Electronic line calling coming to pro pickleball

Group will use new AI platform for out calls

Electronic line calling is coming to professional pickleball. The company that owns both the team sport–Major League Pickleball–and the singles and doubles circuit–the Professional Pickleball Association– is announcing a system similar to pro tennis. Balls will be called out by an automated system starting next March.

Unlike pro tennis before the adoption of electronic line calling, pro pickleball does not have line judges or a chair umpire; players called their own lines. There has been a challenge system, which will no longer be used with the new technology.

The United Pickleball Association, which owns PPA and MLP, will use startup Owl AI for the line calling. The company, founded this year, says it uses advanced generative AI and computer vision to analyze video delivering human-level accuracy in judging. Of course, the Hawkeye system used in pro tennis strives for better than human accuracy but given the rapid advances in AI, that threshold may not be far off.

For a good look at Owl AI, which can also provide commentary and was used at the X Games to judge snowboarding, here is a good piece from SportsBusiness Journal https://www.sportsbusinessjournal.com/Articles/2025/08/18/owl-ai-eyes-the-future-of-automated-refereeing-and-potential-investments-from-the-nations-top-leagues/.

For pickleball, the introduction of electronic line calling won’t be the culture shock it was in tennis. Tennis had decades of history with line judges and chair umpires, with blowups over line calls part of the fabric of the sport. Now all that is left is the chair umpire, who does not call lines.

Pro pickleball is a relatively new sport that without the historical drama of line calls. Given players have been calling their own lines, it shouldn’t be much of a change to switch to an automated system.