Five to ten years ago, there probably weren’t too many people in the U.S., save for maybe someone like Nalle Grinda, who envisioned that 50+ new padel courts would ever open in a single year in the U.S. But now I’m hearing estimates that, within the next year or two, roughly 60 to 70 padel courts could soon be opening on Chicago’s North Shore alone.
In fact, in a recent conversation with Alex Vainberg and Abigail McCulloch, who are both working on opening padel clubs just north of Chicago, Vainberg told me, “The area is already getting pretty crowded. There are a lot of courts coming up, and we haven’t even started to talk about the country clubs that are opening courts or thinking about it. By 2026, the North Shore is going to have… I dunno, probably like 60 or 70 courts, I’d say.”
“It’s nearing egregious,” McCulloch half jokingly adds as we start talking through all the padel court projects in the area.
However, Vainberg does point out that most of the country club courts will likely be outside — and therefore, only playable for maybe four to five months out of the year. Which is actually a great thing for clubs like his and McCulloch’s, both of which will be indoors.
The two also clue me into a $4.2 million, 50,000 square foot project — dubbed Club Pickle and Padel — that will soon bring 10 pickleball courts and four padel courts to a domed public facility in Highland Park.
Via Chicago
Of course, depending on how broadly you define Chicago’s North Shore, there is already one well-established club, Padel Clube, in Mundelein, IL, (which I actually had the pleasure of playing at last summer) that offers numerous courts, both indoors and outdoors, and has even hosted USPA Major tournaments.
And as we reported earlier this summer, there will also be at least one padel club opening in downtown Chicago in the not-to-distant future.
To this list you can also soon add Alma Padel, an indoor facility being opened by McCulloch in Glenview, Il, that will initially feature four padel courts, two bars, a café, pro shop, game room, locker rooms, and indoor/outdoor lounge areas and event spaces. (McCulloch notes two more courts may be added at a later date.)
Meanwhile, Vainberg’s project, known as Proximo, will be located in Northbrook and he is currently planning to feature seven padel courts and six pickleball courts when the club opens in late 2025 or early 2026. Proximo will also offer a juice bar, pro shop, showers, a lounge and café area.
While it’s clear the two are both deeply passionate about padel and quite optimistic about their respective projects overall, it’s also obvious they are a bit worried about what too many courts and clubs opening in a short time period could mean for everyone who is looking to grow the sport in the region. And given what has happened with padel in places like Sweden, their concern is completely justified.
McCulloch tells me, “I’ve been holding off on really saying anything [about Padel Alma’s launch] because I want certain things in order. But it feels like we have to say something at this point so that people know all these projects are happening.”
“This market could get crowded out. So, I think the more transparency and the more market information all the players have, the better it is for the sport,” Vainberg adds.
To that point, just since our conversation, I’ve already heard whispers about another big padel project in Lincolnshire and courts going up at at least one North Shore country club in addition to the padel court that recently opened at Saddle and Cycle Club.
Too Big to Fail?
As exciting as the explosive growth of padel in the greater Chicago region is, it’s also clearly a harbinger of the growing pains the sport could face throughout the U.S. over the next couple years as some markets start to become saturated.
Given their abundantly positive attitudes and relentless laser-focus on thinking through every detail of their respective clubs, as relative first-movers in the area, my guess is Vainberg and McCulloch will both enjoy plenty of success running clubs in the new padel riviera of the U.S.
But it will definitely be interesting to see how these regions of padel hyper-growth play out over the coming years.
Note: This post first appeared on my former publication The Padel State.
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