At VidCon, a pickleball competition will bring more visibility to creator sports tours

Creators have already established themselves as the next generation of professional sports broadcasters. Can they also become the next generation of professional athletes? An upcoming event will put that theory to the test by treating VidCon attendees to some serious dinking.

That’s right: The Creator Pickeball Tour is coming to the online video community’s most famous annual gathering. Creator TV, the streaming network and content studio that operates under the umbrella of Los Angeles-based Sabio Holdings, has assembled a 16-player lineup for a pickleball tournament that will feature some of YouTube and TikTok’s biggest names.

The lineup for the Creator Pickleball Tour includes NichLmao, Peet Montzingo, Merrick Hanna, DangMattSmith, AnythingAlexia, Nevaaadaa, and Yoangelolo. The action will take place on the main expo floor at the Anaheim Convention Center, where VidCon’s expected audience of 50,000+ attendees will be able to witness some four-player pickleball matches.

Through its sports division, Creator TV has hosted several competitive events. The platform broadcast the World Tag Championships and teamed with King Bach for poker content. Some Creator TV Sports projects have made it to TV; the studio’s Creator Poker Championship, for example, premiered on the CBS Sports Network this past May.

For the Creator Pickleball Tour, an enhanced level of professionalism and polish is on the docket. Harry Cicma, who has produced pickleball content for ESPN, will be on hand at VidCon to produce the 16-creator showdown. The footage will then be distributed as an episodic series across Creator TV’s network of FAST channels.

“This is what Creator TV Sports is built for,” said Creator TV Co-Founder and General Manager Joe Ochoa in a statement. “Putting them in a live competition at the world’s biggest creator event and bringing it to streaming creates something that works everywhere: on-site, on social, and on screen.”

Creator sports competitions have become so popular that soccer and football tournaments are now sharing airtime with massive global events like the World Cup and Super Bowl. The action at VidCon will determine how much excitement can be generated when the fastest-growing sport in the U.S. meets the rising tide of creator activations. If it worked for Airrack, it can work for Creator TV.