It is demonstrably true that Pickleball is a growing sport undergoing immense change. Nothing demonstrates that more than the recent acquisition by Walton-Penner Investments of a club in Colorado Springs. For those of you who read the initial report you will remember the story which announced the acquisition of a Colorado Springs club.
Then in a December 2nd article in the Mansion Section of the Wall Street Journal the true numbers and potential of the game was revealed. Walton-Penner saw an opportunity to gain a foothold in the growing world of Pickleball so the deal with the Mackey Group was a simple one and closed quickly.
Shortly thereafter Walton-Penner decided to spin off the Colorado Springs club into a private venture named W-P Investments, LLC. The word on the street is that W-P didn’t want the new franchise to be tainted by the close relationship with Walton’s ownership of the Denver Broncos. They were concerned there might be a negative impact on the recruiting efforts of the team given the Bronco’s struggles. Who wants to be associated with a loser?
Heart, the new GM, decided he wanted to put his own mark on the team. He renamed the team “The Dinks”. Heart said this name is reflective of the team’s type of play. Heart’s next task was to implement a new contract with the team. Under the Mackey Group the players had felt unappreciated and under-paid. They were fully aware that Pickleball had grown over 39% since 2019, according to the WSJ, and the players were demanding higher salaries and the ability to cut their own endorsement deals. The Dinks threaten a walkout.
This turmoil sent Heart over the edge. Heart resigned his new position saying he was going back to his old job as Director of Racquet Sports at the Mackey Group. He indicated the team’s work ethic was lacking, their demands were unreasonable and he found the job “thankless”.
The team was now left without leadership, no contract and without key players. Needless to say, the futures of Johnson, Heer and Carroll were uncertain. Meetings have been set up with Heer and Johnson but as of this date the team is unable to find Carroll. They can’t even locate Silt on a map. Heer has already expressed her frustration with her situation with the Harvesters but strangely enough Johnson seems happy enough paddling the Arkansas while in Canon City.
Notamensa is on top of this story and will keep you appraised.
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