Yahoo Finance reporter Josh Schafer details the rise in popularity of pickleball and how lucrative of a sport it has become for its professional players, and also speaks with the sport's founder and a star player.

Video Transcript

RACHELLE AKUFFO: Welcome back. Pickleball's rise continues to garner more attention. The sport has grown nearly 40% since 2019 and now boasts more than 4 million players worldwide. But what became many Americans favorite social distancing hobby during COVID-19 is now turning into a career for some players. Our very own Josh Schafer is here with more. So Josh, you actually spent the morning at one of these professional tournaments. What did you learn?

JOSH SCHAFER: Yeah, Rachelle. So I spent the morning over at the Billie Jean King National Tennis Training Center, where the Association of Pickleball Professionals is playing its first-ever Franklin New York City Open. The tour is dishing out $125,000 in prize money this weekend. That includes $10,000 for the singles winner, $10,000 for each person that wins in the doubles. And so I spoke with CEO and founder of the APP, Ken Herrmann, who told me they have players on the tour right now approaching six-figure incomes from pickleball. And that's before sponsorships.

And so this weekend right now is really a big step in the right direction for the sport. Playing at that Billie Jean King Center, streaming on ESPN+. Herrmann told me he's actually learned from King in the past and feels like pickleball's rise was inspired by how King started the Women's Tennis Association. Let's take a listen.

KEN HERRMANN: I was fortunate enough to listen to Billie Jean King many times in my role as serving as a coach for player development. And I just was always amazed and fascinated when I would hear her stories about how she started the women's tour, the WTA. And you can see the picture of the nine ladies holding up the dollar when they broke away from the men's tour back in the early '70s and broke in their own tour. And you know I was just always mesmerized about how Billie Jean would go off and have meetings in New York City with sponsors and then have to get back to Florida that night to play Chris Evert in an exhibition match, and how she could do that.

JOSH SCHAFER: Now I also spoke with some players. One rising star, Paris Todd, was once chasing a professional tennis career. Now the 23-year-old is playing pickleball three to six hours a day. She'll be playing in the singles championship this Sunday with a shot at winning that $10,000. She told me she's betting on the sport because she believes it's the perfect time to be joining the league.

PARIS TODD: It's growing so much more and more, and to see the prize money actually getting there and more sponsors getting involved, it's just better for the players actually saying, hey, you know what? There's money starting to come into this. I can actually commit and this can be my full-time job. So it's really awesome for everyone.

JOSH SCHAFER: And really another interesting thing, guys, that Todd told me was she kept on emphasizing the community. It's almost like a traveling startup, a traveling band, where they're going to these different cities every weekend trying to build something. And she said, I guess this is my life now. That's just what they're doing.

SEANA SMITH: Before when you were initially going on this assignment I was a little bit skeptical, because when I think of pickleball I think of people down in Florida playing. And I know, Dave, you're telling me, you need to switch your thinking because that is not the case anymore. From your perspective, though, Josh, being there, I guess how does it compare to some of the other more established sports? I mean, obviously you're not going to compare it to like the NBA or NFL, but comparing it to maybe professional squash. Is it along those lines?

JOSH SCHAFER: Yeah I would say it's kind of along those lines. And honestly, I could see it getting, too, similar to golf, where you can play the sport but you can't play it at the level that those athletes are playing at. And that's kind of what intrigues me about watching golf. I know I'm not that good. And so you keep coming back to watch them because they hit these impressive shots. And I think that's kind of where maybe the pickleball intrigue is a little bit.

DAVE BRIGGS: Yeah, you know you'd think that this would actually hurt the growth of tennis because they are taking over and converting tennis courts to pickleball. But tennis has also grown 28%, since pre-pandemic, so they're both growing together. What do you think the sport needs to go to that next level? Because you've got Marc Lasry, the owner of the Bucks, is in it. Gary Vaynerchuk, serial entrepreneur, is in it. What does it need to kind of go mainstream?

JOSH SCHAFER: It needs what we talk about on this show every time we talk about sports business. It needs characters. It needs those players that we know. I was talking to someone today and they said, who's going to be our Tiger Woods? And it's probably going to be a tennis player. It's going to be whatever tennis player decides that they're going to retire and go play on the pickleball tour. We're all going to tune in. We're going to be like, what do you mean a tennis player is playing? That's different.

DAVE BRIGGS: James Blake is into it. I know he I think owns a team. I don't know if he plays on the tour, though.

JOSH SCHAFER: Maybe Drew Brees, Dave. Drew Brees is--

DAVE BRIGGS: Drew Brees teased it.

JOSH SCHAFER: Now, I'm not a tennis player, but I would watch Drew Brees play pickleball.

DAVE BRIGGS: He teased it in his future when he tweeted about his career--

SEANA SMITH: We'll see.

DAVE BRIGGS: --that maybe he'll join the pickleball tour, Rachelle.

RACHELLE AKUFFO: We'll see. If Serena Williams ever joins this, it's over for all of us. I mean, what chance have the rest of us got?

But Josh, talk a little bit about I know the age groups, because you said they even have like a seniors division, so it's really something that everybody can get into.

JOSH SCHAFER: Yeah, Rachelle, and I think that's what's relatable and exciting about this is not only can older people play recreationally, but there are older pros. Someone that's 65 could win $10,000 this weekend playing. That's really impressive and different than other sports. And it kind of keeps that competitive edge to it. Again, I compared it to golf earlier and I think it's similar a little bit in that way where you have the senior tour. And I think that's where pickleball is kind of finding its niche and will grow in that way.

DAVE BRIGGS: Yeah, the barriers to entry are essentially nil. It's cheap, and even if you're a bad athlete like me, you can get right involved.

JOSH SCHAFER: $50 for a paddle. At $50 bucks for a decent paddle and we're in. I think we might have to all go play.

DAVE BRIGGS: And an hour. It doesn't take six hours like golf. Josh Schafer. Great job. Good story.