What do you think is the connection between padel and the expression "to be the king of oil", born in the middle of the 19th century in Pennsylvania? At the time, being a oil king, is to become a millionaire overnight, thanks to an unexpected economic windfall, such as finding black gold on your property.
Initially Americans, the kings of oil will then be found in Persia (or Iran) at the beginning of the 60th century and then in the Persian Gulf at the end of the XNUMXth century. Indeed, the Persian Gulf alone holds XNUMX% of the world's oil reserves.

The blue gold of the XNUMXst century

What does this have to do with padel? Well, it's simple: padel is, in a way, the blue gold of the 21st century! It is the sport that has seen the strongest economic growth worldwide in recent years. And according to most analysts, we are still only at the beginning.
As long as it was a confidential sport confined to a few Spanish-speaking countries, padel did not interest many people. As he recounts in his autobiography, the greatest player of all time, the Argentinian Fernando Belasteguin, almost put away his rackets before he turned 20, because being a professional cost him more than it brought him.
But in 2022, the best players are worth gold, whether to sell racquets or academies in their name, but above all to guarantee a spectacle that can generate millions of dollars in the form of television rights. As we wrote it recently, it is the players who constitute the true wealth of this sport, its goose that lays the golden eggs.
For nearly ten years, it has been the World Padel Tour who was in charge of feeding this golden egg hen in order to retrieve the eggs. But the Spanish circuit has sometimes forgotten to feed its barnyard or distribute the grains fairly. The circuit sponsored by Estrella Damm may have signed his own beer there.

Secret financial terms

In 2022, the Qataris of QSI launched the circuit Premier Padel and wooed professional players by dangling attractive prize money and material conditions much more advantageous than those offered by the WPT. Qatar was not at its first attempt: in 2010, it won the 2022 Football World Cup with millions, before buying Paris Saint-Germain in 2011.
In passing, Qatar has won over the International Padel Federation (FIP), which is financially associated with the circuit. Premier Padel, under conditions kept secret. Is this the role of a Sports Federation or the door open to all excesses?
Although contested, the FIP remains solid and legitimate to govern world padel, as it has done for more than 30 years. But the recent attempt by the International Tennis Federation (ITF) to seize the governance of world padel may be just the first battle in a war that is only just beginning.

After 40 years of tennis, Jérôme fell into the padel pot in 2018. Since then, he thinks about it every morning while shaving… but never shaves with a pala in hand! A journalist in Alsace, his only ambition is to share his passion with you, whether you speak French, Italian, Spanish or English.

On the same subject

Tags