The live-streaming app "17LIVE" has concluded 2026 sponsorship contracts with three pro pickleball players:Yuta Funamizu, Aoi Nakata, and Yuta Yoshida. Funamizu is the pioneer who became the first Japanese to compete in America's Major League Pickleball (MLP). It's a contract where you can see the picture of a streaming app investing not in the sport itself but in the players' "daily lives" and "community."
Sponsorship contracts with three players
The three contracted players will open personal accounts on "17LIVE" and share matches, practice scenes, and off-court sides not usually seen through irregular live streams. What's distinctive is that it designed the sponsorship not as an "ad slot for logo exposure" but as "streaming content the players themselves deliver."
Who is Yuta Funamizu?
Yuta Funamizu (32, from Aomori Prefecture) was originally a top soft tennis player. He became world No. 1 in his university days and achieved a 10-year run of consecutive Japan League titles at the corporate powerhouse NTT West. From that pinnacle, he made a full-fledged switch to pickleball in 2024 and moved to the U.S. alone. In the March 2025 MLP draft, he was selected 39th overall by the Miami Pickleball Club, becoming the first Japanese major leaguer. He established himself as a regular from the second half of his first year and contributed to reaching the playoffs, which the top 10 clubs advance to.
| Item | Details |
|---|---|
| Previous sport | Soft tennis (university world No. 1, 10 straight Japan League titles at NTT West) |
| Switch | Moved to the U.S. in 2024 and took on pickleball in earnest |
| MLP | March 2025, selected 39th overall by Miami, the first Japanese |
| 2026 | Re-signed with Miami in March, 4th in PPA Atlanta men's doubles in May (a Japanese first) |
Why is a streaming app choosing pickleball?
Pickleball, whose competitive population is surging worldwide, has a close distance between players and fans and a strong community character. A structure where you can follow "people"—not just match broadcasts but practice and off-court real faces—pairs well with live streaming. At the early stage where Japan's competitive population is still 330,000, being able to take in a player's fan community wholesale is an attractive bet for a streaming platform.
The lineup of three players
In addition to Funamizu, two players—Aoi Nakata and Yuta Yoshida—are also on the roster. By bundling a pioneer fighting overseas with players carving out the sport domestically, 17LIVE has assembled a lineup that can multidimensionally communicate "the now of Japanese pickleball." For the players, they can gain an off-court income source and a platform for output at the same time.
Impact on readers
The flow of players streaming themselves means the arrival of an era where fans can "follow" practice and off-court life. At an early stage where the sport's grassroots reach is expanding, individual players having their own media also leads to sending customers to schools, equipment, and tournaments. For players, opportunities to learn by peeking at the practice and thinking of top Japanese players on a daily basis increase.
Ripple Effects on the Industry
The rise of the sponsorship market is an indicator that measures the professionalization of the sport. The fact that off-court companies in streaming, telecom, and equipment have begun investing in players can be called a sign of pickleball spreading from a "sport you play" to a "sport you watch and cheer for." With the PPA Tour's first Tokyo tournament also coming up in July, players' value as objects of support rises further.
Summary
17LIVE's move is an investment in community, not in the sport. From soft tennis world No. 1 to the MLP—Funamizu's story itself becomes streaming content. How far the three players' output thickens the fan base of Japanese pickleball will sway the next competitive population.
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Source:17LIVE official / Mynavi News / Jiji.com
