duda said. “There isn’t one meeting ground for everyone, and for us to be the anchor of it is a really exciting way to move forward with the event,” adding she expects RacquetX to be an annual conference that will soon announce 2025 dates.
A $35 expo-only RacquetX ticket is aimed at consumers and racquet sports enthusiasts. Their ticket grants access to a showfloor of more than 50 exhibitors including PodPlay, PlayByPoint, Gamma Sports, Slinger, and Tennibot. Guests can also play on nine pop-up courts being built inside the Convention Center—four pickleball courts, four padel, and one tennis court.
From a B2B standpoint, RacquetX content targets club operators, real estate managers and HOAs, parks and recreation departments, universities, and investors. Speakers in these spaces will include Memphis Tourism CEO Kevin Kane, Tanja Marariu of The Palms Hotel Miami, Invited Clubs CEO David Pillsbury, and Oak View Group’s head of sustainability Kristen Fulmer.
Pro Sports Unite to Share Fan Engagement Insights
Duda garnered speakers from top pro sports leagues outside of racquet sports to discuss the latest in fan engagement trends at RacquetX. Those speakers include Miami Heat EVP of business strategy Matthew Jafarian, ESL Pro League esports commissioner Alexander Inglot, Miami Marlins CMO Tiago Pinto, NBA Players Association director of international player experience Ivan Maggi, and Miami Heat sustainability manager Zach Ruiz.
Technology companies are also well represented, ranging from startups such as Save My Play and Sportsvisio to speakers from Microsoft and TikTok. Coverage will span AI’s influence on racquet sports as well as a gamification panel led by the PPA Tour’s gambling operations manager Justin Mader.