The conflict between Premier Padel and professional players continue to intensify. After the massive boycott of the Gijon P2, which saw the absence of the best players from the men's circuit, the circuit led by the International Federation of Padel (FIP) takes action by suspending the Bonus Pool, a financial bonus that was supposed to be redistributed to the players.

Bonus Pool frozen pending negotiations

In a letter addressed to the players, Premier Padel announced that the bonus from the Bonus Pool – a fund representing 10% of the revenue generated by each tournament, then distributed among the Top 100 players on the circuit , will not be paid until the dispute is resolved.

The reason given? PPA's (Professional) repeated "contractual breaches" Padel Association), which defends the interests of the players and which has still not communicated its criteria for distributing the bonus for 2024. Consequently, Premier Padel decided to withdraw from the PPA the right to manage the distribution of this premium, and makes its payment conditional on a return to normal.

“Until these violations are fully and definitively corrected, we are suspending payments that Premier Padel must perform at the PPA, in particular the Bonus Pool”, explains the letter sent to players.

A legal tug-of-war over P2s

This new episode of the conflict comes on top of another area of ​​tension: the obligation of players to participate in P2 category tournaments. According to Premier Padel, the contract signed in 2022 forces players to participate at all tournaments on the circuit, including P2s, which are not considered “mandatory” tournaments by the PPA.

Players defend their right to choose their tournaments, and used this flexibility to boycott Gijón P2 in order to put pressure on the FIP and Premier Padel. The same scenario could repeat in Cancun, where registrations are slow to fill up.

An attempt to resume dialogue?

Despite this escalation, Premier Padel leaves the door open for negotiations and offers players a meeting during the next tournaments in order to discuss the distribution criteria of the Bonus Pool.

“We want to listen to your suggestions on how you want the Bonus Pool to be distributed.. "

It remains to be seen whether this attempt will be enough to ease tensions, or whether the conflict between players and Premier Padel will continue to disrupt the season. In the meantime, the war of nerves continues…

Benjamin Dupouy

I discovered padel directly during a tournament, and frankly, I didn't really like it at first. But the second time, it was love at first sight, and since then, I haven't missed a single match. I'm even ready to stay up until 3am to watch a final of Premier Padel !

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