When it comes to the rapidly emerging U.S. padel boom, most of the attention thus far has been focused on East Coast enclaves like Brooklyn and South Florida. But one recently unveiled alliance could catapult the West Coast into the global padel spotlight in a big way.
Namely, American padel operator Taktika Padel’s announcement that it is partnering with prominent Spanish court manufacturer, Padel Galis, to become its exclusive distributor of Padel Galis courts throughout California and Nevada.
Not only will Taktika utilize Padel Galis’s Wilson Elite court throughout all its own future locations as it adds to its courts at the Barnes Tennis Center in San Diego, a second site at Dignity Health Sports Park (the home of Major League Soccer team LA Galaxy), and a third facility in northern California, construction of which is now underway…
But it also aims to open 200 public padel courts on the Pacific Coast within the next two years — which is more than double the total amount of padel courts you could find across the entire country up until just a few years ago.
Two Different Companies, Two Different Continents, One Common Goal
For Padel Galis, whose portfolio spans more than 10,000 courts across 70 countries and has included sole rights to the World Padel Tour since 2020, the partnership marks the latest step in their goal of bringing their industry-renowned courts to North America. And it obviously goes a long way towards furthering these companies’ shared vision of exponentially growing padel in the world’s largest sports market.
Ryan Redondo, CEO of Taktika Padel, said: “As someone that has had the privilege of playing on a Padel Galis court, I believe the partnership we have agreed to today is a groundbreaking moment not just for us as a company but also for padel’s journey in the U.S.
“By bringing Padel Galis courts to the states of California and Nevada, and by installing the Wilson Elite court at Taktika’s own facilities, people of all backgrounds are now going to have the opportunity to play on the world’s best-in-class courts as they – many for the first time – take to the sport of padel.”
Gabriel Perez Krieb, Chairman and Co-Founder of Taktika Padel, said: “Our driving force at Taktika Padel is the opportunity to grow and develop this sport up the Pacific Coast and across the Western USA for communities that will, on the whole, be witnessing padel for the very first time.
For Taktika, in working towards that goal, the fact that all players we bring the sport to will be able to play on the world’s best courts is exciting and a huge motivation for us as a company. This is a significant moment for the development of the world’s fastest-growing sport in the Western USA.”
Of course, awareness of padel is already beginning to take off on the West Coast thanks to Taktika’s recent expansion to LA and the presence of the Taktika-owned San Diego Stingrays franchise in America’s newest professional sports league, the Pro Padel League (PPL).
But with the two new public show courts that are about to open in in San Francisco’s Embarcadero Plaza, several EEP-Capital-backed padel projects in the greater Bay Area, and the recent announcement by the University of the Pacific that a pickleball and padel complex is set to be built at their Stockton campus later this year, it seems that the U.S. may soon have a new #1 padel hotbed.
A version of this article was originally written by Mike Dale for The Padel Paper on August 14, 2023. It has been modified and updated.
