Main League Desk Tennis introduced Tuesday that it’ll add two groups for the 2025 season, increasing from eight to 10 golf equipment subsequent September. MLTT has not but revealed the areas of the brand new groups.
The growth marks the primary main initiative for the reason that league $5.5 million in strategic funding from over 20 traders in October, together with a money inflow from Harris Blitzer Sports activities & Leisure principal David Blitzer and Philadelphia 76ers president of basketball operations Daryl Morey.
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“We imagine that many leagues broaden just because that’s their solely supply of capital,” Flint Lane, the league’s founder and commissioner, mentioned in a video interview. “Typically they don’t have their unit economics working rather well, they usually get on this loop of promoting groups simply to fund operations. We needed to be sure that we had extra working parts of our league, and we’ve definitely achieved that.”
Lane mentioned MLTT, the primary skilled league of its sort within the U.S., didn’t have that basis prepared after its first season in 2022-23. However YouTube viewership has spiked 537% since then, the commissioner added.
Lane and chief enterprise officer Jordan Schlachter mentioned the league is in negotiations for media distribution, doubtlessly making a presence on linear tv consistent with extra established desk tennis leagues internationally.
Staff operations for the brand new franchises will probably be beneath the auspices of MLTT, the identical because the eight lively groups.
“We’ve got the machine down, and proper now we’re discovering that there’s demand in different cities for these groups,” mentioned Schlachter. “So quite than wait a yr or two years, such as you see with the WNBA, with NWSL, the place the groups need to construct their very own infrastructures, we’re capable of present the infrastructure for the working of all groups, whether or not it’s eight or whether or not it’s 10.
“The truth that we, from an operations standpoint, can on the market be representing 10 groups as an alternative of simply eight, simply makes us extra invaluable to the potential companions, distribution companions and sponsors.”
MLTT at the moment has eight groups representing totally different U.S. markets, with a rotating group of 4 groups competing towards each other in a weekend collection of matches across the nation. The Florida Crocs, Princeton Revolution, Carolina Gold Rush and Chicago Wind play within the East Division, with the Texas Smash, Portland Paddlers, Seattle Spinners and Bay Space Blasters within the West Division.
Basketball Corridor of Famer Manu Ginobili is a member of the Florida Crocs possession group. Former world No. 1 desk tennis participant Dima Ovtcharov is a part of the possession group of the Princeton Revolution.
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