Will Howells

This is exactly why I suggested the teams pay the players instead of the league. If the teams pay the players, their MLP compensation is directly tied to their MLP performance. Bonuses can be created by teams for playoffs, midseason tournament, etc. just like they do in other sports Nobody would give less than 100% effort if they knew it’d significantly impact their pay!

You are 100% correct that very good players on not great teams sometimes mail it in. I talked to one good player today who admitted they aren’t playing at top speed due to MLP lacking incentives to play well on a not great team. But, if you spread the talent around, more teams would have a chance to win, more players would see a chance to win, and thus more players would be motivated. The best solution, BY FAR, would be to do a total redraft in 2027, with a cap and a floor. And keep the cap and floor in place. There was some reasonable balance in 2024, but it was thrown away due to there being no cap in 2025. Now, even with a cap, it will be hard to recreate balance, as i bet the cap won’t be low enough and the franchise tag won’t be high enough, so the best teams won’t be broken up enough. ALW, for example, should be on a team with no other top 10 player. There are 20 teams, 20 top 10 players. Do the math, one per team on average. A smart team might get 2. But we have teams with 4!

I agree with many of these points, however in regards to more “parity/balanced” teams, many people think that if the elites get split up, it will make it more balanced - I’m not sure it necessarily will. (It may, but don’t think its guaranteed) We’ve seen many of these top players on weak teams, and many of these players have simply mailed it in rather than try to lift the others up. But it is clear that something needs to be done.

@tylerloong The solution is having the teams pay the players. They won’t mail it in if they know their compensation for MLP is directly tied to their performance in MLP. Thats why it’s important that all 3 of those things are done simultaneously!

I don’t think our team comp would allow for this. Anna Leigh and Jorja would be offered basically the max (rightfully so). We’ll say it’s $900k. They’d have to either choose to take the money and play with weaker partners or be willing to take less so they could build a strong team around them. Either way, I don’t think you’d be able to get both of those players on the same team. That’s why it’d naturally balance out.

Kloss has me blocked but he is wrong here (as usual). The floor will be real money paid by the teams to the league. If the floor is $500k. Right now that goes to league dues. The total league fee is $10mm split amongst all the teams. If teams could spend upwards of $1m with a $500k floor. You could realistically pay players. The big issue would be teams not willing to spend the $1mm would be hard pressed to find talent to play for less. Fives say we will give $300k to AL, $200k to you, Noe, Jorja. And $50k to Martin and Lina. Everyone is probably happy. But only about 4-6 teams could or would spend that right now.

There’s a lot of talk in MLP right now about a franchise tag on players and how everything will be handled next year with regard to team composition. I think one of the most beneficial changes MLP can make would be adding a salary cap, salary floor, and most importantly having the teams pay the players instead of the UPA. This 1. Incentivizes MLP specific performance by separating MLP and PPA pay 2. Allows the players to have a true free agency where they can have a choice in the team they play for and 3. Naturally keeps the teams more balanced. In my opinion, this would solve basically all of the issues the league faces but I’m not sure the feasibility with the current contracts of players. Let me know what you think!

@pickleball_jim @Johnny5pointOH To grow the league, I think the teams should be willing to invest in themselves, especially because it’ll create more parity which benefits everyone.

Cap and floor yes. Teams directly paying players no. Again difference between CFL and NFL financial structure. Individual teams have wildly different financial abilities. many teams could not afford the floor if it was real $ paid to the players. the ceiling and floor would have to be VERY low.

@pickleball_jim @Johnny5pointOH Why do you think it would make the imbalance worse? If there is a cap and floor, I would think it would make it better.

Will — your ideas are good and I have advocated before for most of them. But teams paying players like the NFL does is not the way MLP is structured. MLP is akin to the CFL financial structure, not the NFL. There isn’t enough team related revenue to pay players directly. If done now the imbalance would actually be worse.

As UPA is a joint entity already, the newly structured contracts could provide an exclusivity clause but not necessarily payment for MLP. The payment could just be handled among the teams for MLP. Also, aren’t other sports technically part time too? They have an off season. NFL is only about 4.5 months

@WillHowells_pb @Johnny5pointOH Of course that makes sense but the merger made that impossible. I believe your structure could separate leagues again and fracture the talent pool potentially. The problem is that MLP is a part-time league as it stands. 3 month fast window where you basically borrow folks.

Was @WillHowells_pb any good this week in New York!? Hard to find a weakness! 3rd Shot Drive Success: 79.2% 🥇 Speedup Net Impact: +3.0/g 🥇 Firefight Last Shot Net: +2.44/g 🥇 Hits / Rally Win: 8.6 🥇 🤡 💪 📸 @MajorLeaguePB

MLP New York Top Men! 🗽📊 @WillHowells_pb (+3.8) & @NoeKhlif (+2.6) fueled the New Jersey 5s' title run at #1 & #3, while @ChristianAlshon (+3.1) locked down #2 for Brooklyn! @eric_oncins & JW Johnson round out an elite Top 5. 💥 (Min 7 games) 📸 @MajorLeaguePB

@zoeyweil66 Much appreciated Zoey!

The fives men get a lot of hate when things don’t go well but not a lot of love when things do go well. Impressive win over a top Brooklyn men’s pairing to get the Fives another 25 points

@ChrisCaliSNS I’d honestly say it’s a solid quality belt. It’s pretty heavy!

someone said on my live stream last week that the super sunday belt looks like a Temu watch, and I can't get that out of my head

They've done it again. ⭐️ The New Jersey 5s defeat the Brooklyn Pickleball Team to win #MLPNYC presented by @ClearyGottlieb, earning the Super Sunday belt and 25 standings points. Brooklyn adds 18 standings points. #MLP2026

Arrived in Style🤡🍎

💪 @WillHowells_pb showing OUT #MLP2026 #MLPAustin presented by Waterdrop Filter

@matty_pickles He’s always a great sport. I’ll give him a paddle after the tourney anyways!

My dad just bet his cowboy hat against Howell’s paddle that the ranchers win this match vs the 5s

This entire game had us on the edge of our seats 🍿🤩 The New Jersey 5s take the W (12-10) 💪

🔥 @WillHowells_pb finishes it for @the5spickleball down in Austin! #MLPAustin #MLP2026 @Pickleballtv

MLP Columbus did not disappoint! @the5spickleball got max points & ALL 4 starters topped PI+ rankings 🏆👏 41,258 hits & 4,191 rallies to bring you this: 🥇 @WillHowells_pb 🤡 🥈 Gabe Tardio⚡️ 🥉 @NoeKhlif 🤡 4️⃣ Hunter Johnson 🍕 5️⃣ CJ Klinger 🍔 📸 courtesy @MajorLeaguePB

@AshAshPB It’s extremely humid, only about 85 degrees though

Is Hanoi the hottest ever pickleball venue? Looks like everyone is not only dripping sweat but on the verge of passing out.