sports-league
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The 123-Year-Old Startup That Put a Clock on Baseball
Thirty rival owners, one shared product, and a rulebook that finally admitted the game was too slow. Inside the business behind the batter's-box logo.
Alex Bazzell
He trained the best players in the world one workout at a time. Then he built them a league where the athletes own a piece of the upside.
Pro Padel League
Pro Padel League (PPL) is North America's premier professional padel league, founded in 2023 by CEO Mike Dorfman. It runs a city-based franchise model of 10 teams across the U.S., Canada and Mexico, each fielding both men's and women's sides, with a season of multi-city events culminating in the City's Cup Finals. Backed by a $15M Series A led by Charlotte Hornets governor Rick Schnall, PPL is building the commercial and broadcast infrastructure to capitalize on padel's rapid growth in the American market.
Unrivaled Basketball
Unrivaled is a women's 3-on-3 professional basketball league founded by WNBA stars Napheesa Collier and Breanna Stewart and run by president and CEO Alex Bazzell. Built to keep top players competing at home during the WNBA offseason, it pairs the highest average salary in American women's team sports with equity ownership for its athletes. Launched in Miami in January 2025, the compressed full-court league reached a $340 million valuation after a 2025 Series B round led by Bessemer Venture Partners.
Michael Dorfman
Michael Dorfman is the CEO of the Pro Padel League, the top-flight professional padel circuit in North America, and the founder of the New York Atlantics franchise. A lifelong Knicks and Rangers fan who picked up padel at Brooklyn's Padel Haus during the pandemic, he left the tech insurance company he co-founded (Koffie Financial) to run the league full-time. In March 2026 he closed a $15 million Series A led by Charlotte Hornets co-owner Rick Schnall, valuing PPL at roughly ten times its seed round from a year earlier.
Professional Fighters League
The Professional Fighters League (PFL) is a global mixed martial arts organization that reinvented the sport with a sports-season structure - a regular season, playoffs, and a championship where fighters compete for real money instead of matchmaker whim. Founded in 2017 by venture capitalist Donn Davis, PFL broadcasts to 160+ countries, has expanded into regional leagues across Europe, Africa, MENA and the Pacific, acquired rival Bellator MMA in 2023, and signed marquee names like Francis Ngannou and Jake Paul. It positions itself as the credible global challenger to the UFC.