What do you think is the relationship between the padel and the expression "to be the king of oil", born in the middle of the XNUMXth 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

The relationship with the padel ? Well, it's simple: the padel is in a way the blue gold of the XNUMXst century! It is the sport that has seen the strongest economic growth in the world 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, the padel didn't interest many people. As he tells in his autobiography, the greatest player of all time, Argentinian Fernando Belasteguin, almost put his rackets away before he was 20 years old, because being a professional then 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.
Incidentally, Qatar has pocketed the International Federation of padel (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 strong and legitimate to govern the padel world, as it has done for more than 30 years. But the recent attempt by the International Tennis Federation (ITF) to take over the governance of the padel world may be only the first battle in a war that has only just begun.

After 40 years of tennis, Jérôme falls into the pot of padel in 2018. Since then, he thinks about it every morning while shaving… but never shaves pala in hand! Journalist in Alsace, he has no other ambition than to share his passion with you, whether you speak French, Italian, Spanish or English.

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