What started as a casual backyard pastime during the pandemic has evolved into the newest professional sport: wiffle ball. This weekend, Big League Wiffle Ball (BLW) will kick off its inaugural season on October 25 at Scottsdale Stadium, featuring ten franchises, celebrity owners, and big-name sponsors, as well as concluding with a Field of Dreams watch party with movie star Kevin Costner (tickets here).
During the summer of 2020, while most teenagers were trapped indoors during lockdowns, Logan Rose decided to create Arizona’s first backyard wiffle ball league. Rose “wanted to provide a source of competition in a time that lacked organized sports.” He invited friends to play, filmed the games, and taught himself how to edit videos for YouTube and Instagram.
The first season featured four teams—Western Wolves, Pacific Panthers, Coastal Cougars, and Desert Diamonds—each with three to five players. After a successful first season, Rose decided to expand the league with two new teams: the Eastern Extreme and Arctic Altitude. The league continued to grow throughout its next four seasons, with players from all over the country flying out to join the game in Logan Rose’s backyard.
While forming the league in 2020, Rose hosted the Western Wiffle Ball Classic, an annual event held each October at Scottsdale Stadium. The tournament has seen great success through its first five years, attracting hundreds of players and fans from across the country. In 2024, Big League Wiffle Ball launched its inaugural national tournament circuit, which commenced in Scottsdale and culminated at AT&T Stadium in Dallas.
Receiving widespread positive feedback, BLW has grown into a 10-team professional league, complete with team rosters and owners. Owners include Kevin Costner (Los Angeles Naturals), Gary Vaynerchuk (New York Green Apples), Dude Perfect (Dallas Pandas), Marc Lasry (Las Vegas Scorpions), David Adelman (Philadelphia Wiffle Club), and more. This year’s tournament schedule will take the league through Scottsdale, Chicago, Los Angeles, and Dallas, culminating in a World Series next spring at a location yet to be announced.
Gary Vaynerchuk, an investor in both SlamBall and Major League Pickleball, said that BLW fits perfectly amidst the rise of “alternative sports.” He believes that his marketing network can help bring major brands to the league, further supporting the game’s growing popularity.
While BLW’s focus is on entertainment, its growth mirrors that of any entrepreneurial startup. Rose built a product—a league with structure, identity, and a digital audience—well before securing any investors. While most people would have seen Wiffle ball as nothing more than a hobby, Rose saw it as a void in the market. Like Vaynerchuk, he recognized the growing interest in alternative sports, like pickleball, and capitalized on it. By acting early and treating his once-dreamed-of idea as a real possibility, Logan Rose transformed a simple backyard game into the world’s newest professional sport.
