MLP St. Petersburg Event Preview

Less than a year after opening its doors for the first time to the public, the St. Pete Athletic Club is hosting its first Major League Pickleball (MLP) event. 

Graham D’Amico, known as one of the owners of the Florida Smash in MLP, a co-host on the Bad Calls Pickleball Podcast, is also a co-founder of St. Pete Athletic. If you read the club’s About section, D’Amico and Rueben Pressman were co-founders of the venue. They quickly brought on Jarrett Sabatini and Nathan Stonecipher to make a very well rounded hospitality group to run St. Pete Athletic. 

St. Pete is the fifth stop of the 2026 MLP season. Recaps of the first four stops:

• MLP Dallas Recap
• MLP Columbus Recap
• MLP St. Louis Recap
• MLP Austin Recap

One extremely unique feature of the MLP St. Pete event is there is only one court - Championship Court. At other venues, there is a Championship Court and a Grandstand Court. Since this only has one court, the play has been extended an extra day. Play begins 11am ET on pickleballtv on Wednesday, June 17. Pool play occurs Wednesday - Saturday, with the usual Super Sunday finals.

Let’s take a look at the pools

Pool A

• Brooklyn Pickleball Team
• Chicago Slice
• Florida Smash
• LA Mad Drops
• Utah Black Diamonds

Pool B

• Columbus Sliders
• Miami Pickleball Club
• Orlando Squeeze
• Palm Beach Royals
• St. Louis Shock
• Texas Ranchers

Of note, the Utah Black Diamonds and Miami Pickleball Club switched pools approximately three weeks before play at St. Pete begins.

Tice’s Top Five Matches to Watch

Wednesday - 12:30pm - Texas Ranchers vs. Palm Beach Royals

• Texas and Palm Beach are 6th and 7th respectively, in terms of points per event - they are both looking to push for a top four seed, but this early event matchup could go a long way in determining who leaves St. Pete with big points

Wednesday - 6:30pm - Miami Pickleball Club vs. Orlando Squeeze

• Dylan Frazier recently got traded to Miami in exchange for Nico Acevedo and Dylan played for Orlando for the majority of the last two seasons - Is Miami able to pull off an upset in Florida, or is Orlando going to come away with points?

Thursday - 6:30pm - Chicago Slice vs. Utah Black Diamonds

• Utah and Chicago are both hovering right around the playoff mark (top 12) - Chicago is 11th and Utah is tied for 12th in terms of points per event - these two teams are realistically trying to fight for third place in the group and this one has big implications on that race

Saturday - 9am - Texas Ranchers vs. Columbus Sliders

• Columbus is playing Hurricane Tyra Black in her first event with the team after a blockbuster trade for Danni-Elle Townsend - If the Sliders want to earn significant points from this event, they are circling this matchup on their calendar

Saturday - 3pm - St. Louis Shock vs. Columbus Sliders

• St. Louis is the prohibitive favorite in Pool B, but the Ranchers and Sliders may have something to say about that - this matchup could determine who wins the pool and who comes in second

Weather Outlook

The weather is going to be inconsequential - all play is indoors!

How to Watch MLP St. Petersburg & Broadcast Schedule

Sunday, June 21

• All day on MSG Network 10AM ET - 6PM ET (Local)

Team by Team Quick Glance

Pool A

Brooklyn Pickleball Team

• Roster: Riley Newman, Christian Alshon, Jackie Kawamoto, Rachel Rohrabacher, Chris Haworth, and Hannah Blatt

Chicago Slice

• Roster: Hunter Johnson, Zane Navratil, Jamie Wei, Mari Humberg, Jalina Ingram, and AJ Koller

Florida Smash 

• Roster: Travis Rettenmaier, Martina Frantova, Cason Campbell, Paula Rives Palau, Chris Crouch, and Zoey Weil

LA Mad Drops

• Roster: Ben Johns, Catherine Parenteau, Jade Kawamoto, Max Freeman, Gabe Joseph, and Samantha Parker

Utah Black Diamonds

• Roster: Etta Tuionetoa, Connor Garnett, Allyce Jones, Tama Shimabukuro, Victoria DiMuzio, and Tyler Loong

Group B 

Columbus Sliders

• Roster: Andrei Daescu, Parris Todd, CJ Klinger, Hurricane Tyra Black, Alex Crum, and Judit Castillo

Miami Pickleball Club

• Roster: Dylan Frazier, Yuta Funemizu, Estee Widdershoven, Isabella Dunlap, Clayton Powell, and Rika Fujiwara

Orlando Squeeze

• Roster: Federico Staksrud, Lacy Schneemann, Milan Rane, Jack Sock, Alex Walker, and Yates Johnson

Palm Beach Royals

• Roster: Sofia Sewing, Tyson McGuffin, Dekel Bar, Tina Pisnik, Tammy Emmrich, and Grayson Goldin

St. Louis Shock

• Roster: Anna Bright, Hayden Patriquin, Gabe Tardio, Kate Fahey, Elsie Hendershot, and John Lucian Goins

Texas Ranchers 

• Roster: Eric Oncins, Lea Jansen, Layne Sleeth, Nico Acevedo, Matthew Barlow, and Marcela Hones