Last week, the International Padel Federation (FIP) released their “World Padel Report 2024” at the FIP General Assembly in Asunción, Paraguay.
This in-depth, 102-page report was produced by the FIP research team and data analysis department after consultation with national federations across five continents, and among its more notable findings were:
- Padel is now played in 130 different countries (including Armenia, Azerbaijan, Iran, the Maldives, Montenegro, Senegal, and Slovenia)…
- Globally, there are now 30 million players, and…
- There are now over 20,000 padel clubs and facilities in operation worldwide, with over 63,000 total padel courts in use.
A similar report that FIP published in 2014 showed that at the time only 12 million people around the world played padel, meaning the sport has grown 2.5X in popularity over the past decade and added a total of 18 million new players globally.
Padel is exploding in the U.S. — but it’s still early
According to FIP estimates (on page 56 of the report), in the U.S. there are now:
- 90,000 total padel players…
- 71 total padel clubs and facilities, and…
- 227 total padel courts.
Given that in Miami alone, Ultra Padel Club and Padel X have recently opened — or are in the process of opening — an additional 39 courts, that 227 number may strike many the in U.S. padel world as a bit low.
And with huge facilities like Rally Club (10 courts in Boynton Beach, FL), Padel Club Austin (9 courts in Austin, TX), and Open Play Pickleball and Padel Club (8 courts outside Boston, MA) opening right and left across the U.S., that number is set to explode higher in the very near future.
But as quickly as padel courts are going up here in the U.S., there are a few more notable findings in this report that suggest the growth of padel in the U.S. (both player and court/club-wise) has a very long runway ahead of it.
For starters, the U.S. isn’t even close to being in the top 15 countries in terms of number of padel courts, despite having a population exponentially larger than many of the countries that do make the list:
What’s more, with the exception of Oceania, the North and Central American region has by far the highest ratio of players per court. In fact, our region’s 875 players per court ratio is well over double the global average, which suggests that even though we’re still in the earliest stages of the sports adoption here in the U.S., there aren’t currently enough courts to support demand in North and Central America.
Of course, this number is likely skewed by the large numbers of players and relative lack of courts in countries like Mexico, which is estimated to have 1 million players yet only 1,500 courts (a 667 player to court ratio), and even Canada, which is estimated to have 50,000 players yet only 29 courts (a 1,724 player to court ratio).
Even so, with more and more big-name celebrities and athletes catching the padel bug, the sport gaining the attention of major mainstream American media outlets, and dozens of new courts coming online each month around the country, it’s a safe bet that the U.S. will have a much more significant presence in FIP’s next World Padel Report.
And it’s not hard to understand why so many people in the U.S. padel industry are bandying about the term “gold rush” when it comes to the future of padel here in the States.
