When I first starting writing about padel back in the fall of 2023, it seemed like practically every club founder I talked to told me they had concrete plans to open three, five, or even ten clubs within the next few years.
For instance, one group claimed they were imminently opening a club in Tampa in early 2024, which would be followed closely by future openings in Los Angeles and West Palm Beach later that same year.
So, of course, I published an article about it — which, understandably, drew a lot of attention, especially given that they also stated they’d be opening a total of a dozen luxury facilities with 100+ courts around the U.S. by 2028.
Yet none of those three clubs ever materialized, and they have yet to officially open their first facility anywhere in the U.S. (though it does sound like they may finally be getting close).
Meanwhile, another operator announced big plans to open three padel clubs in the greater Washington D.C. area within a year or so (again, none of which ever came to be) — and yet another claimed they’d be launching five clubs around the Phoenix metro area in quick succession (only one of which ever actually ever happened, though they’ve opened another facility in an adjacent state and are now working on a third in Florida).
Then there’s the unique case of the early-adopter U.S. padel operator who, in September 2023, revealed stunning plans to, “open 200 publicly accessible padel courts on the West Coast within the next two years.”
Fast forward three years and, to my knowledge, they’ve only managed to open a total of four at most — and based on the lack of updates on either their site or Instagram, it’s unclear whether those courts are even still operational.
What’s My Point?
It’s certainly not to bash any of these operators, clubs, or brands, but more to highlight the fact that I think a lot of people were sold a complete fairy tale about how quick and effortless it would be to build a U.S.-padel-club empire and strike it rich in the process…
And, more importantly, to point out that while it’s easy to pay some marketing mouthpiece big bucks to hype up the dozens of clubs and courts you’ll soon be opening, it’s a hell of a lot harder to actually get them open.
Which is why I wanted to take a moment to highlight the small handful of U.S. padel club brands and operators that have managed to build U.S. padel club empires (or are starting to), albeit probably slower than many might have hoped or anticipated — after all, as we’re seeing firsthand, it’s obviously no easy feat!
So, this will be the first installment in a multi-part series, and the operators featured are (mostly) in no particular order, though I will say it’d be hard to lead off a list like this with anyone other than:
Padel Haus
Current Locations: 6
Atlanta, GA
Brooklyn, NY (Dumbo, Greenpoint, and Williamsburg)
Denver, CO
Nashville, TN
Total Number of Courts: 35 (25 Indoor, 6 Covered, 3 Outdoor, 1 Indoor Singles)
Planned Future Locations: Dallas, TX
What to Know: If there’s any one operator synonymous with U.S. padel, it’s got to be Brooklyn-based Padel Haus, with its pitch-perfect. signature logo, countless major U.S. media appearances, and six sleek, wellness-focused clubs around the country (including in Denver, which I had the pleasure of playing at just last week).
Given founder Santiago Gomez’s extensive background in both high-finance and high-end hospitality, it’s little wonder that Padel Haus is setting the bar for what a luxury U.S. padel club experience can — and should — look like, or that they regularly play host to some of the world’s hottest celebrities and highest-ranked padel professionals, as well as notable U.S. padel events like the 2026 U.S. Open Padel Championships, which will take place at their Greenpoint location in Brooklyn this October 2nd - 4th.
Bay Padel
Current Locations: 4
San Francisco, CA (Dogpatch and Treasure Island)
San Jose, CA
Sunnyvale, CA
Total Number of Courts: 22 (12 Indoor, 10 Outdoor)
Planned Future Locations: Marina del Rey, CA (Los Angeles)
What to Know: Unlike Padel Haus, Bay Padel has chosen to embrace both padel and pickleball at some of its various locations across Northern California — and their strategy obviously seems to be working.
In fact, their Dogpatch location in San Francisco is in the process of adding 11 new outdoor courts (seven pickle and four padel) to its existing the two indoor padel courts it currently offers. What’s more, they also recently opened San Jose’s first-ever padel club (with six outdoor courts) and have plans to add to the ongoing L.A. padel boom by opening a nine court club (seven padel, two pickle) in Marina del Rey soon.
Ballers
Current Locations: 2
Boston, MA
Philadelphia, PA
Planned Future Locations: Los Angeles, CA; Chicago, IL
Total Number of Courts: 6 (3 Indoor, 3 Seasonal Outdoor)
What to Know: Ballers is taking the whole multi-sport concept to an entirely different level at both its Boston and Philadelphia locations by offering everything from golf simulators to squash courts to soccer fields to seasonal ice-skating rinks, along with pickleball and padel, of course.
Between its all-star roster of investors (which include the likes of tennis legends Andre Agassi, Kim Clijsters, and Sloane Stevens along with former NFL and current NBA stars), its ultra-hip, Banksy-esque aesthetic, and the background of its founders (who helped develop Equinox Hotels and the Fitler Club), it’s little wonder Ballers’ luxury "urban country club" social-sports concept is drawing so much big-time attention.
It’s also little wonder that there is so much excitement around planned future openings in downtown Los Angeles and also potentially Chicago (at the former Board of Trade Building in The Loop).
pATL
Current Locations: 2
Atlanta, GA
Louisville, KY
Total Number of Courts: 7 (All Outdoors)
Planned Future Locations: Mount Pleasant, SC (Charleston), Kirkland, WA (Seattle)
What to Know: College tennis teammates and friends turned padel entrepreneurs, Andrew Herring and Kevin Ye, brought the first padel courts to the greater Atlanta area with their original pATL location (at the sprawling ITA tennis complex), before turning around and bringing the first — and still only — courts to the entire state of Kentucky via pATL Louisville (at Goodbounce Pickleball Yard in Waterfront Park).
Now, they’ll soon be adding to South Carolina’s ongoing padel boom with a new facility in Mount Pleasant, SC (just across the river from Charleston) that will include six indoor padel courts along with two singles squash courts and two hardball-doubles squash courts(!).
Oh, and as if that weren’t enough to get excited about, they also just announced plans to bring a new four court indoor facility to Kirkland, WA, which will help the Pacific Northwest finally start to catch up to the rest of the country padel-wise.
Got other emerging U.S. padel empires you’d like to see featured in the next installment of this series? Let us know in the comments below!
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Or if you’re a club owner and you’d want to carry a handful of copies in your pro shop for “padel curious” people who are interested in trying the sport out but don’t know quite where to start, let me know and I can connect you with my publisher’s wholesale department.
Many thanks in advance!