Lil Wayne is the latest celebrity to dive into the world of pickleball, announcing himself as the latest investor of the Texas Ranchers.
The Grammy Award-winning rapper will also serve as the team’s strategic advisor, where he will provide direction for the brand to help drive national and local fandom to the sport, support creative ideation and the development of future apparel collaborations and work with the team to build pickleball courts in underserved areas.
“Pickleball is the moment,” the Louisiana artist said in a statement. “I’ve enjoyed watching and couldn’t pass up the opportunity to join this team of owners.”
Founded in 2021 by Bryan Sheffield, The Ranchers are one of the eight original Major League Pickleball.
“We’re so excited to have Lil Wayne on board,” said Evan Floersch, CEO of the Texas Ranchers. “From the get-go, we set out to build a team that, at its core, was centered in pop culture to support our mission of becoming one of the most recognized brands in American sports. Having Wayne’s guidance, along with the rest of this incredible ownership group, emphasizes our stance on redefining sports ownership and being a positive force for good in our local pickleball community and beyond.”
Major League Pickleball (MLP by Margaritaville) is the leading team-based professional pickleball league and the standard-bearer for the fastest-growing sport in the country. Founded by Steve Kuhn in 2021, MLP has grown from a modest eight to an impressive 24 teams and boasts nearly 100 of the best athletes in the sport distributed across 24 teams.
