Major League Pickleball Partners with Owl AI to Revolutionize Line Calling for 2026 Season
The professional pickleball world is about to undergo a significant technological transformation. Major League Pickleball has announced a groundbreaking partnership with Owl AI that will fundamentally change how line calls are made and challenged starting in the 2026 season. This collaboration represents one of the most significant technological advancements in professional pickleball since the sport’s competitive structure began taking shape.
Line calling controversies have plagued professional pickleball from its inception. Players making their own line calls has created friction, disputes, and questions about competitive integrity that have been discussed extensively on pickleball podcasts and among professional players. The partnership with Owl AI aims to eliminate these issues entirely by bringing artificial intelligence-powered precision to every call made on the court.
Understanding the Technology Behind Owl AI
What makes Owl AI particularly innovative is its approach to solving the line calling problem. Unlike the expensive hardware systems deployed in other professional sports, such as Hawk-Eye technology used in tennis and various football leagues, Owl AI operates as a completely software-based solution. This distinction is crucial because it dramatically reduces the infrastructure requirements and costs associated with implementing accurate line calling technology.
The system leverages advanced generative artificial intelligence combined with sophisticated computer vision algorithms to analyze video footage in real-time. By positioning itself behind standard broadcast cameras already in use at MLP events, Owl AI can deliver what the company describes as human-level accuracy without requiring specialized hardware installations at each court. This seamless integration with existing MLP broadcast infrastructure means the technology can be deployed efficiently across all venues without massive capital investments in new equipment.
The artificial intelligence analyzes each shot frame by frame, tracking the ball’s trajectory and determining precisely where it makes contact with the court surface. This computational approach processes visual information far faster than human perception allows, making split-second determinations that would be impossible for line judges or players to make with consistent accuracy. The system can account for factors like ball compression upon impact, shadows, lighting variations, and court markings that might confuse human observers.
Why This Matters for Professional Pickleball
Anyone who has followed professional pickleball knows that line calling disputes have become an increasingly prominent issue as the stakes have grown higher. The sport’s unique structure, where players often make their own line calls during matches, creates inherent conflicts of interest that other professional sports eliminated decades ago. When hundreds of thousands of dollars in prize money and team standings hang in the balance, the pressure on players to make accurate calls while competing at the highest level becomes untenable.
The problem has manifested repeatedly throughout professional pickleball’s brief history. Controversial line calls have decided matches, sparked heated exchanges between competitors, and left fans questioning the legitimacy of outcomes. These incidents have occurred across multiple tours and tournaments, suggesting a systemic issue rather than isolated events. The visibility of these disputes on broadcasts and social media has amplified their impact, potentially undermining confidence in the professional game’s integrity.
Owl AI’s entry into professional pickleball arrives at a critical juncture for the sport. As pickleball continues its explosive growth trajectory, establishing consistent, fair, and transparent officiating becomes essential for maintaining credibility with players, fans, sponsors, and media partners. The technology promises to remove subjectivity and human error from one of the game’s most contentious aspects, allowing competition to be decided purely by athletic performance rather than disputed calls.
The Company Behind the Innovation
Owl AI represents a fascinating convergence of sports expertise and cutting-edge technology. Founded in May 2025, the company is remarkably young, yet it has already secured significant financial backing and high-profile partnerships. Just one month after its founding, Forbes reported that Owl AI had raised eleven million dollars in seed funding from prominent venture capital firms including S32, Menlo Ventures, and Susa Ventures. This substantial initial investment signals strong confidence from the technology and venture capital communities in the company’s vision and capabilities.
The leadership team brings together world-class athletic achievement and elite technology expertise. Jeremy Bloom serves as Executive Chairman and founder of Owl AI. Bloom’s background uniquely qualifies him to bridge the worlds of competitive sports and business innovation. He achieved international recognition as a freestyle skier, winning a Gold medal for Team USA at the 2003 FIS Freestyle World Ski Championships. His athletic career also included playing college football at the University of Colorado and being drafted by the Philadelphia Eagles in the 2006 NFL Draft.
After retiring from professional athletics, Bloom transitioned into the technology and sports business sectors, eventually being named CEO of the X Games in December 2024. This role provided the perfect proving ground for Owl AI’s technology, as the company participated in the 2025 Aspen X Games, where artificial intelligence judging was tested in competition for the first time. The successful deployment of AI judging at such a high-profile event demonstrated the technology’s readiness for professional sports applications.
Josh Gwyther serves as CEO of Owl AI, bringing deep technical expertise to the company’s leadership. Gwyther left his position as Head of AI Solutions Architecture at Google to join Owl AI in June 2025, a move that underscores the company’s technological ambitions and potential. His experience developing and implementing AI solutions at one of the world’s leading technology companies provides Owl AI with the technical leadership necessary to execute on its vision of transforming sports officiating.
How Owl AI Works in Practice
For the average pickleball player or fan, understanding how artificial intelligence can accurately judge line calls might seem complex, but the basic concept is straightforward. Imagine watching a match on television where instant replay shows exactly where the ball landed. Owl AI essentially provides that instant replay analysis in real-time, making the determination immediately rather than requiring officials to review footage after a challenge.
The system continuously monitors video feeds from multiple camera angles positioned around the court. As the ball moves through space and approaches the lines, the AI tracks its position with sub-millimeter precision. When the ball makes contact with the court surface, the system analyzes that exact moment, accounting for the ball’s deformation upon impact and determining whether any part of the ball touched the line or landed outside it. This analysis happens in fractions of a second, fast enough to provide immediate feedback without disrupting the flow of play.
What makes this particularly impressive is that traditional line calling technology in other sports typically requires specialized high-speed cameras, infrared sensors, or other dedicated hardware positioned precisely around the playing surface. These systems cost hundreds of thousands or even millions of dollars to install and maintain. Owl AI’s software-based approach means that standard broadcast cameras can serve dual purposes, both capturing footage for viewers and providing the visual data necessary for the AI to make accurate calls. This efficiency makes the technology scalable and economically viable for professional pickleball leagues.
The artificial intelligence component is crucial because it can learn and improve over time. As the system processes more matches and encounters more varied conditions, lighting situations, and court surfaces, its algorithms become increasingly refined. Machine learning allows the system to recognize patterns and edge cases that might initially challenge its accuracy, continuously enhancing its performance without requiring hardware upgrades or manual recalibration.
Implications for Players and Competition
The introduction of AI-powered line calling will fundamentally alter the competitive dynamics of Major League Pickleball. Players will no longer bear the burden of making line calls on balls hit by their opponents, eliminating an inherently awkward aspect of professional competition. This change removes a significant source of stress and potential conflict, allowing athletes to focus entirely on their performance rather than worrying about making or disputing line calls.
The challenge system will also likely evolve with this technology. Currently, when players believe a line call is incorrect, they must rely on available officials or video review processes that can be time-consuming and sometimes inconclusive. With Owl AI providing definitive visual evidence of where each ball landed, challenges can be resolved instantly with certainty. This efficiency keeps matches moving at an appropriate pace while ensuring that incorrect calls are corrected.
For younger or less experienced professional players, the system levels the playing field in an important way. Line calling disputes sometimes favor more established players who may receive the benefit of the doubt from officials or opponents. AI makes no distinctions based on reputation, ranking, or personality. Every call is judged with identical standards, ensuring that emerging talent competes on equal footing with established stars.
The psychological impact should not be underestimated either. Players who have previously felt disadvantaged by questionable line calls can compete with confidence that the system will catch every ball accurately. Conversely, players must adjust to the reality that close balls they might have previously called out will now be correctly identified as in. This transparency raises the overall standard of play and eliminates gamesmanship around line calling.
What This Means for Fans and Viewership
From a spectator perspective, AI-powered line calling enhances the viewing experience in multiple ways. Broadcasts can immediately display visual confirmation of line calls, showing viewers precisely where the ball landed relative to the line. This transparency creates engagement opportunities, as commentators can discuss close calls with definitive evidence rather than speculation. Fans watching in person or online gain confidence that outcomes are determined fairly, which builds trust in the sport and its competitive structure.
The technology also opens possibilities for enhanced statistics and analytics. By tracking every ball’s landing position with precision, leagues can generate data about shot placement patterns, which areas of the court players target most frequently, and how shot selection correlates with winning percentages. This information enriches commentary, provides material for analysis segments, and helps fans understand the strategic dimensions of high-level play.
Eliminating controversial line call disputes also makes the sport more accessible to casual viewers who might be turned off by arguments or unclear officiating. Sports succeed when rules are applied consistently and transparently, allowing audiences to focus on athletic excellence rather than officiating controversies. Owl AI’s system supports this by removing ambiguity from a fundamental aspect of the game.
The Broader Context of Technology in Sports
Professional pickleball is far from the first sport to embrace technology-assisted officiating, but it may be among the first to implement such an advanced system at a relatively early stage of its professional development. Tennis introduced Hawk-Eye technology in the early 2000s, fundamentally changing how that sport handles line calling. Soccer has implemented VAR (Video Assistant Referee) systems to review crucial decisions. American football uses extensive replay review processes. Cricket employs multiple technological systems to assist umpires.
What distinguishes Owl AI’s approach is its efficiency and accessibility. Previous officiating technologies required massive infrastructure investments that only the wealthiest leagues and tournaments could afford. By developing a software-based solution that works with existing camera infrastructure, Owl AI potentially democratizes access to accurate officiating technology. While Major League Pickleball is the first professional pickleball league to implement the system, the relatively low cost of adoption could eventually allow other tours, tournaments, and even high-level amateur events to benefit from similar technology.
This progression mirrors broader trends in sports technology, where artificial intelligence and machine learning are increasingly applied to problems that previously required expensive specialized hardware. As computational power becomes cheaper and AI algorithms become more sophisticated, software solutions can match or exceed the capabilities of dedicated hardware systems at a fraction of the cost.
Looking Ahead to the 2026 Season
Josh Gwyther, Owl AI’s CEO, expressed enthusiasm about the partnership in announcing the collaboration. He emphasized that the platform is specifically designed to meet the demands of fast-paced sports like pickleball, where balls travel quickly and line calls must be made instantly. The system’s ability to deliver both speed and accuracy addresses the unique challenges of officiating pickleball at the professional level. Gwyther also highlighted that the partnership will enhance integrity for players while creating a more engaging and transparent experience for millions of fans watching matches.
The timing of this announcement, coming well in advance of the 2026 season’s May start date, suggests both organizations are committed to a thorough implementation process. Rather than rushing the technology into competition, MLP and Owl AI have several months to test systems, train officials and broadcast personnel, and ensure smooth integration with existing tournament operations. This measured approach reduces the risk of technical issues disrupting competition and allows time to address any challenges that emerge during testing.
The partnership represents a significant milestone for Major League Pickleball as it continues establishing itself as the premier team-based professional pickleball league. By being the first to implement AI-powered line calling, MLP positions itself as an innovator willing to invest in technology that enhances competitive integrity and viewer experience. This forward-thinking approach aligns with the league’s broader strategy of elevating professional pickleball’s standards and appeal.
Potential Challenges and Considerations
While the promise of AI-powered line calling is substantial, implementation will inevitably involve challenges that both organizations must navigate. Players will need time to adjust to a system where their ability to call lines is removed. Some may initially resist this change, particularly those who felt confident in their line-calling abilities or who had developed strategies around that aspect of the game. Education and communication will be essential to help athletes understand how the system works and trust its accuracy.
Technical reliability is another consideration. Any technology can experience malfunctions, software glitches, or connectivity issues. MLP and Owl AI must have robust backup systems and contingency plans for situations where the AI system encounters problems. Clear protocols for reverting to traditional officiating methods if necessary will help ensure that matches can continue without excessive delays or confusion.
The system’s accuracy in various environmental conditions will also be tested. Professional pickleball takes place in diverse venues, from indoor arenas with controlled lighting to outdoor courts subject to changing weather conditions, shadows, and lighting variations. Owl AI’s computer vision algorithms must perform consistently across these different environments to maintain player and fan confidence in the technology.
There are also questions about how the challenge system will evolve. If the AI is making initial calls, what role remains for player challenges? Will players be able to request reviews of AI determinations, or will the system’s calls be final? These procedural details will need to be clearly communicated and consistently applied to avoid creating new sources of confusion or dispute.
The Future of Officiating in Pickleball
The partnership between Major League Pickleball and Owl AI likely represents just the beginning of technology’s expanding role in professional pickleball officiating. If the system proves successful in addressing line calling issues, other applications for AI assistance may follow. Fault calls on serves, kitchen violations, and other rules infractions might eventually be monitored by similar computer vision systems, further reducing the burden on officials and increasing accuracy.
The data generated by these systems could also transform coaching, training, and player development. Understanding precise shot placement patterns, identifying tendencies in specific game situations, and analyzing how small positional adjustments affect outcomes could provide players with insights that enhance performance. Analytics derived from AI monitoring might become as important to professional pickleball as they have become in basketball, baseball, and other sports that have embraced data-driven approaches.
As the technology matures and becomes more accessible, recreational and amateur pickleball could eventually benefit as well. Imagine local clubs or tournament organizers being able to rent or subscribe to AI officiating systems for major events, providing accurate line calling even at the community level. This democratization of officiating technology could elevate playing standards across the entire sport.
Final Thoughts
The announcement of Major League Pickleball’s partnership with Owl AI marks a pivotal moment in professional pickleball’s evolution. By addressing one of the sport’s most persistent challenges with innovative technology, MLP demonstrates a commitment to competitive integrity and fan experience that will serve the league well as pickleball continues its remarkable growth trajectory. The combination of Jeremy Bloom’s sports industry
