Major League Pickleball (MLP) will field 21 teams in 2027 after confirming that the Houston Hammers are joining the competition under a new ownership group headed by Hugh Zhang.
According to The Dink, the league made the announcement on Wednesday. The move returns professional team pickleball to Houston, which the outlet describes as one of the sport's biggest markets.
The Hammers are not a brand-new outfit. The franchise traces its history to MLP's first season in 2021, when it competed as Team Clean. It has since changed names several times, playing as Clean Cause in 2022, Frisco Clean Cause in 2023, Frisco Pandas in 2024 and Nashville Chefs in 2025, before sitting out the 2026 campaign.
Zhang's group is hoping the Houston move will give the club a more lasting identity. "Houston is one of the top pickleball markets in the country," Zhang said in the league's announcement.
The owners' ambitions stretch beyond the professional team. They plan to stage an MLP event in the Houston area in 2027, keep their CSP Champion senior side and enter a Jr. Hammers team in Jr. MLP. The aim is a single pickleball brand covering professional, junior, senior and minor league play.
The expansion follows what the league called a record-breaking 2026 season. MLP reported that on-site attendance rose 69 per cent compared with the previous year, while ticket revenue grew 87 per cent and minutes watched on Pickleballtv increased 32 per cent. Social media impressions climbed 61 per cent and interactions 106 per cent.
The league also cited new broadcast and cable viewing records, including an audience of 733,000 for its championship finals on CBS.
Key questions remain unanswered, notably how the Hammers will assemble their roster for 2027. MLP said details on player acquisition, keeper deadlines, the forthcoming draft and the full 2027 schedule will be released in the coming weeks.