Padel Power Sweeping the World 11/25

Ready for Florida in November???

Hello Padel lovers,

“I am not waiting for BIG THINGS to happen. I am the one creating the BIG MOMENTS to celebrate”.
”If the courts are the engine of the sport, the COACHES ARE THE FUEL of the industry”. Our great Marcos is always inspiring.

Padel is booming, and over 1,000 coaches have been certified already in the USA.
Don’t let anyone else take the position that you can own for the future!

Join us in Utah, Florida, and California in the next months! See below:

• NOV 15-16 (Sat/Sun) Westlake, Florida at XCEL PADEL

• Nov 29-30 (Sat/Sun) Sherman Oaks, California at Pura Padel Los Angeles

Read: ABOUT THE CONTENT OF OUR NEW PADEL CERTIFICATION

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• Players’ Perspectives: Inside the Anglo American Padel Cup

• Team USA gets one up on old rival Team GB as Padel celebrates arrival of its own ‘Ryder Cup Moment’

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The Rise of Performative Padel

Padel is exploding in the U.S. But the appeal isn’t just the sport. It’s the aesthetic.

We live in the age of performance. What you drink, where you travel, what you read – these decisions say more about you than they once did.

But few places reveal it more clearly than sports. Just take a look at the U.S. Open. It’s still about tennis, technically. But for a growing number of fans, it’s about the scene: the Honey Deuce cocktails, the Instagram stories, the optics of being there – not about watching a player who’s ranked 55 in the world battle it out on Court 7.

And nowhere in racket sports does this feel more prevalent than American padel, where lifestyle optics have been inseparable from the sport itself. To understand why, you have to look at how the game is growing.

The Business of Belonging

Padel isn’t trickling down from institutions; it’s being built by the players themselves. The same people falling in love with the game are branding clubs, raising capital, and designing apps. In Miami or New York, post-match conversations often veer into permits, franchise models, and funding decks, with WhatsApp threads buzzing about new club launches. Pick up a racket, hit a few balls, and within weeks, someone’s pitching you on equity.

That overlap between player and founder is rare in most sports. Most games grow top-down, through federations, tournaments, governing bodies. In the U.S., padel seems to grow sideways, fueled by early adopters used to moving quickly. The result is a sport with unusual momentum, but also a particular shape: fast-moving, high-gloss, and unmistakably entrepreneurial.

More Scene Than Sport

The game matters, but for many players in the U.S., it’s a gateway to a lifestyle. Unlike in Spain or Argentina – where the sport itself is the focus – American padel is defined by its scene. That’s why it’s booming in places like New York, Miami, Los Angeles, and the Hamptons, with high-stakes matches staged in vineyards, framed by Beverly Hills backdrops, or played alongside yachts in Biscayne Bay.

Like the U.S. Open, people show up for the energy. But unlike the Open, padel doesn’t have a century of tradition propping it up. Here, the lifestyle isn’t orbiting the sport. It is the sport, and that reality has forced club operators into a choice: lean into the scene, or try to stand apart from it.

The Branding Trap

Lifestyle sells, but it can also smother the sport it claims to support. Early on, some operators believed padel clubs could thrive on the game alone. But in the U.S., lifestyle isn’t just vanity; it’s economics. Land is expensive, leases are brutal, and “just padel” doesn’t really pay the bills.

Premium branding justifies premium pricing. Selling the scene sells memberships. Yet that creates a dilemma: go sport-first and risk looking flat next to competitors promising wellness, community, and cold-pressed juice. Go lifestyle-first and you risk alienating players who feel the sport isn’t for them.

What’s at Stake

The risk isn’t that padel grows, it’s that it grows into something unrecognizable. A sport built on accessibility abroad could shrink into exclusivity here, leaving curious players on the outside and hollowing the culture into a scene with no soul.

That sets it apart from sports like squash or platform tennis. Those games don’t advertise themselves as luxury; their prestige comes from generations of play and deep ties to country clubs and academic institutions. By contrast, American padel is being built in real time and feels more curated than inherited.

That visibility is also its strength. It’s marketable, commercially attractive, and a fresh way to brand racket sports. But it raises a central question… as padel takes shape in the U.S., are we unintentionally building a lifestyle first, and a sport second?

Where It Goes Next

For now, American padel reflects the people who play it. The sport never set out to be elite, yet in the hands of early adopters and entrepreneurs, it has absorbed their habits, lifestyles, and networks. That mix has fueled extraordinary growth while also reshaping what the game represents. Padel’s future in the U.S. isn’t guaranteed by courts or clubs. It will depend on whether the energy that made it a lifestyle can also sustain it as a sport.

Written by Will Persson

Mostly in tech. Often on court. Views are from my own racket sport experience. [email protected]

Read Will Persson’s content here: https://medium.com/@will-persson

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• USPA announces record-breaking 2026 tournament schedule

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• 🎾 PBM Monthly: The Court Construction and Design Issue

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In a remarkably short span, Sweden experienced an explosive growth in padel, skyrocketing from minimal infrastructure to boasting more than 4,000 courts across the nation .

At its height, padel was among the fastest-expanding sports in Sweden—before the market abruptly collapsed. The industry faced widespread court shutdowns, bankruptcies, and a severe oversupply dilemma.

👉 What Led to the Downfall?
The decline wasn’t due to a lack of player interest. Instead, unsustainable business models failed to keep pace with rapid expansion. An excess of courts, insufficient revenue streams, and inadequate strategic planning left the sector vulnerable.

🚨 7 Crucial Lessons for Operators, Investors, and Brands:

1. Avoid Overconstruction – A higher number of courts does not automatically translate to greater profitability.
2. Cultivate a Brand Identity – Move beyond merely operating a venue to building a recognizable and engaging brand.
3. Emphasize Lifestyle Offerings – The importance of amenities like coffee, dining, and overall lifestyle integration cannot be overstated.
4. Establish a Community Figurehead – A club representative who embodies and fosters community spirit is essential.
5. Broaden Revenue Beyond Peak Times – Relying solely on prime-time bookings is risky; prioritize generating income during daytime hours.
6. Develop Programs for All Ages – Early investment in youth academies and initiatives for seniors (65+) is key to long-term engagement.
7. Leverage League Play – Organizing leagues creates consistent revenue and encourages lasting customer loyalty.

💡 The Core Insight?
Future-leading padel clubs will not be those with the most courts, but those that excel in building robust communities, diversifying their income sources, and demonstrating genuine sustainability, and most importantly, a REAL purpose to grow the sport from grassroots to the professional level 💯

Big shoutout to @thepadelpr @thepadelpr for their work and contribution in educating people across the globe!

We received an email from José Gordillo in Argentina introducing his online community, EL CLUB DEL PÁDEL in Spanish and English.

José wrote:

WELCOME TO EL CLUB DEL PÁDEL

You can visit our platform by clicking this link: https://elclubdelpadel.com/ 

El Club del Pádel is the first social network in the world dedicated exclusively to the sport we all love, padel!

Once you enter www.elclubdelpadel.com, you can:
• Create your own account (and fully edit your profile)
• Upload content (photos or videos)
• Write and share your thoughts, publish an article, an editorial, or simply a comment
• Create polls
• Create ZONES (for example, friend groups, buy-and-sell zones, or any kind of space you want, as long as it’s about padel)
• For companies and organizations, we offer a premium subscription that allows you to create your own SITE (similar to what’s known as a Page on Facebook)

WHAT’S COMING NEXT?

• Our iOS and Android apps will be available soon
• New modules and more features are on the way

We’re just getting started,  and we want to become the largest padel community in the world!

José, we wish you good luck! For questions, please get in touch with José at [email protected]

Dear USPA Members and Circuit Players,

We are thrilled to announce the release of the 2026 Tournament Schedule (January–June)! The growth of padel in the United States has been truly inspiring, and it showed in the incredible number of tournament applications we’ve received. Between January and the end of June 2026, we have scheduled a total of 115 tournaments nationwide, a new milestone for our sport. Please view the schedule here

When the new Competition Committee was formed in January 2025, our goal was clear: to give players more time to plan their seasons. We’re proud to be delivering on that promise. There’s still much to improve and refine, but step by step, we are getting closer to where we want to be. The schedule for the second half of 2026 will be released toward the end of January.

As we prepare for the second half of the 2026 season, we invite clubs interested in hosting tournaments that haven’t already applied to apply at this link.

Please note that clubs must be USPA Member Clubs to host tournaments and applications will be open until November 15, 2025.

Thank you all for your continued support, patience, and passion during this exciting and transformative time for U.S. padel.

Let’s keep growing together — Vamoooss! 🇺🇸

With appreciation,

Juan Arraya
USPA Competition Chair
[email protected]

Sports Business Journal

Pro Padel League taps Komo for fan engagement tech
The Pro Padel League has a new partnership with fan engagement technology provider Komo, which will begin with a set of activations around the PPL’s 2025 City’s Cup finals this weekend at Hammerstein Ballroom in N.Y., SBJ's Rob Schaefer reports.