17LIVE Inc., which runs a live-streaming app, announced it will sponsor the international tournament "PPA Asia 500 Sansan Tokyo Open 2026 Produced by TBS" — opening July 1 in Tachikawa, Tokyo — as a gold partner (announced June 30, 2026). Ahead of this, the company had already signed 2026 sponsorship deals with three Japanese pros: Yuta Funamizu, Aoi Nakata, and Yuta Yoshida. This move, in which a streaming company came to lock down both tournament and players, offers one answer to the question of how to make money in an emerging sport whose broadcast-rights market has not yet taken off. For those running facilities in Japan or involved in growing the sport, it is packed with revenue-design hints worth referencing.
The twin billboards 17LIVE secured: "tournament" and "players"
This news is not a one-off sponsorship announcement. As of April 2026, 17LIVE had signed 2026 sponsorship deals with three players — Yuta Funamizu, Aoi Nakata, and Yuta Yoshida. On top of that, it also put its name on the Tokyo Open itself, where those three compete, as a gold partner. In other words, the company secured two exposure surfaces at once: marquee players and a tournament. Funamizu competes based in the U.S. as the first Japanese MLP (Major League Pickleball) player, and Yoshida was drafted as the first Japanese to the MLP's Miami Pickleball Club in March 2025. Nakata is a heavyweight who has been selected for Japan's national team continuously since 2023. The aim of this deal shows in the way it bundled together players with top-class recognition in Japan.
So what kind of tournament is the PPA Tokyo Open?
The PPA Asia 500 Sansan Tokyo Open 2026 is the first tournament that the PPA (Professional Pickleball Association), one of the world's largest pro tours, holds in Japan. It runs for four days, July 1 to 4, at Arena Tachikawa-Tachihi and Dome Tachikawa-Tachihi. On 11 courts, men's and women's singles, men's and women's doubles, and mixed doubles are contested. It is organized by TBS Holdings, Inc., with Sansan, Inc. as special sponsor, offers a total prize purse of $50,000, and carries 500 PPA ranking points. There are up to 1,000 entry slots, and about 750 participants from across Asia are expected. To this "first": a pro tour landing in Japan, a TV network and a B2B-services company enter as organizer and special sponsor, and a streaming company rides along. The lineup of companies involved itself reflects each industry's expectations for the sport.
In a sport with no broadcast rights, what is the streaming company buying?
This is the crux of the matter. In mature sports like pro baseball or soccer, revenue is built on three pillars — broadcast-rights fees, gate receipts, and sponsorship fees. Pickleball, however, has not yet established broadcast rights as an independent market in Japan. In reality, most match coverage relies on free or low-cost streaming on YouTube or apps. In this situation, the meaning of a streaming company investing in players and tournaments is not buying broadcast rights, but locking down "content it can stream" and "people who look good on stream" first. For 17LIVE, players are the very content that draws people to its streaming platform. Sponsoring the tournament is a move to secure the stage on which those players shine, and player contracts and tournament sponsorship only function as a circuit when paired. Precisely because broadcast rights are a blank space, room opens up for a streaming company to design the entire entry point to the sport.
Funamizu has already won a Japanese-first title on the PPA Tour, and the Tokyo Open becomes the stage for his triumphant return. The arc from a Japanese-first tour title to competing in Tokyo is,Yuta Funamizu, former double soft-tennis champion, wins his first PPA title and returns in Julyas we traced in detail. From a streaming company's view, players with such stories carry higher streaming appeal. The skill of this deal lies in carefully choosing players whose competitive results connect to on-screen appeal.
The Tokyo Open by the numbers
| Item | Details |
|---|---|
| Run | July 1–4, 2026 (4 days) |
| Venues | Arena Tachikawa Tachihi / Dome Tachikawa Tachihi (Tachikawa, Tokyo) |
| Number of courts | 11 courts |
| Total prize money | $50,000 |
| Ranking points | PPA 500 points |
| Entry slots / expected participants | Up to 1,000 slots / about 750 people |
| 17LIVE's sponsorship tier | Gold partner |
| Sponsored players | Three players: Yuta Funamizu, Aoi Nakata, and Yuta Yoshida |
An investment call that works because it is a growth market
Behind 17LIVE moving at this scale is the growth in the player population. Japan's pickleball population is estimated at 330,000 as of 2026, having expanded rapidly over the past several years. Lock down players and tournaments while the market is still small, and you can take a first-mover position at lower cost than companies that enter later. Looking overseas, prestigious tennis brands and sports makers have entered one after another, a trend we also covered inWhy prestigious tennis brand HEAD is calling itself a pickleball company. Whereas gear makers enter with products, 17LIVE has come in from a different industry through the angle of streaming. The interesting thing about Japan's market right now is that ways of entering the sport are starting to diverge by industry.
Takeaways facility operators and growth stakeholders can bring home
The lessons Japan's court operators and local growth organizations can draw from this case are concrete. First, at a stage where you can't rely on broadcast rights, "content you can show via streaming" becomes the biggest asset. Even at regional tournaments and schools, keeping photogenic players and matches in streamable form gives you material to attract sponsors. Second, players and places (tournaments and facilities) rise in value as a set. Design an event that invites marquee players and comes with streaming, and you can win corporate sponsorship more easily than with a standalone event. The flow of regional permanent courts inviting pros is,A case where an all-America 9-time champion pro came to Kobealso happening in, and how to bundle the three points of player × place × streaming will be the key to future revenue design. Rather than waiting for the broadcast-rights market to mature, the mindset of building a way to make money on the premise of streaming is effective in an emerging sport.
Sources
Sansan, Inc.: One of the world's largest pickleball tours lands in Tokyo for the first time
