There’s an old saying that goes something like, “Talent hits a target no one else can hit; genius hits a target no one else can see.” And while I can’t conclusively declare Benji Markoff a genius based on the small handful of conversations I’ve had with him, I can say that his vision for his soon-to-open Padel United Sports Club concept in New Jersey is unlike any other I’ve come across in the U.S. padel world so far.
For instance, whereas many club founders and owners often lavish me with in-depth details about the quality of their courts, the luxuriousness of their amenities, or the pedigree of coaches and players they will have on staff, at one point Markoff tells me, “I want to build something where, if for a month our padel courts or wellness facilities weren’t functional, the same people would still be showing up every day because of the feeling and experience we’re creating for our members and our guests.”
(And when it comes to discussing where he draws inspiration from for Padel United Sports Club — and the level of service he wants it to offer — he references high-end boutique hotels and restaurants far more often than other padel or sports clubs around the world.)
What’s more, while you’ll see many club owners and founders all over social media promoting their clubs, Markoff instead focuses much of his time and energy on running his Padel Mecca substack where he chronicles all the frustrations, triumphs, learnings, and insights from his own entrepreneurial padel journey.
Location, Location, Location
Of his life prior to deciding to go all-in on padel, Markoff simply tells me, “I sold a few tech businesses,” and leaves it at that, before moving on to the upsides and downsides of diving headfirst into the U.S. padel revolution.
He starts by earnestly admitting, “Getting a new club and concept off the ground is not for the faint of heart, I don’t think.”
When I congratulate him on actually being able to get beyond the idea-phase of a project like this, he quickly responds, “Well, I really benefited from finding a great business partner [Johnathan Krieger] in all of this, who already had a ton of relationships with the town and the mayor of the town, as well as a construction company and architecture firm. So we were really able to hit the ground running.”
He spends a few minutes walking me through all of Krieger’s many successes in business — primarily in the retail and F&B space — and then tells me, “What really has taken up most of our time is finding the right location.”
In fact, Markoff tells me that prior to being introduced to Krieger, he had personally spent nine months looking for a location with so little luck that he decided to temporarily “stall the project” because he “just couldn’t find the right space.”
“It’s a rarity to find a massive warehouse in the middle of suburbia,” he says with a laugh, describing the nearly 40,000-square-foot former cold-storage facility that be the future home of Padel United Sports Club.
A Unique Concept for a Unique Location
Whereas many padel club founders seem to focus on locating themselves as close to hip, up-and-coming urban enclaves as possible, Markoff instead deliberately sought out the suburbs. And unlike many other padel clubs, Padel United Sports Club will be nearly as focused on its wellness offerings as the sport itself.
Markoff desribes wellness as a “massive, massive part of the concept” before telling me that wellness was really the original basis for the entire project.
He says, “After I sold my last tech company in 2021, I got really into a bunch of the different recovery and longevity modalities like sauna, steam, red-light therapy, cryo-, cold plunge, and reflexology. So I became very interested in finding a way to open a social wellness club in the town I lived in.”
Markoff goes on to explain that while there are plenty of high-end concepts like that in New York City, “there was a dearth of that kind of thing in New Jersey. And so I started looking at building out a concept around that.”
Enter the World’s Fastest Growing Sport
When I ask why he decided to include padel along with his wellness offerings, Maroff first jokes about the proper pronunciation of the sport, before explaining that he thought padel would be something his wellness-focused clientele would probably be very interested in and wellness would be something padel addicts would also likely be very interested in. So, he decided to marry the concepts.
He adds, “Padel is one thing where community is such an important aspect to the business. It’s less a racket sport and more of the center of a social community. So, I thought it made total sense to combine those two things into a single business concept.”
When I ask about his own padel background he laughs and says, “I have no background in the sport,” before explaining that padel was first put onto his radar a few years back through one of his former tech businesses that helped with insurance for tennis clubs, pickle clubs, and country clubs, which were all starting to look into padel.
He recalls, “I was really interested in what these clients were doing. So, I flew down to Miami and checked out Reserve and Wynwood and became really interested in understanding more.”
He also points out that in the area of New Jersey he lives in, there is a “feverish excitement around racket sports” — especially tennis — but there is a major lack of indoor racket sports venues, so he saw a real opportunity to serve that market.
“I’m an active person in general and I have so many friends and neighbors who play tennis or have tennis courts in their back yard. They’re all obsessed with tennis, and I was just tired of the tennis conversation,” Markoff jokes before continuing, “So, I decided, you know what… instead of joining that tennis conversation, I’m just going to shift the conversation to a different sport, and that’s where padel came into play.”
“We’re Leaning In Heavily to Just Padel“
That’s how Markoff responds when I ask him if Padel United Sports Club will feature any other racket sports — an answer which I personally appreciate.
He admits that pickleball is “great” and that he plays a little bit with his wife and occasionally with friends, but ultimately he says, “If you’re at all athletically inclined… and want to break a sweat… and have an invigorating work-out plus energetic competition… then padel is it.”
To that end, the soon-to-open Padel United Sports Club will feature seven indoor Padel Galis courts with 28+ foot ceilings, though Markoff notes they hope to eventually be able to add some outdoor courts on the roof, as well. He also tells me that ideally he’d like to open 20 more clubs over the next 10 years in “sleepy suburban enclaves across the U.S. where there is a high demand for racket sports.”
Markoff notes that his own “sleepy suburban enclave” in Cresskill, NJ, is just about 10 miles or a 25-minute drive away from midtown Manhattan, yet also a world way.
That being said, he also anticipates he’ll get a “healthy mix” of players from the local New Jersey suburbs and Manhattan-ites who aren’t able to easily get court-time at a club like Padel Haus or Reserve.
Once open, Padel United Sports Club will be hosting everything from Padel MBA certification classes… to RedPADEL tournaments… to events with the New York Atlantics of the Pro Padel League (of which Padel United Sports Club is an investor), just to name a few of the many exciting things ahead for the project.
But, perhaps not surprisingly, Markoff and I don’t end our conversation talking about that — or anything padel related at all…
Instead, he tells me about a recent dinner he had with his wife in New York City where he was so impressed with the service and the level of ownership each employee displayed that he scheduled a meeting with the owner and chef to try to understand how to cultivate that kind of culture at Padel United Sports Club.
Markoff says, “I look back on it and yeah, the food was good. But I wanted to go back because of the feeling that they created for me. That is the kind of feeling I want to create for others.”
Based on everything he tells me over the course of our conversation — from meditating on the vibe of Soho House in the early days to studying the business model of service-focused companies like Zappos.com — something tells me Markoff and Padel United Sports club will no doubt succeed in doing just that.
Once open, you can visit Padel United Sports Club at 160 Broadway, Cresskill, NJ 07626. For updates on official opening dates, please be sure to follow them on Instagram or reach out to them directly via email.
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