Over the past year or so, there has been no shortage of media coverage about the rapid rise of padel in the U.S., with everyone from The New York Times to CNBC to Good Morning America and The Today Show getting in on the action. But until the 48-page Global Padel Report 2024 from Playtomic and Strategy& dropped this morning, there hasn’t been all that much hard data to back up the hype.
Sure, as U.S. padel enthusiasts, we all know that new clubs have been opening right and left across the country — especially in Florida, Texas, New York, and California. We all know that Ultra Padel Club’s 29-court expansion will make it among the largest padel clubs in the entire world. We all know that operators like Padel Haus and Taktika Padel are quickly building all-out U.S. padel empires and spreading the sport far and wide.
And yes, those developments are certainly exciting and bode well for the future of the sport here in this country. But, if anything, my overall takeaway from the just-released Global Padel Report 2024 is that we’re still only in the very earliest chapters of the sport’s growth here in the U.S.
Case in point, despite all the recent club openings and expansions we’ve seen, the U.S. still doesn’t even rank in the top 15 countries in terms of the sport’s growth year-over-year.
In fact, the report’s authors summed up the the past year in the U.S. padel market with the headline: “A lot of buzz in the U.S., but limited court growth in 2023.”
Of course, that was prior to Ultra Padel Club annoucing their 29-court expansion… Padel X opening a 10-court facility in the heart of Miami… Rally Club announcing a 10-court indoor facility in Boynton Beach… Taktika Padel opening three new locations across California… Padel Haus announcing major expansions in both Nashville and Denver… and U-Padel expanding across Texas…
The list goes on and on, and ultimately I think it proves the report’s conclusion about the U.S. market to be spot on: “We expect 2024 to be the breakthrough year for padel in the U.S.”
But, for now, I think the number one takeaway from the Global Padel Report 2024 is that, as the graphic above shows, the U.S. padel boom has only barely just begun. So, buckle your seat belts, because it looks like we’re in for a wild ride.
To download your own free copy of the just-released Global Padel Report 2024, simply click here and follow the instructions provided.
Want to get cutting-edge padel news and updates like this delivered directly to your inbox each week? Simply click here to sign up for our free “State of the Game” newsletter now.
