Premier Jumping League Saint-Tropez Set for June 2027
A Season Built to Reward Consequence
The Premier Jumping League has confirmed France as a host nation for its inaugural 2027 season, with Saint-Tropez staging a three-day team competition from 25 to 27 June 2027. The event places France on a 14-venue international calendar spanning North America, Europe and the Middle East, backed by McCourt Global under executive chairman Frank McCourt.
The league format brings together 16 teams comprising 80 elite riders, with US$300 million in guaranteed prize money committed across the competition's first three seasons. Only riders ranked inside the world's top 250 are eligible for team selection.
That threshold sets a merit-based bar for entry. Organisers have designed it as a filter intended to keep every venue on the calendar stocked with strong fields, rather than allowing weaker line-ups at certain stops. The eligibility rule applies uniformly across all 14 venues, regardless of location or stage in the season.
Frank McCourt owned the Los Angeles Dodgers from 2004 until selling the Major League Baseball franchise in 2012 for a then-record US$2 billion. He has served as executive chairman of Olympique de Marseille, the French football club he agreed to purchase in August 2016, giving him an existing foothold in French sport ahead of the PJL's arrival. That prior investment in Marseille positions him as a familiar figure to French sporting audiences even as the league introduces an entirely new format to the country.
Format Built for Modern Audiences
French showjumper Nina Mallevaey is among the riders named as part of the league's push to raise athlete compensation. Born in 2000 near Lille, she began competing in pony classes at age nine and has since split her career between Europe and Florida. Mallevaey's path from junior pony classes to competing at senior international level reflects the trajectory the PJL says it wants to reward through its selection criteria and prize structure.
“It's incredibly exciting to see the PJL coming to France for 2027,” Mallevaey said. “France has such a deep connection with equestrian sport and, as a French rider, the opportunity to compete in this new format in front of a home crowd will be very special.”
She added that she backs any effort to widen the sport's reach beyond its traditional following. “I will always support initiatives that make our sport more accessible and give more people the opportunity to discover and engage with showjumping,” Mallevaey said. “We have incredible athletes, horses and stories within the sport, and anything that helps us share those with a wider audience and bring new fans into jumping is something I'm excited to be part of.”
Broadcast Reach and French Setting
The league's stated aim is to compensate riders more fully for top-level competition, addressing a sport where many have traditionally supplemented careers through teaching and training alongside competing. Organisers say the format has been designed to build consequence between rounds and across events, running from March to October 2027. Organisers describe this structure as intended to reward sustained performance across the calendar rather than isolated results at any single venue, positioning the season-long arc as central to how the league wants the sport to be followed.
The PJL will adopt a free-to-view broadcast model intended to build a broader global fanbase beyond the sport's traditional following. Its partnership with Box to Box Films, the production company behind the Formula 1 documentary series Drive to Survive, is intended to carry the personalities and stories around showjumping to audiences who have not previously followed the discipline.
France carries deep equestrian heritage and a significant history in international jumping, giving the PJL a stage it regards as central to its European ambitions. Saint-Tropez was chosen partly for the premium experience organisers want built around competition, with curated food and wine offerings planned to reflect the character of the destination alongside the sport in the arena.
Further details on ticketing and hospitality for the Saint-Tropez event are due to be announced in due course. The stop forms one of fourteen events across the league's debut season, which also touches venues in North America and the Middle East as part of a calendar designed to give the sport a genuinely global footprint from its first year.
The league's broader structure rests on 16 teams built around season-long narratives rather than standalone events, with organisers framing every round as carrying weight toward decisive post-season fixtures. Saint-Tropez stands as an early test of how that structure plays out in practice, with the French stop offering a first look at how the league's format, prize fund and broadcast ambitions come together in a single host city's showcase.