It's been widely publicized that pickleball is the fastest-growing sport in America, and the sport continues to attract interest beyond neighborhood courts.
Pickleball Slam, a tournament pitting tennis legends against one another for a $1 million cash prize, is returning for the second year a row. ‘Slam 2’ will air live on ESPN on February 4, 2024, Horizon Sports & Experiences and InsideOut Sports & Entertainment announced on Tuesday, July 18.
The event will be held at the Hard Rock Live at Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Hollywood, Florida.
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The inaugural tournament featured tennis greats John McEnroe, Andre Agassi, Andy Roddick, and Michael Chang. McEnroe and Agassi will return for ‘Slam 2,’ but Agassi will be bringing along his wife and fellow tennis legend Steffi Graf.
The fourth participant will be five-time WTA Grand Slam winner Maria Sharapova.
“When I watched the inaugural Pickleball Slam in April and stepped onto the court, I was hooked,” Graf said in a statement. “Andre and I can’t wait to get back out on the court together to face off against Maria and John.”
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Pickleball Slam had a successful first year that saw the event average out at 669,000 viewers, according to Nielsen. It had a noon time slot on Sunday, April 2, 2023 and performed better than several NBA and MLB nationally televised games that played the same week.
‘Slam 2’ will once again fall on aSunday, but have an 8:30 pm time slot for its second go-round -- an interesting test to see whether the event can pull in an audience during primetime.
“Following the success of the inaugural Pickleball Slam, we’re excited to once again partner with and return to the Hard Rock and present SLAM 2 in primetime on ESPN, an ideal timeslot coming out of the network’s coverage of the NFL Pro Bowl and a NBA regular season game,” David Levy, Co-CEO of HS&E, said in a statement.
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