Thanks to its proximity to Argentina, the padel arrived in the United States fairly quickly. Indeed, the padel was introduced in 1993 in Houston by Ed Thompson and Felipe Arnold. The latter, a native of Argentina, was amazed at the development of padel in his country, and had the idea of ​​introducing it to the United States. The main goal of these two people in bringing the padel with Uncle Sam, lies in using the padel to diversify the corporate business (hotel, sports complex) or for existing racket sports clubs.

The development of padel in the USA

By following the padel since their beginnings in France, we have also observed its development beyond our borders. We therefore focused on the country of Uncle Sam with a very developed sports culture.

Le padel took his time to create a real enthusiasm among Americans for this new sport from Argentina and Spain. Indeed, the market seems so promising that the organizers of the World Padel Tour have created a stage in the United States. The first US stage took place in Miami between April 26 and 30, 2017.

Which shows the importance of padel in the United States compared to the French market for example. In France, we only hosted “one” Challenger last year. 

Why did he take so much time?

The American market is one of the most important in terms of volume, in terms of turnover also in sport. Therefore, the US market looks promising, and this could be a serious launching pad for the padel global. This means that there is the possibility for manufacturers, distributors to acquire a potential market of several thousand or even millions of dollars. Ditto for brands in terms of textiles and balls. At the same time, the coach market padel will experience the same prosperity.

However, there are reasons that limit the padel, and which prevents us from using all this potential. Here they are :

  • When you are foreigners, it is very difficult to develop a business. Indeed, it is very difficult to have a visa, development costs are very high (exhibitions, sponsorship, etc.)
  • A marketing can attractive 
  • The most popular sports in the United States stifle other sports, including new sports (American Football, Baseball, Hockey, Basketball).

Finally, the padel in the United States has all the qualities to flood the juicy market of the North American country. However, there are a lot of constraints to be faced. For example, tennis holds an important place in the culture of sport in the United States (to a lesser extent flagship sports). Only time will tell how the padel will enter the American market.

Alexis Dutour

Alexis Dutour is passionate about padel. With his training in communication and marketing, he puts his skills at the service of padel to offer us articles that are always very interesting.

On the same subject