For our Pulse Partners, and everyone building INTENNSE · September 2026
2027 is the proof year.
Next season has one job: prove, here in Atlanta, every tool and template our team owners will need to succeed in their own markets in 2028. Here is the shape of it.
The 2027 season · Nine sections, about five minutes
In the stands in Atlanta, watching his sister play · Season 2
■ The mission
Prepare, and prove it, before every team goes home.
In 2028 every INTENNSE team moves to a home market of its own, run by its own owners. 2027 is the season where we prove what they’ll need to do it — on court, in the community, and in the business — so that nobody arrives in a new city with a blank page.
2025
The first season: three teams, and the proof that the format works.
2026
Ten teams, the Arena, a record draft — and the Platinum standard for a match night.
2027
Eight teams, two Arcs every week, and the tools and templates owners will run in their own markets.
2028
Every team in its home market.
■ What the players told us
“The most fun I’ve ever had on a tennis court.”
We heard it across the league in 2026. Many players rediscovered their joy in the game. Quite a few called it the best summer of their lives. And almost all of them told us the same thing: they wanted to play more.
So they will
In 2026 only two teams a week played twice. In 2027 every team plays two Arcs a week, every week of the season. Rosters return to three women and three men, so every player is on court more often, every one of them matters to the result — and we can increase what each of them is paid.
Karue Sell — “the best (and highest paid) experience of my tennis career” · Watch on YouTube
■ The new shape
Eight teams. Six players each. Twice a week, every week.
From 43 Pro Arcs in 2026 to 65 in 2027 — with fewer, sharper rosters playing far more often, and paid more for it.
| 2026 | 2027 | |
|---|---|---|
| Teams | 10 | 8 |
| Roster | 4 women · 4 men | 3 women · 3 men |
| Arcs each week | Two teams play twice | Every team plays twice |
| Format | Two conferences of five, playing two rounds | One group of eight, playing rounds |
| Pro Arcs in the season | 43 · 40 + 3 at Championship Weekend | 65 |
| Pay per player | 2026 levels | Increased |
Why we’re going back to three and three
In 2026 we over-corrected with four women and four men per team. We didn’t need to. The draft was such a success that high-calibre players stayed committed all season. Three and three was the baseline in 2025, and it is the right number: more court time for every player, and a result that depends on all six.
It also lets us pay players more. Six players on a roster instead of eight means we can increase what every one of them earns — so the players who told us they wanted to play more will be playing more, and earning more, for doing it.
Fewer players across fewer teams also means a tighter competitive band. More matches are close, every player is someone fans can learn by name, and every team has a story that develops week to week rather than in the odd appearance.
■ Why eight
Every team on court in 2027 has a Pulse Partner.
Eight of our 2026 teams had Pulse Partners, so in 2027 we’ll run eight. The other two sit out the season and return as the league expands beyond Atlanta.
What that means for you
More nights to show up. Your team plays twice a week, every week, against every other team in the league — not just its own conference.
Players you’ll know by name. Six players, on court every week, with stories that build through the season. That is the content your audience will actually follow.
A season with stakes. A tighter competitive band means more close matches and a title race that means something to every team.
■ Headquarters
Everyone who builds it, in the place it happens.
We’ve restructured so that all of our critical staff are based in Atlanta, our headquarters. The people building INTENNSE need to feel it the way our fans do — on match nights, at the clubs, on the campuses and in the community, all year round.
Why it matters for 2028
Every tool an owner will use in 2028 has to be built by people who have run it themselves: the match night, the junior league, the club partnership, the community event. Putting the whole team where the product lives is how those playbooks get written from experience rather than from a desk.
■ The off-season is already on court
On campuses, at clubs, in the community.
The months before 2027 are already delivering INTENNSE competition on college campuses — Georgia Tech, Georgia Gwinnett and Kennesaw, with more to come — alongside community and club events across the city.
Why the off-season matters
A team that only exists for eight weeks is a tournament. The off-season is where INTENNSE becomes something people belong to: college players who meet the format on their own courts, club members who play it on a weeknight, and juniors who find a way in through the Challenge Series. Every one of those events is also a rehearsal for the version an owner will run at home.
■ Platinum, Gold, Silver, Bronze
The same game, at every level of production.
The 2026 Arena defined Platinum. Now we’re refining the tools and technology for Gold, Silver and Bronze — the question, in short, is how to deliver with less technology and keep the whole experience.
The Arena
Full broadcast production, a sold-out room and every piece of the show. Defined in 2026.
DeliveredClubs & campuses
INTENNSE competition hosted by partner clubs and colleges, with the scoring, the clock and the atmosphere.
In developmentCommunity courts
The format on public courts, run off a portable scoreboard and a set of templates.
In developmentAny court
The rules, the teams and the fun, for any group wherever a tennis court can be found.
In developmentWho runs them
Clubs and academies around the country already want to deliver INTENNSE at the junior level. They’ll be partners, not employees, running off the infrastructure and templates we provide. In 2028 each team will carry its own junior leagues, amateur leagues and community programs on the same foundation.
■ Belonging
See yourself IN TENNIS.
That is the point of every level. Our fans shouldn’t have to wait for a match night to feel part of this. Wherever a tennis court can be found, the format, the teams and the belonging should be there too — all year round.
What 2026 showed us
More than half of the people who came to an INTENNSE match had never been to a tennis match before. They were free to behave like sports fans, not tennis fans. Carrying that feeling out of the arena and onto every court is what the 2027 tools are for.
Record live concurrents across the 2026 final series.
Nearly 8,000 fans through a 500-seat arena.
Up 748% on the year before.
Up from 43 — every team, twice a week.
■ Looking ahead
By the end of 2027, the playbook is written.
A season that proves the product twice a week. A headquarters that lives it. Off-season competition on campuses and in clubs. Four levels of delivery, tested in Atlanta. And in 2028, every team takes all of it home.
The season
Eight teams, sixty-five Pro Arcs, six players to a team.
The off-season
Campus, club and community events, with more to come.
The toolkit
Gold, Silver and Bronze delivery, ready for every market.
