Could This Sport Become the Next Pickleball? Investors Say Yes.

Pickleball? That’s so 2022. The new craze is padel, a doubles game played on an enclosed court that blends squash and tennis. It drew 1 million US players last year, and public courts have grown from 227 to roughly 1,000 in just three years, the Wall Street Journal reports.

Entrepreneurs from outside the sports world are paddling for a payout. Ballers founder David Gutstadt, a former Equinox executive, has opened clubs in a converted Philadelphia power plant and in Boston, with Los Angeles next. Bluestone Lane coffee chain co-founder Jon Krieger runs a New Jersey padel club, and Kith founder Ronnie Fieg built three courts into his members-only Manhattan club, where individual membership runs $45,000 upfront plus $10,000 a year.

Padel memberships tend to be expensive, and so does building the courts. A single court can cost $50,000 due to its glass-walled enclosure. But investors are still betting padel repeats pickleball’s explosive growth, which went from 4 million US players in 2020 to 24 million last year. The Pro Padel League raised $15 million this year and started airing matches on CNBC.

Pickleball? That’s so 2022. The new craze is padel, a doubles game played on an enclosed court that blends squash and tennis. It drew 1 million US players last year, and public courts have grown from 227 to roughly 1,000 in just three years, the Wall Street Journal reports.

Entrepreneurs from outside the sports world are paddling for a payout. Ballers founder David Gutstadt, a former Equinox executive, has opened clubs in a converted Philadelphia power plant and in Boston, with Los Angeles next. Bluestone Lane coffee chain co-founder Jon Krieger runs a New Jersey padel club, and Kith founder Ronnie Fieg built three courts into his members-only Manhattan club, where individual membership runs $45,000 upfront plus $10,000 a year.

Padel memberships tend to be expensive, and so does building the courts. A single court can cost $50,000 due to its glass-walled enclosure. But investors are still betting padel repeats pickleball’s explosive growth, which went from 4 million US players in 2020 to 24 million last year. The Pro Padel League raised $15 million this year and started airing matches on CNBC.