Hi everyone,

Welcome to the latest edition of PBM Monthly.

We are here for the people building the business of padel. Every month, we bring you the stories that matter most: sharp reporting, expert opinion, and original insights you won’t find anywhere else.

Inside this issue: four major news stories, one strong opinion piece, and one big read that dives deep into this month’s defining theme – broadcasting and media rights in padel.

Enjoy the read!

The PBM Team

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Net news

Diving into the major news stories shaping this month’s theme and beyond: curated reporting and global headlines driving the business of padel forward.

Padel World Summit 2026 visitor numbers up 20%

The exhibition space at the 2026 Padel World Summit was 34% larger than in 2025. Image credit: Padel World Summit.

Third edition of Padel World Summit featured 140 exhibitors from more than 30 countries, with Investor & Business Forum hosting 1,175 business meetings.

Playtomic report highlights real estate, wellness and global investment shifts 

Nearly 5,000 new padel clubs and almost 8,000 new courts were added worldwide in 2025 alone, according to the report. Image credit: Playtomic.

2026 Playtomic Global Padel Report finds padel is evolving beyond the court into a global investment category, with the UK emerging as Europe's most in-demand market and clubs transforming into holistic wellness destinations.

VVV Sports plans £5m raise to boost US padel market push

UK No.1 Christian Medina Murphy is among several British padel players backed by R3 Sport, the athlete management division of VVV Sports. Image credit: VVV Sports.

UK publicly listed business focused on emerging racquet sports is seeking a dual listing on Nasdaq as it plans a major expansion into the US padel market.

Premier Padel launches new mobile game with Red Bull

The game is designed to create a new way for audiences to engage with padel beyond the court. Image credit: Premier Padel.

Players control both members of their pair in real-time online matches while managing their own club in new free-to-play online mobile padel game.

The big hit

The latest exclusive and original in-depth features, interviews and analysis from Padel Business Magazine. Insight you will not find anywhere else.

PBM Insight Report: Padel faces calls for change as it targets mainstream global TV audience

Worldwide attention: Calls are growing for an evolution in how padel is presented on TV and streaming platforms amid the sport’s ambition to become an established global spectator sport.

Premier Padel matches have been broadcast on Red Bull TV since 2024. Image credit: Red Bull TV.

A growing number of broadcasters and media platforms are looking to cash in on padel’s surge in popularity, with a series of deals over recent years struck by the likes of ESPN, Red Bull TV and the UK’s ITV, as well as specialist streaming services such as Padel-TV.

The sport is now looking to build on the expanded coverage to lift its profile worldwide, but faces a series of challenges in establishing itself as a global TV product. Experts within the game are calling for a more broadcast-friendly approach, with visible crowds and more creative camera angles, as well as a greater focus on the best players outside of Spain and Argentina, and the widespread use of English by both broadcasters and players.

Read on to get exclusive insight on the latest developments.

PBM Insight Report by Laura Syrett and Paul Cochrane.

Opinion serving

A trusted perspective from inside the business of padel. Original opinion and on-theme insight from the leaders shaping the sport’s next chapter.

Saidja Drentje: Finding solutions to padel’s broadcasting paradox

Saidja Drentje, partner at global sports strategy consultancy CAA Portas. Image credit: CAA Portas.

As padel’s media landscape evolves at pace, the gap between the sport’s participation growth and its broadcast monetisation is coming under ever closer scrutiny. Here, Saidja Drentje – partner at global sports strategy consultancy CAA Portas, and author of ‘The Racket Sports Race: Tennis And The Advent of Padel & Pickleball’ (January 2026) – draws on his firm’s research across broadcasting, media rights, and commercial strategy to examine the structural challenges facing padel’s broadcast ambitions, the innovations seeking to address them, and what needs to happen next.

A growing number of broadcasters and media platforms are looking to cash in on padel’s surge in popularity, with a series of deals over recent years struck by the likes of ESPN, Red Bull TV and the UK’s ITV, as well as specialist streaming services such as Padel-TV. The sport is now looking to build on the expanded coverage to lift its profile worldwide, but faces a series of challenges in establishing itself as a global TV product. Experts within the game are calling for a more broadcast-friendly approach, with visible crowds and more creative camera angles, as well as a greater focus on the best players outside of Spain and Argentina, and the widespread use of English by both broadcasters and players. PBM Insight Report by Laura Syrett and Paul Cochrane.

The last five years have seen a flurry of broadcast and media deals to show live padel tournaments to the sport’s rapidly growing international community of players and enthusiasts. 

Padel has attracted a combination of mainstream and sports broadcasters with established television channels and viewing platforms, as well as specialist padel-focused media companies, streaming padel live online. Viewing models include both free-to-air and fee-paying subscription agreements. 

Big name broadcasters include the UK’s ITV, which in 2024 signed an exclusive deal with the Hexagon Cup to broadcast the competition live on a free-to-air basis on ITVX, with highlights shown on ITV4. ITV’s UK deal was renewed in 2025 and the broadcaster has continued to air the tournament in 2026. 

Other well-known names include Disney-owned US-based sports broadcaster ESPN, which in 2022 signed a four-year deal with the International Padel Federation (FIP) to broadcast FIP tour matches in South America, Central America, Mexico and the Caribbean. 

Another major player is Austria-based Red Bull TV, which since 2024 has broadcast Premier Padel matches throughout the season.

Premier Padel matches have been broadcast on Red Bull TV since 2024. Image credit: Red Bull TV.

Padel-TV looks to build on deals with national federations 

Among the specialist streaming channels dedicated to padel is Swedish media company Padel-TV – a business which started covering Nordic region matches and is gradually expanding its coverage across the globe. 

“Padel is a great TV sport since there is a lot of action in a relatively small area, and we have found a good way of producing cost-effectively with multiple cameras, replays, scoreboard, graphics, commentators and studio,” Johannes Thomhave, CEO of Padel-TV, tells Padel Business Magazine. 

Launched in February 2021, Padel-TV began with a three-year agreement with the Swedish Padel Federation to produce and broadcast the Swedish Padel Tour. It has since signed deals to stream live professional padel matches in Denmark, Norway and the UK.

In March 2025, Padel-TV signed a three-year agreement with the Lawn Tennis Association (LTA), the governing body for tennis and padel in the UK, to produce and exclusively broadcast padel competitions, including the British Padel Tour, Masters Final and the LTA Padel National Championships, along with some FIP tournaments. 

Padel-TV also produced and broadcast the first Americas vs. Europe Intercontinental Cup Competition padel tournament, launched by FIP in 2024 and dubbed ‘the Ryder Cup of padel’, in three languages (English, Spanish and Swedish) and is in discussions with padel leagues in the Netherlands, Saudi Arabia, Finland and the US.

Johannes Thomhave, CEO of Padel-TV. Image credit: Padel-TV.

The company charges a monthly fee for subscriptions, which Thomhave says is modest at the “equivalent [cost] of renting a court for 15 minutes in most countries”.

When choosing which padel competitions and leagues to partner with, Thomhave explains that Padel-TV looks for padel leagues which are sanctioned by recognised national international or national federations with whom the company can work to help attract and expand audiences. The company also looks for a strong population of professional players with sponsors who see the value in reaching broadcast audiences.

“Underlying market drivers and momentum for padel have to be strong and there has to be a will and understanding from the federation to professionalise and grow the sport together. Then we need a growing set of skilled players that are attracting sponsors and followers and are happy for us to create a platform for them to be seen,” Thomhave says. 

“When these factors align, we know that the padel community is strong and growing and they want to follow their sport in high quality and are willing to pay for it,” he adds.

Padel-TV started covering Nordic region matches and is gradually expanding its coverage across the globe. Image credit: Padel-TV.

Olympic ambitions: a potential gamechanger for padel’s broadcast appeal 

Some padel industry commentators believe that padel’s broadcast appeal would be significantly enhanced if the sport succeeds in FIP’s ambition for it to become an Olympic sport, with a goal of including padel in the Brisbane, Australia, summer Olympics in 2032. 

In March 2026 padel was confirmed as a medal sport in the official programme of the European Games, taking place in Istanbul, Turkey in June 2027, having previously been confirmed as a sport in the Asian Games 2026 in Nagoya, Japan and the Mediterranean Games 2026 in Taranto, Italy. 

“This represents another major event within the Olympic Movement and a fundamental step in the pathway towards the goal of Olympic participation,” FIP said on announcing the decision.

But Thomhave believes greater integration of the international padel scene is needed for padel to enter the top tier of spectator sports and involves reaching an audience beyond the padel-playing community. 

“For the sport to grow even more and become an Olympic sport, everyone [broadcasters and players] has to start speaking English, and international players need to be included,” he says. 

“As the sport grows our audience will grow with it, especially when people not playing padel notice that padel is a great spectator sport,” Thomhave adds. 

Padel finals at the 2023 European Games in Kraków. Image credit: FIP.

Pro Padel League develops range of broadcast and streaming partners

For their part, professional padel leagues and federations are eager to sign broadcast deals that allow them to reach new audiences. As of April 2026, the Pro Padel League (PPL), North America’s professional padel circuit, had 15 broadcast and streaming partners distributing its content across six continents. 

According to Diane Gotua, chief commercial officer for PPL, broadcast deals are essential for transitioning padel from a purely recreational sport into a spectator sport.

“The PPL is getting the sport in front of more eyes, especially in emerging markets like the US,” Gouta tells Padel Business Magazine.

She says the PPL is “actively exploring more mainstream opportunities like our partnership with DAZN”, referring to the company’s first broadcast deal, signed in 2024, with the London, UK-based sport and entertainment streaming service, which streams PPL events live in 200 countries.

Gouta says PPL competitions are available to watch through a “robust global distribution network”, spanning traditional broadcast, streaming platforms, and free online access.

“In the US, last season fans watched PPL content on FanDuel Sports Network, Tennis Channel, Telemundo [an American Spanish-language terrestrial television network owned by NBCUniversal], and Tubi,” she says.

Internationally, DAZN carries the PPL across most of the world via its regional partners and every match is also streamed live on the PPL YouTube channel in both English and Spanish, making the league freely accessible to fans worldwide.

Gouta says the PPL is locking in domestic and international partners for 2026 and expects even broader distribution this year compared to last season.

According to Gouta, reach is more important than direct revenue from its broadcast partners. “[We prioritise] distribution and exposure over maximising media rights fees. Streaming deals are a small source of revenue for us – accessibility is what matters most,” she says.

The PPL looks to achieve maximum audience engagement by balancing its broadcast partnerships between those companies with global scale such as DAZN and those with established, engaged audiences like the Tennis Channel in the US.

The Pro Padel League (PPL) has 15 broadcast and streaming partners distributing its content across six continents. Image credit: PPL.

Overcoming hurdles to meet padel’s broadcast product potential 

But while the number of broadcast deals for padel is growing, Philippe Azar, Austria-based owner and founder of TennisHackers, an independent advisory platform focused on the global racquet sports industry, thinks padel has some more work to do to achieve its potential as a broadcast product with an appeal similar to tennis. 

“Unpredictability is television gold, and audience numbers reflect that: tennis reaches around two billion global viewers annually, while padel is still working toward a sustainable broadcast audience,” Azar tells Padel Business Magazine.

Azar notes that while padel has the participation numbers to make for a strong broadcast viewing base, at present it lacks the “stories, personalities and moments” needed to underpin a broadcasted spectator sport with mass appeal.

He suggests padel needs to become more visually broadcast-friendly, with lighter, preferably outdoor, stadium courts in iconic locations and with visible crowds and event-style lighting.

Azar also argues for more creative camera angles – rather than just back of court shots – and player microphones, plus investment in ‘star building’ to bring out padel players’ personalities and rivalries.

Padel-TV’s Thomhave agrees that spectators want to get to know professional players better to help build a broadcast audience following and thinks this should start at a national level.

“We think what the international federation is missing is that the national community are tired of watching the same Spanish and Argentinian players every week – they want to watch their own national heroes. They are much more excited about watching, respectively, Britain’s, Denmark’s and Sweden’s best players than the world elite,” he says.

beIN drives padel broadcast expansion in Middle East

Meanwhile, sports broadcasting in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries – Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) – has been dominated by Qatar, with the emirate owning a raft of pan-Arab channels, including Alkass Sports Channels (a group of 11 sports channels), which broadcasts in Arabic and English, as well as international channel beIN Sports. 

Both channels covered the 2026 GCC Games, which included padel and were staged in Qatar from 11th to 22nd May despite the recent armed conflict with Iran. 

“beIN has taken the leadership position through all rights acquired for padel,” says Astrid Thams, commercial managing director of the Hexagon Cup. “It’s a positive thing, a strong penetration in the Middle East from a global perspective. Saudi Arabia and the UAE both now host world-class padel events.” 

With padel taking off in the Gulf, a private investor in padel clubs who requested anonymity observes that the region is ripe for “taking it to the next level, with more commercialisation of the sport, more branding, advertising and media outreach. There’s a lot of potential, and there should be more than just Qatari channels broadcasting padel.” 

Thus far, despite padel’s regional popularity, Middle East broadcasters "have also not really commercialised padel, or had the outreach to players and the public to make the sport better known,” says Thams, noting that padel sport infrastructure is lacking, such as larger court facilities that can host a lot of spectators. "More sponsorship and broadcasting deals can help drive padel in the region,” she says.

Astrid Thams, commercial managing director of the Hexagon Cup.

Saudi Arabia is a case in point, with the Saudi Padel Committee (SPC) only becoming an official federation two years ago, following its 2021 launch. Mogren Al Mogren, president of the SPC, says: “In terms of broadcasting, padel is still not mature in our region, although Qatar and the UAE are ahead of us. The federation is only two years old, and padel has only existed in the kingdom since 2018, with private clubs. But we have created the BSF League, and have sponsors.” 

The SPC does not yet have any broadcasting contracts. It live streams events on its YouTube and TikTok channels, while Saudi broadcaster Riyadiya TV (KSA Sports TV) broadcast two padel tournaments in 2025. National-level events featuring padel are broadcast on the Saudi National Olympic Committee’s streaming channel.  

European-based streaming channels have approached the SPC to cover tournaments but required payment – so no deal thus far. “Hopefully, there will be a sponsorship model like Premier Padel has with Red Bull, which is what all federations are aiming for, to have companies come and pay us for broadcasting. That will take time and investment,” says Al Mogren. 

Hexagon strategy focused on regional awareness

At a more international level, Saudi Arabia is involved in padel tournaments through the sports and entertainment agency 54, which received investment from Sanabil Investments, a wholly owned subsidiary of Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF).

In 2025, 54 teamed up with the Hexagon Cup and FIP to create the Hexagon World Series, a global professional circuit governed by FIP and aimed at complementing Premier Padel and the Cupra FIP Tour, with broadcast potential.

However, given the nascency of the sport in the Gulf, Thams says Hexagon is not yet seeking exclusive contracts or pay-per-view deals. “Maximum exposure would be through a combination of live and streaming coverage, such as on Saudi channel MBC and its streaming platform, on beIN Sports and its streaming platform, and on UAE channels Dubai Sports and Abu Dhabi Sports. It would be a network of agreements to make sure there is wide coverage,” says Thams.

The strategy is focused on regional awareness, spearheaded by Hexagon’s own YouTube channel, whose viewership grew 250% last year on 2024, with 7.6 million viewers worldwide. “It’s also important to assess audience data to understand the demographics,” says Thams.

Hexagon has also developed short videos, not longer than 60 seconds, without any language used to reach an international audience. “Through reels and shorts on YouTube, we managed to increase non-Spanish-speaking audiences to 29% of our YouTube views so far in 2026 compared with 10% in 2025, which reflects a trend in the market,” says Thams.

The Hexagon Cup has tie-ups with the eight teams in the tournament, including Team AD/vantage, which is co-owned by tennis star Sir Andy Murray, boxer Anthony Joshua and AD Global Sports, which was founded by Arran Yentob and Dani Vallverdú, who was Sir Andy’s former coach.

“We capitalise on celebrities from other sports to make sure we can bring padel not only to our fans, but to benefit from their fan base, and their digital impact. We had over 86 million video views from the Cup event,” says Thams.

Celebrity owners are not paid to attend tournaments. “Rather than being a model where celebrities are paid to participate, it works the other way around: they are involved as team owners and are investing in the competition,” she says.

For Hexagon Cup and Series events, “the idea is that the money will come through sponsors, media deals and venues, and goes down from there,” Thams explains. For now, she adds: “There’s still a way to go with how big a business padel will be. But the more successful an event is, the more the money will trickle down in different areas, from prize money to media broadcasting.”

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As padel’s media landscape evolves at pace, the gap between the sport’s participation growth and its broadcast monetisation is coming under ever closer scrutiny. Here, Saidja Drentje – partner at global sports strategy consultancy CAA Portas, and author of ‘The Racket Sports Race: Tennis And The Advent of Padel & Pickleball’ (January 2026) – draws on his firm’s research across broadcasting, media rights, and commercial strategy to examine the structural challenges facing padel’s broadcast ambitions, the innovations seeking to address them, and what needs to happen next.

On the surface, padel’s broadcasting moment has arrived. According to the International Padel Federation (FIP), the sport has more than 35 million global players – a 133% increase since 2020, while Premier Padel’s 2026 season spans 26 tournaments across 18 countries, with nearly 75% held indoors.

In 2025, worldwide broadcast viewership for Premier Padel grew 30% year-on-year, with the tour now reaching 244 territories. Heineken has signed on as its first-ever global beer partner. WHOOP has committed to a three-year wearable technology deal. And in August, padel’s elite tour arrives in London for the first time, taking over the £1.3bn-transformed Olympia.

Yet beneath these encouraging headlines lies a paradox. In our CAA Portas Global Racket Sports Report, published in January 2026, we identified broadcasting as the single biggest bottleneck standing between padel’s participation boom and its commercial maturation.

Four months on, that diagnosis still holds. The question is no longer whether padel can get on screens – it is whether it can keep people watching, and whether it can monetise that attention at scale.

Saidja Drentje, partner at global sports strategy consultancy CAA Portas. Image credit: CAA Portas.

A broadcast architecture built in record time

The speed at which padel has assembled a credible global distribution infrastructure deserves recognition. Red Bull TV, as the primary free-to-access streaming partner for Premier Padel under a deal running up to 2027, covers all 26 tournament stops from quarter-finals to finals. A paid Premier Padel TV subscription offers all rounds with multilingual commentary.

The CUPRA FIP Tour streams free via FIP TV. beIN’s February 2026 deal spans 39 territories across MENA, Turkey, Asia-Pacific, and North America, covering both the Premier Padel tour and the FIP World Cup.

The strategic significance is worth noting: beIN is owned by Qatar Sports Investments, the same entity that controls Premier Padel and whose flag carrier Qatar Airways is the tour’s title sponsor. This vertical integration of ownership, operation, and distribution mirrors a model familiar from other Gulf-backed sports properties.

The Hexagon Cup’s evolution into the Hexagon World Series – through a partnership with 54, the agency behind LIV Golf, and FIP, backed by Saudi PIF investment – adds a team-based format to the professional calendar. DAZN distributes globally (free-to-air), while FanCode has secured exclusive rights in India.

In North America, the Pro Padel League is taking a different approach entirely: building a franchise-based league explicitly designed as a media product, with distribution already reaching an estimated 300 million households.

A comparison with Major League Soccer (MLS) is instructive. MLS became valuable not because it competed with the Premier League or LaLiga for the same global audience, but because it created appointment viewing for a domestic American audience that did not care about European football.

If the PPL can do the same for padel in the US – creating a broadcast product that stands independently of Premier Padel – it unlocks a second monetisation pathway in the world’s most valuable media market.

The Pro Padel League (PPL) is building a franchise-based league explicitly designed as a media product. Image credit: PPL.

The structural challenges that distribution alone cannot solve

Distribution is necessary, but it is not sufficient. In our report, we mapped five structural challenges constraining padel’s broadcast appeal. These persist – and one additional problem has become harder to ignore.

Camera angles and visual intimacy
Padel’s enclosed court dimensions restrict camera positions. Most broadcasts default to wide, overhead angles that capture tactics but lose the close-up drama and player personality that drive emotional investment.

Tennis benefits from diverging styles, surface variety, singles-versus-doubles variation, and clear one-on-one momentum swings. The deployment of Ease Live’s interactive overlays on Red Bull TV’s coverage of Premier Padel – featuring real-time stats, fan polls, and educational explainer videos – is a smart attempt to compensate, but it addresses the symptom rather than the structural constraint.

Ease Live’s interactive overlays feature on Red Bull TV’s coverage of Premier Padel. Image credit: Ease Live.

Audio, atmosphere, and the empty-stadium problem
The enclosed glass-and-wall structure creates echo effects that reduce broadcast audio quality, and 75% of the 2026 Premier Padel tour being indoors offers better production control. But there is a more fundamental atmosphere challenge that the industry needs to confront: outside of weekend sessions, Premier Padel venues are often visibly empty.

The tour is doing an excellent job diversifying its global footprint, but midweek rounds at half-empty arenas undermine the broadcast product. Empty seats are devastating on camera. Every sport that has scaled its media rights has solved the attendance problem first – whether through pricing, scheduling, or venue right-sizing. Padel needs to do the same.

Star power and narrative depth
Padel’s biggest name, Ale Galán, has 680,000 social media followers; Nadal has 21.6 million. There are early signs of commercial recognition – in January 2026 world number one Arturo Coello signed with Swiss performance brand On, its first move into padel, with a co-designed padel shoe planned for 2027 – but individual endorsement deals do not yet translate into mainstream name recognition.

The WHOOP partnership with Premier Padel, embedding player physiological data into broadcast narratives, is a step forward. But fundamentally, the sport has not yet produced its Drive to Survive moment.

Formula 1 was struggling to reach younger and American audiences until Netflix’s documentary series transformed its cultural relevance, driving a reported 70% increase in US viewership. Tennis has responded with Break Point and Carlos Alcaraz: My Way. Padel has no equivalent – no major documentary or scripted production on Netflix, Amazon, or HBO.

The raw material is there: the sport’s rise from a niche Iberian pastime to a global phenomenon, the rivalries, the Gulf investment, the Olympic bid. Someone needs to tell that story at scale.

Padel’s biggest name, Ale Galán, has 680,000 social media followers. Image credit: FIP.

Nationality concentration and the language barrier
All ten of the world’s top-ranked male players come from Spain or Argentina, constraining the national-pride viewership that is one of the most powerful audience-building mechanisms in sport.

But there is a subtler dimension to this problem that is often overlooked: the sport’s entire storytelling infrastructure – player interviews, coaching content, social media, post-match analysis – operates predominantly in Spanish.

For the English-speaking markets where padel is growing fastest – such as the UK, US, Australia and India – this creates a narrative barrier that persists even when distribution is solved.

You can put the match on every screen in Britain, but if viewers cannot connect with the players’ personalities because the content ecosystem speaks a different language, the emotional investment that sustains broadcast audiences does not form.

The UK’s surge to 860,000 players and 1,553 courts is extraordinary at the participation level, but until both the professional pipeline and the content infrastructure diversify beyond the Iberian and Latin American base, the viewership ceiling remains lower than participation alone would suggest. 

The monetisation gap – and the missing piece

Tennis generates around $0.7bn in annual commercial rights revenue – itself dramatically under-monetised versus the NFL ($10bn+), Premier League and NBA ($5–10bn), or UEFA Champions League ($2–5bn).

Padel sits lower still, with private equity and venture capital investment into the sport totalling around $190m since 2023 and total event viewership reaching approximately 19 million across more than 120 countries. The arrival of Heineken – a brand synonymous with Champions League and F1 sponsorship – signals growing commercial confidence. But sponsorship follows audience, and the audience depends on the broadcast product.

The arrival of Heineken as a Premier Padel sponsor signals growing commercial confidence in the sport. Image credit: Premier Padel.

Key role for betting and fantasy

There is also an uncomfortable truth that the padel industry has largely avoided discussing: the role of betting and fantasy in driving broadcast engagement.

Every major sport that has cracked premium broadcast value – football, American football, basketball, cricket, tennis – has done so with a symbiotic relationship between live broadcasting and betting markets. 

Real-time wagering creates a reason to watch every point, not just the highlights. Padel does not have that infrastructure yet. By making match durations more predictable, Premier Padel’s new Star Point system is inadvertently creating a prerequisite for live betting products – bookmakers need schedulable windows and consistent game structures to offer in-play markets. 

Whether or not the sport’s stakeholders choose to actively pursue this relationship, they should recognise that the absence of a betting ecosystem is a structural gap in padel’s monetisation architecture compared to every sport it aspires to compete with commercially.

Premier Padel’s new Star Point system is inadvertently creating a prerequisite for live betting products. Image credit: Premier Padel.

Format innovation as the bridge

The Star Point scoring system, unanimously approved by the FIP General Assembly and implemented from the 2026 Riyadh P1, is the most consequential rule change in professional padel’s history.

By capping games at a maximum of three deuces before a decisive point, it addresses broadcast’s oldest operational problem: duration unpredictability. FIP president Luigi Carraro cited a women’s quarter-final game lasting 18.5 minutes under the old system that would have resolved in just over four. For schedulers, arena operators, and broadcasters, this is material. And as noted above, it also lays the groundwork for the live betting products that drive sustained viewership in other sports.

The Hexagon World Series team format – fronted by celebrity owners including Sir Andy Murray, Robert Lewandowski, Eva Longoria, and Anthony Joshua – is doing what the Laver Cup has done for tennis: creating a made-for-television spectacle designed to attract viewers who may never have watched padel. The involvement of 54, with its experience building LIV Golf from scratch into a media property, signals serious production ambition. Generali Group has signed on as title sponsor, and DAZN’s free-to-air global distribution ensures maximum reach.

(Left to right) Gary Davidson, group chief operating officer at 54, Enrique Buenaventura, founder of the Hexagon Cup, and Luigi Carraro, president of FIP, at the launch of the Hexagon World Series in London in December 2025. Image credit: FIP.

What will determine whether the gap closes

First, commission padel’s equivalent of Drive to Survive
The raw material is compelling: a sport that barely existed outside Spain a decade ago, now backed by Qatari and Saudi sovereign wealth, with an Olympic bid live, celebrity team owners, and a participation explosion across 150 countries.

The women’s game offers particularly rich territory – Gemma Triay and Delfina Brea’s dominance, the reshuffle of the top pairings for 2026, and the sport’s 40% female participation rate (among the highest in global sport) are stories that resonate far beyond the padel community. No major streaming platform has yet told any of them. Whoever does will create the cultural breakthrough that converts casual awareness into sustained viewership – exactly as Netflix did for Formula 1.

Second, solve the attendance problem before it becomes a broadcast problem
The London P1 at Olympia in August 2026 is the right kind of test: a world-class venue in a market with 860,000 players, delivered by Sela with LTA support.

Running alongside it, London Padel Week – a collaboration between Padel Consulting and Padel Travel X – will create pop-up courts, coaching clinics, and social events around the city, giving players the chance to play and then watch the world’s best.

This matters because, as operators across the industry increasingly recognise, tournaments in emerging markets need to feel like a day out, not just a series of matches. The Australian Open has mastered this – world-class sport as the anchor, surrounded by an experience that stands on its own even when the match doesn’t deliver.

Padel needs that same thinking applied to every stop on the Premier Padel tour. If the London P1 fills seats and delivers compelling broadcast content, it becomes the template. But the sport also needs to address midweek attendance across the calendar – through creative pricing, scheduling, right-sizing venues, or building the kind of fan culture that makes Tuesday’s quarter-final as compelling as Sunday’s final. 

The Premier Padel London P1 at Olympia in August 2026 offers a test case for padel’s broadcast potential. Image credit: LTA.

Third, pursue Olympic inclusion as the single most powerful viewership accelerator
Our research shows a 60% uplift in sponsorship revenue for new Olympic sports, an eight-million social media follower increase for individual athletes, and a 75% surge in sports-related social posts.

Padel’s governance is IOC-ready: FIP has 87+ national member federations, ARISF status, European Games inclusion since 2023, and the sport will debut at the Aichi-Nagoya 2026 Asian Games – another critical milestone on the Olympic pathway.

The Star Point system aligns explicitly with IOC innovation objectives. The Brisbane 2032 timeline is live. And the women’s tour, with Triay and Brea’s dominant nine-title 2025 season attracting growing broadcast interest, offers a powerful narrative for Olympic inclusion in an era when the IOC prioritises gender equity. If padel secures a place, the broadcasting challenge transforms entirely.

The participation story is settled. The facility story is accelerating. The commercial story is gaining momentum – with Heineken, WHOOP, Red Bull, Qatar Airways all invested. But the broadcasting story is still being written. Padel has 35 million players. It has 244 broadcast territories. What it does not yet have is the broadcast product, the cultural content, or the betting infrastructure that turns distribution into dollars. The decisions being made in 2026 – on content, on attendance, on format, on monetisation architecture – will determine whether that changes.

·       Saidja Drentje is a partner at CAA Portas, a global strategy consultancy dedicated to sport, where he leads its racquet sports and golf advisory practices from Dubai. He is the author of ‘The Racket Sports Race: Tennis and The Advent of Padel & Pickleball’ (January 2026) and ‘India Padel Report: Navigating Asia’s next boom’ (May 2026). A former competitive tennis player who represented the Netherlands at junior level, he also founded Club Padel Dubai, providing both advisory and operator-side experience in the sport.

The full CAA Portas Global Racket Sports Report is available upon request.

Contact: saidja.drentje@caaportas.com Website: caaportas.com


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Premier Padel and Red Bull have launched Red Bull Padel: Court Legends, a new free-to-play online mobile game inspired by the world of professional padel. 

Available globally on iOS and Android, Premier Padel claims the game combines competitive online gameplay with the structure, atmosphere and identity of the professional tour to create a new way for audiences to engage with the world’s fastest-growing sport beyond the court.

Inspired by the ecosystem of the Premier Padel tour, Red Bull Padel: Court Legends allows players to compete in real-time online matches while building and managing their own club.

Progression follows a clear competitive path, starting with entry-level Friendly League competitions through to P2 and P1 tournaments, ultimately reaching the prestigious Majors. Players control both members of their pair during matches, recreating the tactical and dynamic nature of the sport through volleys, lobs, smashes and defensive recoveries, alongside rankings, leaderboards and special in-game events throughout the season.

The game is designed to create a new way for audiences to engage with padel beyond the court. Image credit: Premier Padel.

The game also marks the first time professional padel players are featured within a mobile video game, which Premier Padel says represents another step in the continued global positioning and visibility of the sport’s athletes beyond the court.

Red Bull athletes Bea González, Alejandro Galán and Juan Lebrón appear in the game as coaches, with Delfi Brea set to join in a future update, designed to help bring fans closer to some of the sport’s biggest personalities through the new digital platform.

Official gear and equipment from leading brands across the professional padel ecosystem, including Wilson and Bullpadel, are also featured throughout the game.

“The launch of Red Bull Padel: Court Legends represents another step in Premier Padel and Red Bull’s shared ambition to expand the sport’s reach beyond traditional audiences and platforms, connecting fans around the  world with the players, atmosphere and competitive journey that continue driving padel’s rapid international  growth,” Premier Padel said.

Red Bull: Court Legends is available for download for free on Android and iOS from the App Store and Google Play.

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VVV Sports, a UK publicly listed sports, media and entertainment business focused on building infrastructure around padel and other emerging racquet sports, has announced plans to raise fresh investment of around £5m as it targets a significant push into the US padel market.

VVV, which is listed on the UK’s Aquis Exchange for growing companies, says the targeted proceeds will be used to fund the company's US expansion, as well as working capital and further investment in its subsidiaries and other new opportunities.

The company intends to seek a dual listing on the Nasdaq Global Market in the US, whilst retaining its listing on Aquis following completion of the placing, which is expected to close by the end of June 2026. VVV says it is intended the placing will be undertaken with a small group of existing and new investors.

VVV, founded and chaired by British entrepreneur Jonathan Rowland, says proceeds of the placing will be used in the US market to:

·       Progress plans for a US Padel Centre of Excellence in New York

·       Establish VVV USA, which will be the company’s US operating entity, due to be based in Miami

·       Launch VVV Sport Book Inc., a sports betting and prediction markets platform

·       Roll out the R3 Bullpadel Cup into the US market

The VVV board believes the company is well-positioned to capitalise on significant growth opportunities in padel and pickleball, particularly in the US, where it notes demand for infrastructure across both sports substantially exceeds current supply.

UK No.1 Christian Medina Murphy is among several British padel players backed by R3 Sport, the athlete management division of VVV Sports. Image credit: VVV Sports.

The firm also has ambitions in other global markets, and says proceeds from the raise will be used for the continued development of plans for the Abu Dhabi Padel Centre of Excellence (ADPCE), which it is seeking to develop in partnership with the Abu Dhabi Project and Infrastructure Company (ADPIC).

The project, which forms a central part of Abu Dhabi's five-year national padel strategy, is one of the most ambitious planned padel facilities in the world, with a projected size of 55,000sqm, and an investment of over £120m due to be delivered within the next two years.

Proceeds from the planned £5m raise will also be used for the production of new premium content, including a six-part docuseries in development with Amazon Prime, as well as wider investment across other media and content, events and infrastructure.

VVV operates across five divisions:

·       athlete management (R3 Sport)

·       events and activations (TOPSERIES Pickleball and the R3 Bullpadel Cup)

·       infrastructure (Global Padel Centres of Excellence)

·       media and content (Windswept and Groovy)

·       brands and commerce (exclusive Bullpadel equipment distribution)

Through its subsidiary MRH Sport Ltd, VVV holds the exclusive right to distribute Bullpadel equipment in the UK, Ireland, Australia and New Zealand. The company says it is finalising terms for the distribution of Bullpadel equipment in other markets for 2026. Bullpadel is an official partner of Premier Padel.

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The latest edition of the Playtomic Global Padel Report has revealed new figures underlining padel's continued global expansion, and has concluded that the sport is “transforming from a fast-growing leisure activity into a recognised investment category, a real estate asset class and a holistic wellness destination”.

According to the 2026 edition of the report, which is produced with Strategy&, PwC's strategy consulting arm, padel’s global growth remains strong, with nearly 5,000 new clubs and almost 8,000 new courts added worldwide in 2025 alone, bringing the global total to more than 20,900 clubs, 58,300 courts and 19.4 million players.

The report forecasts the global market to reach approximately 91,000 courts by 2028.

For the first time, the report classifies markets into five archetypes by maturity and demand quality. The UK and Germany are identified as ‘Hotspot markets’, characterised by demand consistently outpacing supply and strong unit economics attracting institutional capital.

According to the report, the UK has grown at an 86% compound annual growth rate since 2021, with around 85% average court occupancy, and approximately half of all UK players reporting difficulty booking a court at peak times.

The US is classified as a ‘Diamond in the Rough’, a high-potential early-stage market with the highest average booking price in the world at €92 per session, and significant long-term upside as structural barriers progressively ease.

Pablo Carro, co-founder and CCO of Playtomic, said: "Padel is no longer just a sport. The data and insights from our platform make clear that this is a global business attracting serious investment, reshaping real estate and redefining what a sports club can be.

“With nearly 20 million players worldwide and markets like the UK and Germany growing at extraordinary pace, the opportunity ahead is the most compelling in sport today."

Miren Tellería, partner and real estate sector lead at PwC, added: "The sports industry is progressively attracting greater attention from investors, and padel is emerging as one of the disciplines gaining traction as an investment opportunity thanks to its strong growth and the solid performance of its fundamentals.”

Nearly 5,000 new padel clubs and almost 8,000 new courts were added worldwide in 2025 alone, according to the report. Image credit: Playtomic.

Padel emerges as a real estate and investment asset

This year's report includes a new section focused on padel as a real estate asset. It notes that sports-related real estate has moved from a niche category to a recognised investment area, with institutional funds, developers and family offices actively deploying capital into padel-backed projects.

“Global real estate advisory firms including JLL and CBRE have created dedicated sports and entertainment real estate practices,” it states. “Padel courts are increasingly integrated into residential developments, hospitality assets and mixed-use schemes as standard amenities.

“In Portugal, the Quinta do Lago sports-residential development has delivered approximately 30% residential value appreciation alongside owner retention rates above 75%, driven in part by its padel-anchored sports masterplan.”

The report also points to a “fundamental shift” in how clubs operate, with nine out of ten top-performing clubs now offering off-court services including fitness classes, sauna and recovery facilities, social events and food and beverage.

The data also shows that top-performing clubs generate up to five times more booking revenue per court per month than bottom performers.

“Clubs are evolving from court-booking utilities into holistic wellness destinations, functioning as third spaces where players gather before and after play,” the report concludes.

Additional findings include:

· Nearly 5,000 new padel clubs opened globally in 2025, averaging nearly 14 new clubs per day

· 7,898 new padel courts were built globally in 2025, averaging nearly 22 new courts per day

· France added more courts than any other country in 2025, with 1,142 new courts

· Indonesia added approximately 800 courts in 2025, driven by major metropolitan hubs and niche resort locations

· The global padel equipment market reached €598m in 2025, growing at a 34% CAGR since 2019

The full 2026 Playtomic Global Padel Report is now available to download at https://playtomic.com/global-padel-report.

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Organisers of the 2026 Padel World Summit, held on 26th to 28th May in Barcelona, have announced that this year’s edition attracted 7,208 attendees, 20% more than last year, of which more than half were international.

New trends and products from across the padel industry were showcased by 140 exhibitors from more than 30 countries at the third edition of the event, its largest to date, which was jointly organised by Fira de Barcelona and the International Padel Cluster in Hall 6 of the Gran Via venue.

The Investor & Business Forum hosted 1,175 business meetings, of which 293 were part of the Hosted Buyers programme, designed to gather international buyers and investors with high decision-making capacity.

The exhibition space was 34% larger than in 2025, with the most prominent companies including Padel Nuestro, Skechers Padel, Playtomic, HIT-X by Padelgest and Realturf, alongside major brands such as Adidas, Joma, Head, Babolat, Lusotendas, Endless, TenCate Grass, Mondo, LED Projects, Matchi and Okatent.

Padel World Summit director Àlex Ponseti said the 2026 edition “has broken all previous records, highlighting the need of the padel sector to have a first-class international trade fair that drives the significant business opportunities presented by this sport, fosters alliances between professionals and promotes innovation across all fields”.

The exhibition space at the 2026 Padel World Summit was 34% larger than in 2025. Image credit: Padel World Summit.

Padel Galis rewards leading startups

Innovation played a central role at the event through the Innovation Arena, sponsored by Padel Galis, which brought together 20 startups. The space showcased solutions ranging from the first-ever padel videogame to pressurisers designed to extend the lifespan of balls.

A jury comprised of investors and representatives of Padel World Summit and Padel Galis selected the three best startups. First prize went to VAM-OS, a finance and operations platform for clubs that offers real-time visibility of profitability and cash flow.

Second place went to CourtBrain, a neutral shot detection system that integrates multiple tracking solutions into a single tool.

Third place was awarded to Bopa, a ball re-pressurisation solution designed for club rental use, combining sustainability with operational efficiency.

The Innovation Stage also hosted leading international investors, including Alan Flatt (InvestTrek Capital), Ali Al Arif (SPADREC Investment Group), Hale Yildiz (Lumia Partners) and Oriol Cortada (Tripelsum Investments), who discussed the key factors in financing the next generation of padel clubs worldwide.

Meanwhile, Diego Campos (Sunrise Capital), Koen Bosma (APEX Capital), Anton Brams (Mindspring Padel) and Álvaro Ruiz Cotorro (AO Ventures) addressed investment opportunities in emerging padel-related technology companies.

The Innovation Arena, sponsored by Padel Galis, brought together 20 startups. Image credit: Padel World Summit.

Conference addresses key industry topics

The Padel Global Conference addressed key industry topics through a diverse range of speakers. Pedro Claveria, co-founder and CSO of Playtomic, explained how open APIs are transforming clubs into connected businesses. Astrid Thams, commercial managing director of Hexagon, presented the evolution of the Hexagon Cup into a global team-based padel competition.

Australian actor Darren McMullen, founder of Racquet Club, shared his commitment to bringing padel to Australia through innovative and effective commercial initiatives.

Abigail McCulloch, included in Forbes’ ‘30 Under 30 Sports’ list and founder of Alma Padel in Chicago, provided the perspective of a new generation of entrepreneurs.

Ben Hanley, responsible for the development of padel within the British Armed Forces, introduced a unique model of social and sporting integration between service members and their families.

In addition, the venue was transformed into a large indoor padel club, with ten courts installed by Padelgest, Euronix, Padel Alba, AFP Courts, Padel Galis, GreenSet, Pòrtico Sport, Padel Tech, Cent pour Cent Padel and Padel Lab.

Renowned figures such as Argentine player Fernando Belasteguín – considered the greatest player in the history of padel – and Spanish player Carolina Navarro, who held the world number one spot on the World Padel Tour for nine years, took part in activities on court.

The fourth edition of Padel World Summit will take place from 4th to 6th May 2027 at Fira de Barcelona.

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Hi everyone,

Welcome to the latest edition of PBM Monthly.

We are here for the people building the business of padel. Every month, we bring you the stories that matter most: sharp reporting, expert opinion, and original insights you won’t find anywhere else.

Inside this issue: four major news stories, one strong opinion piece, and one big read that dives deep into this month’s defining theme – tournament economics and event management in padel.

Enjoy the read!

The PBM Team

Want to be the brand padel decision-makers see next month?

Padel Business Magazine lands in the inboxes of the people actually building the global padel industry: investors, operators, founders, and developers shaping what comes next.

Next month, there’s a host of partner sponsorship packages available, and one of them could be yours.

Partnering with PBM puts your brand at the heart of the sport’s most influential B2B network. You’ll get in front of verified buyers through our editorial coverage, newsletter, and LinkedIn ecosystem, the exact channels driving commercial deals and market visibility.

We don’t just sell ad space. We build authority. We don’t simply chase impressions. We drive conversations that turn into sales.

Ready to own the spotlight? Email contact@padelbusinessmagazine.com

Net news

Diving into the major news stories shaping this month’s theme and beyond: curated reporting and global headlines driving the business of padel forward.

WPN report: Search interest in padel up 121% in UK and 72% in US

Worldwide interest in padel grew by 1,026% between 2004 and 2025, comparing annual averages, according to the Padel Global Search Report 2026. Image credit: Adobe Stock.

The Padel Global Search Report 2026 from World Padel Network reveals that global search interest in padel rose by 49% in 2025.

Serena Williams enters padel court as new Heineken 0.0 ambassador

Serena Williams joined as a last-minute ‘stand-in’ teammate with padel players who had booked through the Open Match by Heineken 0.0 feature on Playtomic. Image credit: Heineken.

To launch the multi-year partnership, Serena surprised unexpecting padel players in Miami with a game followed by a post-match Heineken 0.0.

SFIA report: Padel surpasses 1 million players in the US

The SFIA report counted 1,073,000 Americans who played padel in 2025. Image credit: USPA.

Landmark national study tracks padel for the first time, with the USPA saying it confirms the sport’s arrival in the American mainstream.

PadelStars targets 50% female participation with ex-LTA No 1 Ellie Tait 

Ellie Tait (centre) with PadelStars founder Andy Knee (left) and COO Jeevan Gill (right). Image credit: PadelStars.

Former LTA No 1 Ellie Tait has become a PadelStars player ambassador as the UK operator aims for 50% female participation across its venues by 2027.

The big hit

The latest exclusive and original in-depth features, interviews and analysis from Padel Business Magazine. Insight you will not find anywhere else.

PBM Insight Report: Padel tournament strategies evolve amid growing appeal for players and operators

Peak performance: Competitive padel events at all levels present significant opportunities for organisers, clubs as well as players. 

For 2026, the Premier Padel tour has expanded to 26 tournaments across 18 countries. Image credit: Premier Padel.

With the number and scale of padel tournaments expanding at pace globally, both professional and amateur competitive events are helping drive the sport’s development, raise its profile and attract new players, while also increasing revenues for operators.

As padel’s growth continues, event organisers, venues and clubs are all looking to cash in. But amid the sport’s expansion, what are the best strategies for establishing and expanding different types of padel tournament, and how does it vary across key growth regions like the US, UK and Middle East, and more mature markets such as Spain?

Read on to get exclusive insight on the latest developments.

PBM Insight Report by Laura Syrett and Paul Cochrane.

Opinion serving

A trusted perspective from inside the business of padel. Original opinion and on-theme insight from the leaders shaping the sport’s next chapter.

Andrew Herring: Lessons from the front lines of US padel tournaments

Andrew Herring, co-founder of PATL. Image credit: PATL.

Amid the rapid growth of padel in the US, tournaments have become a central part of the sport’s development, giving new opportunities to both elite and local players of all abilities.

Yet hosting the events comes with a myriad of challenges, ranging from logistics to player participation and sponsorship deals. Hosting two major tournaments annually – the Atlanta Padel Open and WPR end of year finals in Charleston – the US padel operator PATL has firsthand experience of building and scaling padel tournaments in the country.

Here, PATL co-founder Andrew Herring shares insights on what works and what doesn’t across planning, organising and hosting, and explores how tournaments play a vital role in building a padel community.

With the number and scale of padel tournaments expanding at pace globally, both professional and amateur competitive events are helping drive the sport’s development, raise its profile and attract new players, while also increasing revenues for operators. As padel’s growth continues, event organisers, venues and clubs are all looking to cash in. But amid the sport’s expansion, what are the best strategies for establishing and expanding different types of padel tournament, and how does it vary across key growth regions like the US, UK and Middle East, and more mature markets such as Spain? PBM Insight Report by Laura Syrett and Paul Cochrane.

Padel clubs across booming growth markets such as the US and UK, as well as established markets like Spain, are increasingly turning to tournaments and competitive events as revenue drivers and structured ways of engaging a growing padel-playing population. 

The earning potential of tournaments is partly borne out by a surge in numbers, with an increasing number of clubs looking to host more competitive events. 

The International Padel Federation (FIP)’s World Padel Report 2025 noted that the number of FIP-organised tournaments alone jumped to 290 in 49 countries last year, up from 182 in 36 countries in 2024.

For 2026, the Premier Padel tour has expanded to 26 tournaments across 18 countries, with nearly 75% indoors. In 2025 there were 24 tournaments across 16 countries.

Meanwhile, according to the United States Padel Association (USPA)’s annual report for 2025, along with surging membership and club numbers in the US, the association sanctioned 104 open padel tournaments in 2025, more than doubling the 48 events hosted in 2024. At the middle of April, the USPA’s 2026 schedule had 255 events, with more being added each month.

Experts say the appeal of hosting tournaments to clubs is their potential to deliver one-off high profit margins from entry fees, ticket sales, commercial partnerships and hospitality. They also benefit from the longer-term ‘community-building’ benefits of events that clubs are keen to cultivate, boosting and maintaining high court occupancy levels outside of competitions. 

For 2026, the Premier Padel tour has expanded to 26 tournaments across 18 countries. Image credit: Premier Padel.

Tournaments a major source of income for padel industry

According to Alicante, Spain-based padel court construction and installation company MejorSet, the official court provider of Premier Padel, tournaments are already a major source of income for the padel industry. 

“For clubs and investors, tournaments are no longer just visibility, they’re a revenue engine and part of their growth strategy,” says a company spokesperson. 

MejorSet notes that as tournaments become part of clubs’ business models, this is driving demand for courts that are designed, tested and approved for high-performance competition – meaning that tournaments boost business activity and revenue throughout the padel supply chain. 

“Today, well-structured padel tournaments can generate six to seven figures [in US dollars or euros] annually across entry fees, sponsorship and brand activations, increased court occupancy, food and beverage uplift and media exposure and long-term memberships,” the company adds. 

Significant investment costs

Investment costs to create international tournament-standard courts are significant, due to demands about court surfaces, such as FIP-compliant high-quality, short-pile synthetic turf filled with silica sand for consistent, controlled ball bounce and player traction.

Also, according to guidelines from padel’s UK governing body the Lawn Tennis Association (LTA), tournament play may require an increased height of court screens (glass and mesh panels) to accommodate professional level shots, of four metres, compared to three-metre-high screens for recreational courts.

Additionally, clubs need to ensure that player and spectator facilities, including dressing rooms, must be of sufficient quality. However, many clubs calculate that the returns are worth the outlay. 

MejorSet highlighted the example of Padel 4 Maroc, a recently-completed, FIP-approved 10-court premium MejorSet club in Casablanca, Morocco, established to host regular tournaments and cash in on the growing popularity of padel in Morocco, which as of 2026 has been included as a stop on the Cupra FIP Tour of international tournaments.

Padel 4 Maroc, a recently-completed, FIP-approved 10-court premium MejorSet club in Casablanca, Morocco. Image credit: Padel 4 Maroc.

Big prize money pots across professional circuit

Several professional padel tournaments offer big prize money pots, such as the national and international events organised by professional padel bodies like FIP, whose Madrid-based Hexagon Cup offers a prize pool of €1.2 million.

Meanwhile, the Pro Padel League, North America’s first professional padel circuit, offers six-figure US dollar cash prizes to be shared by winners of individual tournaments, with a total prize pool of more than $1 million across tournaments in 2026/27.

And the UK’s LTA Padel National League offers prizes ranging from a few thousand GBP for LTA events to €150,000 for top-grade LTA-hosted FIP tournaments.

There are also amateur community-based tournaments organised by clubs or local sponsors where non-professional players compete for fun, such as the LTA ‘Grade 5 Local Tour’ events, which are aimed at beginners and held regularly at local venues across the UK, with entries accepted on a first come, first served basis and World Padel Quest events held in cities across Europe and open to amateur players of all levels.

In the latter category, one format gaining popularity in fast-growing padel markets is the ‘Padel Americano’ – a round-robin doubles format where players rotate partners and opponents every round. Unlike a traditional knockout or league padel tournament format, every player competes individually and points are accumulated personally across all rounds, and the player with the most points at the end wins the tournament. 

 The Madrid-based Hexagon Cup offers a prize pool of €1.2 million. Image credit: Hexagon Cup.

Structured calendar essential to build player and spectator community

Julián Romaguera, an independent executive adviser to sports clubs based in Marbella, Spain, tells Padel Business Magazine that “a structured calendar of leagues, social activities and events such as tournaments” are essential to building the player and spectator community padel clubs need for sustainable profitability. 

He notes that social tournament formats allow for maximum court occupancy and high utilisation of club facilities such as onsite retail and catering. 

According to Alessandro Corti, co-founder and CEO of London-based Padel Consulting, the key to monetising tournaments is to turn them into “experiences”, for example with music and Prosecco offerings, rather than just competitions. 

Alessandro Di Stefano, CEO and founder of Padel Travel and a global padel consultant based in Andalucia, Spain, says that both professional and amateur padel tournaments can attract padel-playing tourists and with them an influx of revenue for padel clubs. 

He observes that one of the ways clubs can monetise tournaments is through “trips linked to major professional events, where travellers watch top players live and combine this with some on-court activity”. 

While Spain remains the main destination for professional tournaments, Di Stefano notes that other international tour stops are becoming more relevant.  

“There are amateur tournaments also attracting international players … mainly in Spain,” he adds. 

Di Stefano thinks the key to turning destination tournaments into major money spinners is to make these tournaments “clear and recognisable offers” to a willing market of spectators and players through better communication about the events. 

He says that clubs need to “use tournaments and events as travel drivers, not just competitions”. 

Social tournament formats allow for maximum court occupancy and high utilisation of club facilities. Image credit: Adobe Stock.

Learning from tennis about monetising tournaments

Miguel Coelho, founding partner of US padel court designer and supplier APMX, based in Scottsdale, Arizona, tells Padel Business Magazine that padel should learn from tennis about how to monetise tournaments. 

“There is a small but growing segment of amateur tournaments, exhibition events or pro tours, where participants combine watching top-level padel with playing themselves,” he says. “This mirrors what tennis did around events like Roland Garros or Wimbledon.”

According to Cesc Caceres, co-founder and CEO of Padel Smash Academy, a padel gear supplier in the US, which also operates padel clubs in the country, some clubs take an innovative, hyper-local approach to tournaments to maximise inclusion by working with corporate brands to put on regular mini tournaments and allowing players to compete free of charge.  

For example, Reserve Padel’s Design District padel club in Miami, Florida, an exclusive members-only facility featuring three glass-enclosed padel courts, a viewing lounge, and a pro-shop, “do one of the best” examples of this model, Caceres observes. 

“The club in Miami’s Design District is surrounded by a lot of high-end shops. So they work with them and create a kind of a tournament that [the retail] employees can come and play in. And meanwhile, they will ask the members to come and play as well for free,” he explains. 

Caceres notes that this works well for both the retailers, whose staff get to access a premium sports venue in their community for a fun, social, nominally competitive occasion, while their sponsorship pays for an event that allows them to promote their brand and products to a key target audience of well-heeled padel players, including celebrities. 

“The members come in to play for free and usually there are gifts and even food, provided by the sponsors, which creates a great event. They do a great job of this,” he adds. 

Reserve Padel’s Design District padel club in Miami, Florida. Image credit: Reserve Padel.

Corporate tournaments becoming big business for padel clubs

Caceres also notes that the corporate tournaments for the staff of big companies is becoming big business for clubs. 

He cites examples of corporate tournaments he has been involved in for financial services firms such as New York-headquartered asset manager BlackRock and Chicago-based hedge fund Citadel, where the companies bring their staff and often their clients to a padel club as a social ‘mixer’ and team-building occasion for employees, based around coaching and tournaments. 

“Most people are willing to pay more of a premium for this because, remember, all these companies, they have a budget already allocated for these corporate events,” he adds, noting that such events also tend to please club sponsors because of the exposure their brands get to key target audiences. 

Middle East war hinders padel contests in the region

Another key growth market for padel is the Middle East, where both professional and amateur tournaments have been expanding over recent years. Progress has been heavily impacted this year, however, with the US-Israeli war on Iran, and Iranian attacks on neighbouring Gulf countries since late February, upending padel tournaments in the region.

On March 16, Premier Padel and FIP announced the postponement of the Ooredoo Qatar Major, which had prize money of €1.04 million, scheduled for April 6–11 in the capital, Doha, “due to the unprecedented situation in the wider region”. There have been no announcements as to when the event will be rescheduled, with Premier Padel not providing Padel Business Magazine with further details. 

On the other side of the Middle East North Africa (MENA) region, the 2026 Qatar Airways Premier Padel tour event at New Giza in Egypt, took place on April 13-18. There are two other Premier Padel tour events in the region slated for later in the year, in Kuwait in October, and Dubai, United Arab Emirates (UAE), in November.  

The war “could not have come at a worse time” for the sport in the Gulf as padel had “been in the momentum-building phase,” says Jon Dault, partner at private equity firm Fletchstone Global, which has offices in the UAE, UK and USA. The firm recently invested in Dubai-based padel service provider and court operator Just Padel in Dubai to expand tournaments and leagues in the region. 

“We are hoping that there is some good movement over the next couple of weeks to solidify events once the war is over,” he says. “A lot of people are champing at the bit to get going again, and we will see more action going forward. As long as there is no long-term disruption, over the next three to four months we will see 100% recovery, and an explosion of momentum. Padel is ripe to expand in the Gulf and across the MENA.” 

The Premier Padel Ooredoo Qatar Major, scheduled for April 6–11 in Doha, has been postponed due to the conflict in the Middle East. Image credit: FIP.

UAE predicted to emerge as region’s top padel tournament destination

Dault expects the UAE to emerge as the region’s leading padel tournament destination, despite Qatar and Saudi Arabia having pushed the sport in the Gulf and further afield, including through organised competition.

Qatar has led padel Gulf and global tournaments through Qatar Sports Investments (QSI), a Qatari government-backed investment fund behind Premier Padel.

Saudi Arabia is also investing in the sport through the BSF Padel League, with games launched in September 2025 by the Saudi Padel Committee, the country’s padel federation, and the sports and entertainment agency 54, which has received backing from Sanabil Investments, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF), teaming up in December 2025 with the Hexagon Cup and FIP to create the Hexagon World Series, a global professional circuit governed by FIP. 

“We will see Dubai take over the largest tournaments, and draw the largest number of people,” says Dault. He points to the UAE having a larger expatriate population than Qatar or Saudi Arabia to draw on in terms of players and fans, while also having more attractions and facilities to host tournaments and attract a wider fan base.

But for that to happen, more padel facilities and courts will need to be built to host large tournaments. “Most facilities in the UAE have 8 to 10 courts. Compare that with the 180 pickleball courts in Naples, Florida, and its centre court holding 25,000 spectators,” observes Dault. “Dubai needs to get to that level to draw in the biggest players from around the world. This will happen in the UAE sooner rather than later, as well as big purse money to attract the biggest players, which you need to grow the sport, not just a title.” 

New padel tournaments are underway elsewhere in the MENA, such as the Royal Air Maroc Golf & Padel Cup 2026, organised by Padel+ Agency and golf event agency Agence Swing, sponsored by US-based tennis brand Wilson Sporting Goods and the Moroccan national airline Royal Air Maroc.

There are to be nine stages in France, with the tournament final in Morocco at the end of the year. The organisers announced that the event is “part of a new business to business circuit, designed for entrepreneurs, golf and padel enthusiasts”.

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UK operator PadelStars has named former LTA No 1 female Ellie Tait as its first player ambassador.

The 30-year-old is to play a vital role in PadelStars’ ambitious campaign at increasing female participation to 50% across its venues by 2027. As ambassador, Tait will attend events, activations and deliver padel clinics.

PadelStars, which has 11 venues across the south and south east England with plans to open a further six in the next six months, currently has female participation at 28%. The national average is 30%, according to participation data released in March 2026 by padel’s UK governing body the Lawn Tennis Association (LTA).

The company identified in November 2025 the need to increase the number of women and girls playing padel across its venues, following an internal meeting around gender imbalance.

PadelStars says it has put substance behind its effort to encourage and grow female participation by also supporting Tait on her career journey.

Jeevan Gill, COO of PadelStars said: “Ellie is the perfect cultural fit for PadelStars and is a great role model to encourage women and girls to try padel.

“Ellie was an international hockey player before she took up padel and with our clubs built alongside existing sports facilities, including hockey venues, we see many people from other sports playing padel.”

Ellie Tait (centre) with PadelStars founder Andy Knee (left) and COO Jeevan Gill (right). Image credit: PadelStars.

Tait, who has begun 2026 competing internationally on the Cupra FIP Tour, says she is ready to play a key role in growing the sport amongst women and using her profile on tour to raise awareness.

“I’m really excited to be partnering with PadelStars at such an important time for the sport,” she said. “Their ambition to reach 50/50 male and female participation by 2027 is bold, but it’s exactly what padel needs as it grows.

“It shows a tangible commitment to building something inclusive from the start, where women feel just as welcome and represented on court! For me it’s exciting to help bring it to life in a practical way.

“I am also grateful to PadelStars for their backing as having PadelStars behind me is a game changer. With their backing, I can train hard, compete regularly, and stay focused on maintaining my top 10 position in Great Britain.”

PadelStars believes Tait’s on-court success will enable it to capitalise on delivering the company-wide strategy to grow female participation, with implementation already underway and 2026 seen as a ‘test pilot’ year.

In addition to Tait, Padelstars has asked Fiona Coope, assistant manager at PadelStars St Albans, to spearhead its efforts to increase female participation. 

Coope has identified the barriers for women taking up the sport and is developing a programme and range of activities that aims to negate these. This aims to make padel more inclusive, accessible, and welcoming for women to engage with the sport.

She said: “There are a number of factors that are stopping women from playing the sport. There are confidence issues around ability and body image; they don’t want to be in a male-dominated environment, especially newcomers; there are safety concerns on location, particularly at night; and the facilities need to be of a certain standard.

“Being aware of this enables us to put on events and activities that allay these fears and bring together women and girls into a fun and sociable environment.”

Fiona Coope, assistant manager at PadelStars St Albans. Image credit: PadelStars.

The strategy recognises that women entering the sport have diverse needs, ranging from highly competitive players to complete beginners seeking a supportive environment. As a result, PadelStars is developing a broad mix of entry points, including coaching sessions, tournaments, and community-driven events.

Moving forward, the initiative aims to expand to include partnerships with local schools, as well as holiday camps and junior pathways.

Insights gathered throughout 2026 will inform a wider rollout in 2027, with the aim of building long-term, sustainable growth in female padel participation across the sport.

Gill added: “The 50/50 ambition really matters because padel is still such a new sport, and that means we’ve got a rare chance to do things differently from the very start. In many established sports, gender imbalance has been baked in for decades. While it’s great to see progress in sports like football, cricket and rugby, padel gives us a clean slate to get that balance right from day one.

“It taps into that love of group activity many women enjoy, bringing back the kind of energy you’d find in netball teams or aerobics classes.

“And let’s be honest, women are incredible community builders. They show up, they support, they bring friends, and they help create that welcoming, vibrant atmosphere every great padel club needs. They don’t just play the sport, they help it thrive.”

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Padel has crossed 1 million players in the US, according to the 2026 Topline Participation Report from the Sports & Fitness Industry Association (SFIA).

The report, which draws on data collected throughout 2025, tracked padel for the first time in the survey’s history.

The SFIA’s annual study is the largest of its kind in the country, surveying 18,000 Americans aged six and older across a nationally representative sample.

In 2025, the organisation expanded its tracking from 124 to 126 total activities, adding two new sports: padel and disc golf.

The report counted 1,073,000 Americans who played padel in 2025. Of those, 835,000 played between one and seven times during the year, and 238,000 played eight or more times. That second group is a meaningful signal, given that US padel infrastructure is still in its early stages, with just over 1,000 courts open across 31 states as of April 2026.

The United States Padel Association (USPA) notes that inclusion alongside established racquet sports such as tennis and pickleball reflects the scale of padel’s growth and its standing as a measurable category in American recreation.

The SFIA report counted 1,073,000 Americans who played padel in 2025. Image credit: USPA.

Bill Ullman, USPA president, said: “This is a milestone the padel community has earned. We’ve watched clubs open from coast to coast, seen our tournament calendar more than double in two years, and cheered US athletes compete on the world stage. Now the data from one of the most respected research institutions in American sport confirms what everyone in our community already knows: padel is here, and it’s growing fast.”

Padel’s debut in the SFIA data comes as racquet sports have had their strongest five-year run in US history. Participation rose from 13.9% of the US population in 2020 to 20.6% in 2025, and seven of the eight racquet sports tracked by SFIA posted year-on-year gains last year. Gen Z participation in racquet sports reached 27.1% in 2025, with millennials at 22.7%.

USPA says the 1 million figure matches what it has seen in its own numbers. Club membership grew 51.5% year-on-year in 2025, and individual membership grew 53.5%, with both continuing to climb in 2026. The USPA sanctioned 104 open tournaments in 2025. It says the 2026 schedule currently has 255, with more being added each month.

The USPA’s junior development programme, its inaugural National Collegiate Padel Championships, and its Olympic Pathway initiative targeting Brisbane 2032 are each designed to build a pipeline of players and convert casual participation into lifelong players.

Based on current infrastructure and growth, the USPA projects the US could reach 10,000 courts and more than 10 million players by 2030.

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Non-alcohol beer brand Heineken 0.0 has announced tennis legend Serena Williams as its new global brand ambassador, launching a multi-year partnership designed to tap into the social appeal of padel.

Widely recognised as one of the greatest athletes of all time, Serena – who retired from professional tennis in September 2022 – has embraced padel in recent years.

Heineken says the partnership “celebrates the joy of connecting with others through one of the world’s fastest-growing social sports, padel”.

The company adds that Serena’s “love of padel makes her a natural fit for Heineken 0.0, a brand that champions social connection and refreshing moments both on and off the court”.

To launch the partnership, Serena spent a day surprising unsuspecting padel players in Miami, stepping onto the court as a last-minute ‘stand-in’ teammate for a game they had booked through the Open Match by Heineken 0.0 feature on booking platform Playtomic.

The players had no idea their fourth partner would be a 23-time Grand Slam champion.

“After an unforgettable round, the group connected post-game over a Heineken 0.0 – capturing the essence of what the partnership aims to inspire: new experiences, new connections, and a more refreshing social life,” Heineken said.

Serena Williams joined as a last-minute ‘stand-in’ teammate with padel players who had booked through the Open Match by Heineken 0.0 feature on Playtomic. Image credit: Heineken.

The initiative marked the first installment of a new feature from Heineken 0.0, known as ‘Unexpected Doubles,’ where players who book through Open Match by Heineken 0.0 on Playtomic can be rewarded with guest appearances.

Nabil Nasser, global head of Heineken said: “At Heineken, we believe the most rewarding moments happen when people stay active, social, and open to new connections - without having to compromise.

“Serena represents that mindset perfectly. Her iconic presence, her confidence, and her love of padel reflects everything Heineken 0.0 stands for: a confident choice for people who want to stay in the game and fully enjoy the social moments around it. Together, padel becomes a natural way to bring people together - on court and beyond.”

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Search interest in padel grew exponentially in both the US and UK in 2025, according to a new report which breaks down how worldwide and international search interest in padel has evolved, and where it’s potentially heading next.

The Padel Global Search Report 2026, published by World Padel Network (WPN), found that search interest in padel rose by 121% in the UK and 72% in the US in 2025 compared with the previous 12 months.

The UK was among six countries which entered the global top 20 for the first time, with Indonesia – where search interest grew by an extraordinary 887% in 2025 – becoming the first Southeast Asian market to break through.

The report notes that the geographic reach of the sport is expanding well beyond its European and Latin American heartlands.

The figures show that global search interest in padel rose by 49% in 2025, while worldwide interest grew by 1,026% between 2004 and 2025, comparing annual averages. Virtually all of that global growth is concentrated in the last five years.

Other countries with a large increase in search interest in 2025 include Australia (+102%), Ireland (+98%), Ukraine (+280%), India (+128%), and Pakistan (+198%).

By contrast, several countries, particularly mature markets, saw little growth, or a decrease in search interest, with Spain up 0.5%, Portugal down 11%, Italy down 0.2%, and Mexico up 12%.

The report also breaks the numbers down into weekly figures across the year to reveal the floor figures, which show that the lowest week of the year in terms of search globally scored 56/100 – a level that would have been a record just two years ago.  

Among other key findings, padel outperformed pickleball in all 53 weeks in 2025 in a direct global comparison. However, in the US, search interest for pickleball was 10x higher than padel.

The figures also showed that tennis remains the dominant racquet sport in search, at roughly 6x padel’s level on a global scale.

Worldwide interest in padel grew by 1,026% between 2004 and 2025, comparing annual averages, according to the Padel Global Search Report 2026. Image credit: Adobe Stock.

The report’s author, WPN founder Jamie Rowe, concludes that the conversation is now shifting “from whether padel is growing to how the industry keeps pace with demand”.

He adds: “Global search interest in padel is not just higher than it has ever been – it is consistently high, across more countries, and across more of the calendar year.

“The geographic picture has widened considerably. Spain still leads, but the gap is closing. Portugal, Argentina, Denmark, Estonia, Belgium, and the Netherlands have all surged into contention.

“Each market has its own rhythm. Spain and Portugal run hot across multiple seasons. Italy peaks in summer and again in autumn. France has quietly consolidated into a steady, year-round market. The UK peaks in winter. The US is still finding its pattern.

“Understanding these differences – rather than treating padel as a single global trend – will be increasingly important for anyone making decisions about where to build, invest, or expand.”

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Amid the rapid growth of padel in the US, tournaments have become a central part of the sport’s development, giving new opportunities to both elite and local players of all abilities. Yet hosting the events comes with a myriad of challenges, ranging from logistics to player participation and sponsorship deals. Hosting two major tournaments annually – the Atlanta Padel Open and WPR end of year finals in Charleston – the US padel operator PATL has firsthand experience of building and scaling padel tournaments in the country. Here, PATL co-founder Andrew Herring shares insights on what works and what doesn’t across planning, organising and hosting, and explores how tournaments play a vital role in building a padel community.

Building padel from the ground up

Like many things in US padel, PATL started with a late-night idea and a conviction the sport deserved a bigger stage. For my business partner Kevin Ye and myself, that breakthrough moment came at 3 a.m. in Glacier, Montana. We immediately started turning that spark into something tangible: a four-court outdoor club in Atlanta, followed by a three-court outdoor facility in Louisville.

Our mission from day one was simple: bring padel “home”. Over the past three years, that vision has grown into a drive to extend our coverage across the entire country and lead the path for padel in the USA.

We launched in 2024 in Atlanta (Kevin’s hometown) and Louisville (just outside where I grew up). Next up is Charleston, with a new facility opening later this year, and other projects already lined up nationally. Building courts is one thing, but building a community around them – that’s the real challenge.

The two sides of a padel community

At its core, building a padel community runs on two parallel tracks: social connection and competitive grit. Most players don't fit neatly into one box; they want a blend.

For us operators, this creates a constant balancing act. We have to build spaces where players can connect casually and push their limits competitively. We strike that balance by focusing on marquee events. Large-scale tournaments offer players a reason to commit and train when they might otherwise burn out on the same old programming.

Both of our clubs host two major tournaments annually – these are the ‘main stages’ for players to rally around and train toward. Our flagship is the Atlanta Padel Open, held every year in late May. It started as a private, single-court invitational inside a $12 million home but has since evolved into one of the largest prize pool tournaments on the United States Padel Association (USPA) circuit. We’ve grown from 16 players to over 120 players in just three years, and we expect that scaling to continue. Later this year, hosting the World Padel Rating (WPR) end of year finals in Charleston, with its $70,000 purse, signals just how quickly the competitive US padel scene is maturing.

Andrew Herring, co-founder of PATL. Image credit: PATL.

The reality behind running a tournament

Big events mean big upside, but they come with serious operational pressure. Running a tournament often feels like juggling three balls at once: sponsorships, player participation, and logistics. And just when you nail that, you become a part-time meteorologist, praying the weather holds. The biggest lesson we’ve learned is that success is decided months before the first ball is struck. 

Planning for the Atlanta Padel Open starts at least six months out, with a heavy early focus on budget and sponsorships. When substantial prize money is involved, the financial foundation must be solid – meaning you need the right partners.

We intentionally partner with brands we believe in long-term – usually athletic startups led by founders creating innovative products. We actually interview these companies to ensure their vision aligns with ours. The goal is mutual growth as we both navigate the startup world. We focus on items players use daily. This creates an environment where players actively want to engage with the sponsors; for example, this year we’re working with a Korean sunscreen brand (HAESKN), an innovative hydration brand (Hydra Hydration), and an elite racquet bag company (ADV bags), among others.

Players can sample practical products in real time. This engagement is the most valuable feature we offer, providing a grassroots service to these smaller companies. In a fast-growing sport like padel, we have a unique opportunity to support emerging companies right alongside the game.

Local government partnerships are also crucial, especially as cities start recognising padel’s potential. Cities often provide public grants to assist with running events and help you build relationships with local hotels and restaurants, securing better discounts for participants. Making travel more affordable is a guaranteed way to increase player participation from travellers.

Big events mean big upside, but they come with serious operational pressure. Image credit: PATL.

The hardest part: getting players to commit

The most underestimated hurdle in running a tournament? Simply getting people to show up.

For elite players, the challenge is getting them to travel and compete. Prize money helps, but it’s rarely the deciding factor. It’s usually about timing, communication, and relationships. You need to stay connected, know their schedules, and often help broker teams. I personally spent an entire week on WhatsApp in 2024 brokering partnerships. I reached out nationally and matched players across all divisions based on what side they played, their temperament, and sometimes even their language. That dedicated effort doubled registrations for the top two divisions.

On the local side, the challenge is different. Many local players hesitate not due to a lack of ability, but because the event feels intimidating. Big brackets and large prize pools can give the impression that tournaments are only for the elite.

In reality, the opposite is true. The USPA and WPR want to use these tournaments to grow the game and pull people into the competitive ‘system’. An official rating and USPA membership lower the barrier for future participation, making it much easier for players to commit to a second event – and after that second event, they become a more dedicated competitor. Once players see the division structure and realise there’s a place for them, they take the leap – and they nearly always leave wanting to come back. In a young US market, a huge part of our job is simple education: showing players how competition works and why it’s worth the effort.

For elite players, the challenge is getting them to travel and compete. Image credit: PATL.

Creating a professional experience for every player

If we have one guiding principle, it's this: every player should feel like a professional. Whether they’re competing in the first division or the fifth, the experience must be elevated. That's all in the details:

●    Goodie bags with useful items – shirts, grips, towels.

●       A well-designed hospitality area where players can relax between matches.

●       Dedicated space for resting players and spectators.

●       Courtside coolers stocked with fresh water and drinks.

●    Shade structures like tents and umbrellas, especially given the hot climates we operate in.

We focus on delivering everything that can be easily controlled and regulated. We can’t control what happens on the court, but we can ensure that off-court life is easy and fun.

The atmosphere around the courts is a huge part of the fun. Just like a professional tennis tournament, we want fans enjoying great food, music, drinks, and comfortable seating. And we deliver that experience, within reason. If you check our Instagram, you'll see a video of Kevin dancing courtside with music playing. These fun, light-hearted vibes create positive memories for everyone. And those good memories are what bring people back next year. That, ultimately, is how you build loyalty. Courts bring people in, but the experience is what earns their commitment.

The competitive infrastructure around US padel is finally taking shape. Image credit: PATL.

Where US padel goes from here

If the last few years prove anything, it’s that US padel is still in its early innings, but it’s moving fast. Facilities are expanding, prize pools are getting bigger, more people are playing and improving, and the competitive infrastructure is finally taking shape.

For players, this means a major learning curve and transition stage. Most are coming from tennis or other racquet sports and learning the customs of competitive padel. This includes everything from proper warm-ups, to how to call those tightly wedged glass and turf shots, to simply grasping the overall vibe of the sport. It’s new and exciting, and we are witnessing a beautiful blending of various racquet sport backgrounds and cultures of origin.

For operators, this is both a huge opportunity and a responsibility to build the sport the right way. We’re still learning every day at PATL. But the biggest takeaway is clear: the future of padel here won’t be built on courts alone.

It will be built on community – and the shared moments that bring people together through the game.

• Andrew Herring is co-founder of the US padel operator PATL. He can be contacted at: andrew@playpatl.com

• Read the Padel Business Magazine interview with Andrew and his PATL co-founder Kevin Ye published in April 2025 here

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Hi everyone,

Welcome to the latest edition of PBM Monthly.

We are here for the people building the business of padel. Every month, we bring you the stories that matter most: sharp reporting, expert opinion, and original insights you won’t find anywhere else.

Inside this issue: four major news stories, one strong opinion piece, and one big read that dives deep into this month’s defining theme: environmental sustainability in padel. Plus PBM Partner Insight by Alan Scanlan, CEO of Newlands Padel, on the new economics of padel development.

Enjoy the read!

The PBM Team

PBM PARTNER INSIGHT

Fresh industry perspective from our respected partners

The new economics of padel development – how operators can secure premium courts without premium pricing

Panoramic court from Newlands Padel. Image credit: Newlands Padel.

As padel scales globally, the pressure on clubs, investors, and developers to deliver reliable, high-quality courts has intensified. This PBM Partner Insight by Alan Scanlan, CEO of Newlands Padel, examines how the manufacturing and procurement landscape is shifting, why quality is now determined by the full supply chain rather than the factory alone, and where the real risks lie for operators building at speed.

Drawing on decades of manufacturing experience in Asia and on-the-ground collaboration with clubs and players, the article explores how end-to-end accountability, rigorous quality control, and integrated delivery models are reshaping how padel infrastructure is sourced and installed.

Want to be the brand padel decision-makers see next month?

Padel Business Magazine lands in the inboxes of the people actually building the global padel industry: investors, operators, founders, and developers shaping what comes next.

Next month, there’s a host of partner sponsorship packages available, and one of them could be yours.

Partnering with PBM puts your brand at the heart of the sport’s most influential B2B network. You’ll get in front of verified buyers through our editorial coverage, newsletter, and LinkedIn ecosystem, the exact channels driving commercial deals and market visibility.

We don’t just sell ad space. We build authority. We don’t simply chase impressions. We drive conversations that turn into sales.

Ready to own the spotlight? Email contact@padelbusinessmagazine.com

Net news

Diving into the major news stories shaping this month’s theme and beyond: curated reporting and global headlines driving the business of padel forward.

PPL secures $15 million Series A funding

The funding marks the PPL's second major investment in less than a year. Image credit: PPL.

New investment round led by Rick Schnall, co-chairman and governor of NBA team Charlotte Hornets, is designed to fuel the next phase of the North American league's growth.

Padel to feature at 2026 Asian Games and 2027 European Games

Padel finals at the 2023 European Games in Kraków. Image credit: FIP.

Confirmation of padel’s position as a medal sport at continental events is hailed by International Padel Federation as key moment for the sport globally.

LTA figures: UK padel participation doubles in 2025

There were 1,553 padel courts available across 559 venues in the UK at the end of 2025, according to the LTA figures. Image credit: LTA.

New figures from the Lawn Tennis Association (LTA) show that 860,000 UK adults and juniors played padel at least once in 2025, up from 400,000 players at the end of 2024.

AO Ventures expands investment in financing solutions provider Mindspring

Mindspring’s model aims to enable clubs and venue operators to finance the development of new courts. Image credit: Adobe Stock.

Further backing is designed to help support the Belgian firm’s growth as it taps into continued rapid expansion of padel globally.

The big hit

The latest exclusive and original in-depth features, interviews and analysis from Padel Business Magazine. Insight you will not find anywhere else.

PBM Insight Report: Padel looks to tackle rising environmental concerns

Eco fears: Padel is set to face growing pressure over its environmental footprint.

Artificial turf used on padel courts is a cause for environmental concern. Image credit: Adobe Stock.

Amid padel’s continued rapid growth globally, the sport’s environmental impact is attracting increasing attention across court construction and artificial turf, along with energy use and the production of balls, racquets, apparel and other equipment. As the sport’s profile increases, a range of innovations are emerging which seek to tackle the challenges and drive new opportunities for the sport.

Read on to get exclusive insight on the latest developments.

PBM Insight Report by Laura Syrett, in London, Brenda Dionisi, in Milan, and Paul Cochrane.

Opinion serving

A trusted perspective from inside the business of padel. Original opinion and on-theme insight from the leaders shaping the sport’s next chapter.

Jason Douglass: How UK padel facilities can drive a sustainable future

Jason Douglass, founder of UK-based consultancy Elevate Sports and former chair of the Sports and Play Construction Association (SAPCA). Image credit: Jason Douglass.

As one of the fastest growing emerging markets for padel globally, the UK has a key role to play in shaping the future of the sport – including its approach to environmental sustainability.

Here, Jason Douglass – founder of UK-based consultancy Elevate Sports, which specialises in the strategic development of sports and leisure facilities, and former chair of the Sports and Play Construction Association (SAPCA), the UK trade association representing the sports construction industry – examines the key issues facing the UK’s padel sector around sustainability, and outlines how operators can develop sites that take care of the environment and create a positive impact.

As commercial padel projects scale, a new sourcing model is challenging the long-standing belief that developers must choose between European engineering and global manufacturing efficiency.

For years, the economics of building a padel club have been shaped by a familiar tension. 

On one side sit established European manufacturers whose reputation for engineering excellence carries both weight and a price tag that can push projects beyond the comfort of many operators. 

On the other side are the low-cost importers whose promises of quick delivery and affordable courts often unravel once containers arrive with missing fixings, inconsistent steelwork, or glass that was never certified to begin with.

This binary choice has created a sense of inevitability in the industry. If you want courts that last, you accept the premium cost. If you want speed and affordability, you accept the risk. 

Yet the rapid expansion of padel across the UK and other growth markets is now forcing operators, investors, and developers to examine this assumption more carefully. 

Alan Scanlan, CEO, Newlands Padel.

A third path begins to emerge

The question is whether a third path is emerging which would combine the build quality associated with Europe with the efficiencies offered by global manufacturing hubs.

Understanding how that third path is taking shape requires a close look at what has changed in the economics of the sport. 

The first shift is the rising number of commercial investors entering the market. These are not single-court or residential buyers. They are groups seeking to build five, ten, or 20 courts at a time and they are optimising for long-term operational performance rather than short-term capital outlay. 

As these investors study the total cost of ownership, they are discovering that quality failures create far more expensive problems than the upfront premium often paid to avoid them.

A second shift concerns the manufacturing landscape itself. 

Specialist factories in Asia, particularly China, have undergone a quiet transformation. Once dismissed as producers of inconsistent or low-grade courts, many now operate with levels of technical oversight, process discipline, and quality assurance that were once associated almost exclusively with European suppliers. 

This progress has been accelerated in some cases through direct collaboration with the sport itself. Several leading factories now work closely with Spanish and South African padel clubs and professional players, using on-court feedback to refine materials, tolerances, and installation systems. 

This evolution is not universal. The range of quality remains vast, and navigating it requires deep familiarity with manufacturing culture and standards. However, for firms that operate within these ecosystems and apply rigorous quality control, the gap between Asian and European manufacturing capability has continued to narrow.

The economics of padel are undergoing significant change. Image credit: Adobe Stock.

Challenging the perception of where quality originates 

Alongside this shift in capability, the perception of where quality originates is also being challenged. For much of padel’s development, there has been an implicit assumption that courts should come from regions closely associated with the sport, particularly Southern Europe.

That assumption is becoming harder to sustain. China’s manufacturing capacity now dwarfs that of most European markets, both in scale and technical capability. More importantly, the profile of the modern padel developer is evolving. 

Today’s investors are typically more commercially aware and globally experienced. They recognise that a significant proportion of the world’s manufacturing already flows through China, and that with the right supply chain oversight, it is possible to unlock meaningful cost and efficiency advantages without compromising on quality. 

In a capital-intensive project, those efficiencies can have a direct impact on return on investment and time to profitability.

The profile of the modern padel developer is evolving. Image credit: Adobe Stock.

Family manufacturing background in China of over 50 years

Newlands Group – and its specialised division, Newlands Padel – is one example of a company operating within this emerging middle ground. While the Newlands entity serving padel is a decade old, it is underpinned by a family manufacturing background in China that spans more than 50 years. 

This long-standing presence inside the region’s manufacturing ecosystem shapes how the company operates today. Rather than relying on factories to police their own output, Newlands applies external discipline to the process through independent, third-party inspections before any shipment leaves the factory. 

These inspections cover structural steelwork, welding consistency, galvanisation coverage, and glass specification. Components that fail to meet specification are rejected and replaced before containers are sealed. 

It is this level of intervention that often determines whether a court arrives ready for installation or becomes a costly source of delay. 

It also enables a more responsive approach to production timelines and customisation, with the ability to deliver bespoke specifications and project-specific requirements at a speed that can be difficult to achieve through more traditional supply models.

Newlands Padel is one example of a company operating within an emerging middle ground. Image credit: Newlands Padel.

Integrity of the entire supply chain

Newlands’ operating model reflects a broader truth now shaping procurement across the sport. The quality of a padel court is no longer defined by the factory alone. It is determined by the integrity of the entire supply chain, from factory selection and technical quotation through mass production, quality control, freight, customs clearance, on-site installation, and long-term maintenance. 

The single greatest risk for club developers is often not manufacturing failure in isolation, but fragmentation. When responsibility is spread across multiple suppliers, agents, and contractors, accountability becomes diluted and liability gaps emerge. Increasingly, value lies with those able to assume end-to-end responsibility for delivery, rather than simply supplying components.

This is where the concept of an integrated delivery model has gained traction.

Standard court from Newlands Padel. Image credit: Newlands Padel.

Complementary infrastructure 

For some developers, this integrated approach is extending beyond the court itself. Supply models are increasingly incorporating complementary infrastructure such as canopies, modular buildings, and recovery facilities, allowing multiple elements of a project to be sourced and delivered through a single coordinated channel. This reduces complexity at the procurement stage and improves execution across the wider development.

Rather than splitting responsibility between a manufacturer, a freight forwarder, and an installation team, an integrated provider assumes accountability from factory floor to final bolt. 

It is a model that simplifies communication for project managers and reduces the likelihood of surprises on site. It also mirrors the procurement expectations of more mature sports and infrastructure sectors, where supply chain control is a prerequisite for trust.

Panoramic court from Newlands Padel. Image credit: Newlands Padel.

Specific engineering standards 

The appeal of this approach becomes clearer when the conversation turns to the specific engineering standards required in the UK. 

Europe’s best court suppliers have long designed with high wind loads, laminated safety glass, and weather-resistant coating systems. They do so because their products must endure years of heavy use and challenging climate conditions. 

Asian factories have historically varied in their interpretation of these standards. However, when provided with clear engineering requirements and overseen by firms willing to reject non-compliant components, they can meet the same specifications at materially different cost levels. 

The idea that only Europe can produce courts built for northern climates is no longer accurate. What matters is the quality of the oversight rather than the geography of the factory.

In some cases, this has involved reverse-engineering leading European systems at a granular level, analysing courts component by component and process by process, and then applying equivalent or higher specifications within controlled manufacturing environments, alongside matching warranty standards.

Panoramic court with cover from Newlands Padel. Image credit: Newlands Padel.

Pricing dynamics evolve

Pricing dynamics are also evolving as production capacity increases overseas. The ability to produce at scale, combined with lower labour and material costs, can allow Asian manufacturers to deliver courts with 12mm laminated glass, certified turf, and robust structural steel at a price point that European suppliers find difficult to match. 

This cost advantage does not automatically translate into value. Without rigorous engineering validation and quality control, savings become irrelevant. 

The interest among UK operators is not driven by a desire for cheaper courts. It is driven by the possibility of courts that do not compromise quality while preserving financial flexibility for the wider project.

There is also a growing recognition that supply chains are not always as transparent as they appear. In some instances, courts manufactured in Asia are already being shipped into European markets before being redistributed to end buyers. 

For developers, this raises a more practical consideration around where value is being added within the chain, and whether more direct sourcing models can deliver the same outcome with greater cost efficiency and control.

The central question for developers becomes how to evaluate suppliers in this changing landscape. The old heuristics are no longer reliable. High cost does not guarantee high quality. Low cost does not always imply risk. 

The marker of a credible partner is increasingly the presence of a defined process. That includes documented pre-shipment inspections, evidence of engineering certification, transparency around coating systems, control of logistics, and acceptance of full liability for the product from manufacturing to installation.

Beam detail on a Newlands Padel court. Image credit: Newlands Padel.

More nuanced understanding of value

The new economics of padel development are not defined by a race to the bottom or a retreat to historical comfort. They are defined by a more nuanced understanding of value. 

As operators build larger and more complex clubs, they are seeking a procurement model that preserves the reliability associated with European engineering while taking advantage of the efficiencies available in global manufacturing. 

The rise of integrated sourcing firms suggests that this model is no longer theoretical. It is already influencing the decisions of some of the sport’s most ambitious builders.

The result is a market in transition. Premium quality and premium pricing no longer need to be synonymous. In a sector where capital efficiency and long-term durability have become decisive factors, the third path is beginning to take root. 

It promises courts that meet strict standards, supply chains that can be trusted, and economics that make ambitious projects more achievable. 

For a sport that is expanding as rapidly as padel, this balance may prove to be one of the defining forces in its next phase of growth.

• To get in touch with Newlands Padel and learn more about its integrated padel court solutions, visit www.newlandsgroup.net/padel or contact Alan Scanlan, CEO at: alan@newlandsgroup.net 

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The Pro Padel League (PPL) has announced the closing of a $15 million Series A funding round led by Rick Schnall, co-chairman and governor of NBA team Charlotte Hornets.

The North American professional padel circuit was founded in 2022 and launched in 2023 and today features ten teams across the US, Canada and Mexico.

The funding marks the PPL's second major investment in less than a year, following $10 million in seed funding received in March 2025.

Additional participants in the latest round included original PPL lead seed investor Left Lane Capital, a venture capital and growth equity firm that has made several investments in emerging sports leagues, among others.

The PPL says the new funding will be used to support the next phase of the league's growth, with a focus on team infrastructure, player development across all levels of the sport, and executing world-class PPL events throughout North America.

"Padel's growth continues to accelerate here in the US and globally," said Pro Padel League CEO Mike Dorfman. "We're grateful to Rick Schnall, Left Lane Capital, and all of our investors for believing in our vision for the PPL and the sport's long-term potential. This investment will help elevate our league, teams, and players, as we deliver world-class events featuring the best padel athletes in the world."

The funding marks the PPL's second major investment in less than a year. Image credit: PPL.

Schnall added: "Padel is one of the fastest-growing sports in the world, and the Pro Padel League is uniquely positioned to lead that continued expansion in the US.

“The PPL's momentum, world-class talent, and innovative team model create a powerful, scalable platform. We're excited to support PPL as it grows the sport, builds passionate fan communities, and establishes itself as a premier sports property."

The PPL says the funding builds on strong business momentum, following partnership announcements with watchmaker Frederique Constant and sporting goods brand Franklin Sports. 

Over the past year, several PPL franchises have been valued at more than $10 million. Notable investors in PPL teams include professional tennis player Francis Tiafoe and Ajax goalkeeper Maarten Paes (New York Atlantics), international polo star Nacho Figueras (Florida Goats), and chair of the Toronto Blue Jays baseball team and Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment (MLSE) Edward Rogers (Toronto Polar Bears).

To further support player growth and development in North America, the PPL recently unveiled the PPL II, a new player development league designed to identify, support, and elevate the next generation of PPL players. The league, which debuted in March, will include more than $350,000 in guaranteed compensation and prize money.

The 2026 PPL season will feature five events across North America, with the first serve of the season set to take place on July 9th-12th in New York City, followed by events in Los Angeles (August 13th-16th), Playa del Carmen (September 24th-27th), and Guadalajara (November 19th-22nd). The City's Cup, the league's championship event, will be held on December 3rd-6th in Miami.

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Padel appears to have taken further significant steps towards Olympic recognition with confirmation it will make its debut as a medal sport at the 2026 Asian Games, and feature once again at the European Games in 2027.

The 20th Asian Games will be held from 19th September to 4th October 2026 in Aichi-Nagoya, Japan, while next year’s European Games will take place in Istanbul, Turkey from 16th-27th June.

The announcement of padel’s position as a medal sport at the 2026 Asian Games builds on the decision confirmed in November to include padel in the sports programme of Aichi-Nagoya 2026 following the recognition of the International Padel Federation (FIP) by the Olympic Council of Asia (OCA).

FIP has now signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games Organising Committee (AINAGOC) and the OCA, establishing the framework for the organisation and delivery of the padel competition at the event.

Padel has experienced rapid growth across Asia in recent years, with expanding participation, new infrastructure and the creation of national federations across the continent.

“This is a significant moment for our sport,” said FIP president Luigi Carraro. “The Asian Games represent one of the most important multi-sport events in the world, and the confirmation of padel as a medal sport reflects both the rapid development of the sport across Asia and its growing global impact.”

Padel finals at the 2023 European Games in Kraków. Image credit: FIP.

The news that padel will appear as a medal sport at the 2027 European Games follows its debut at the previous edition of the event at Kraków, Poland in 2023.

The padel finals in Kraków were played on a court installed in the city’s historic Market Square, attracting around 20,000 spectators. The competition featured 23 participating countries and more than 100 players vying for medals in the men’s, women’s and mixed events.

Padel’s inclusion in the programme of the 2027 European Games was confirmed by the Executive Committee of the European Olympic Committees (EOC) and the Organising Committee of the European Games Istanbul 2027.

Carraro said: “We are deeply proud of this new milestone. Padel at Istanbul 2027 is the confirmation of a journey that grows day after day and continues to find its place within the Olympic movement. This is an achievement that belongs to all of us.

“I would like to sincerely thank EOC president and IOC executive board member Spyros Capralos and his entire team. Since padel’s debut at the European Games 2023, they have believed in our vision and in the potential of our sport, which at that time thrilled athletes and spectators with a vibrant atmosphere in the square of Krakow. 

“A heartfelt thank you to the Turkish Organising Committee, the city of Istanbul, our Turkish Federation, and the national federations around the world, whose constant work makes this unstoppable growth possible.”

In 2026, padel will also feature in the Mediterranean Games in Taranto, Italy, as well as two other IOC-recognised and sanctioned events: the Asian Beach Games in Sanya, China, and the FISU World University Padel Championships in Málaga, Spain.

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Padel is continuing to surge in popularity across Great Britain, according to new figures from governing body the Lawn Tennis Association (LTA) which reveal a major spike in both participation and public interest.

At the end of 2025, 860,000 adults and juniors had played padel at least once during the year, more than doubling the number for 2024.

LTA data recorded 400,000 players at the end of 2024, 129,000 at the end of 2023 and 15,000 in 2019, highlighting the sport’s extraordinary growth trajectory.

Research shows that an average off-peak court booking costs £7 per person per hour, £27 per hour, based on a doubles booking.

LTA says the growth is supported by a rapidly expanding infrastructure, with 1,553 padel courts available across 559 venues at the end of 2025. That figure is up from 870 courts across 293 venues at the end of 2024, and just 69 courts in 2020.

The latest data also shows that at the end of 2025 the awareness of padel among adults reached 57% of the British population (approximately 31 million individuals), representing a significant increase from 38% (20 million) by late 2024.

Interest in playing padel across Britain continues to increase, with over 10 million Britons expressing a desire to try padel, a rise of 3 million since the end of 2024.

There were 1,553 padel courts available across 559 venues in the UK at the end of 2025, according to the LTA figures. Image credit: LTA.

To support the sport’s infrastructure growth, the LTA and LTA Tennis Foundation have invested more than £7.5 million into padel court construction to date, according to the governing body.

It says this has supported a further £10.5 million investment, delivering over £18 million for the creation of 112 courts at 57 venues – all of which have an obligation to provide accessible provision for their local communities.

The LTA says it continues to engage with the UK Government on facilities funding, particularly in respect of developing community covered tennis, padel and multisport hubs in areas which lack access.

It notes that the UK Government has invested at least £2.5 million in 2026/27 in covered facilities for padel and tennis. The LTA adds that it will continue to engage on plans for a nationwide rollout, to help ensure access for all communities.

The LTA has also developed new LTA Youth Padel coaching resources, set to launch later this year.

The current resources focus on secondary school aged young people, with the intention of creating opportunities to increase youth engagement and encourage more players to try padel through its fun and social appeal. 

By supporting operators to introduce engaging junior programmes, the LTA aims to expand further opportunities for young people to play and help venues grow participation.

Tom Murray, LTA head of padel said: “The LTA is proud to share the latest figures highlighting the continued growth of padel in Great Britain.

"With 860,000 people playing in 2025, over 10 million expressing interest in trying the sport, and around 1,600 courts now in place across hundreds of venues, padel’s momentum is undeniable.

"2026 also marks a major milestone as the Premier Padel P1 comes to London, a huge opportunity to showcase the sport at the highest level, inspire new audiences, and give fans the chance to experience world-class professional padel here in Britain.

"Increasing visibility and access remains central to our strategy, as we seek to grow the sport sustainably. With strong partnerships and new platforms, we’re making it easier than ever for people to discover and get involved in the sport.”

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AO Ventures, the investment arm of the Australian Open and Tennis Australia, has announced further backing of the Belgian firm Mindspring Padel, which offers fully financed and technology-enabled padel court infrastructure.

The follow-on investment builds on AO Ventures’ initial backing of the company in early 2025 and reflects Mindspring’s growth as demand for padel infrastructure continues to increase rapidly across international markets.

No other company is said to generate revenue globally from a larger number of padel courts, with Mindspring said to be a clear leader in the sector.

As part of the new investment, AO Ventures will also join the Mindspring Padel board.

The Loonbeek-based firm provides financing solutions that enable clubs and venue operators to build padel courts without the significant upfront capital traditionally required.

By removing this barrier, the company is helping unlock new opportunities for clubs, communities and commercial operators to participate in one of the fastest-growing sports in the world.

Mindspring’s model aims to enable clubs and venue operators to finance the development of new courts. Image credit: Adobe Stock.

Padel has experienced extraordinary global growth over the past decade, and as participation continues to surge, access to capital required to build high-quality infrastructure has emerged as one of the sport’s most significant constraints.

Mindspring’s model aims to directly address this challenge by enabling clubs and venue operators to finance the development of new courts and accelerate the growth of padel facilities globally.

AO Ventures general partner Todd Deacon said the investment reflects the fund’s conviction in both the long-term opportunity for padel and Mindspring’s role in helping unlock that growth.

“Padel is experiencing extraordinary global growth, but one of the biggest constraints on the sport’s expansion is access to flexible capital to build quality infrastructure,” he said.

“Mindspring has developed a model that removes a key barrier for clubs and operators by enabling them to build courts faster and with far greater flexibility.

“At AO Ventures we look for high growth companies where our capital and business can help unlock the next phase of growth, and we believe Mindspring has the potential to play an important role in scaling padel globally and also locally here in Australia.”

Anton Brams, founder of Mindspring Padel, welcomed the continued support from AO Ventures as the company expands its footprint internationally.

“Our mission has always been to accelerate the global rollout of padel infrastructure,” he said.

“Having the continued support of AO Ventures – with their deep expertise in racquet sports and global perspective on participation growth – is incredibly valuable as we continue to expand into new markets.”

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