At least a few times per week, somebody somewhere in the U.S. who is working on opening a padel club reaches out to me asking whether or not I think they should also offer pickleball courts…
And I almost always answer with something along the lines of, “it depends.”
On the one hand, you’ve got some very notable (and seemingly very successful) padel-only clubs operating around the U.S., including:
🎾 Padel Haus (Brooklyn, Nashville, Atlanta, and soon Denver and Dallas)
🎾 Sensa Padel (Nashville)
🎾 Park Padel (San Francisco and Sacramento)
🎾 Alma Padel (Chicago)
🎾 Padel X (Miami and Boca Raton)
🎾 Padel Boston
But then you’ve also got some very impressive padel club operators who also offer pickleball courts at some or all of their locations, like:
🎾 Bay Padel (San Francisco and Silicon Valley)
🎾 Padel Alley (Tucson)
🎾 The Replay Club (Boynton Beach, FL)
🎾 Padel Plant (Richmond, VA)
🎾 The Sports Haus (Norwalk, CT)
🎾 PADELHUB (Boston)
🎾 Padel+Pickle Club (St. Louis)
🎾 Racket Social Club (Denver, Atlanta, Houston)
And then, of course, there are clubs and concepts like Ballers, The Heights Racquet & Social Club, and Nicol NJ that offer padel, pickleball, and other racquet sports like squash, too.
So, What Is the “Right” Answer?
Again, I think it depends…
For instance, in places like South Florida and Houston, where there is already plenty of awareness about the sport and demand to play it, I think doing a padel-only club makes perfect sense.
But in many other parts of the country, where the sport is still virtually unknown, like it or not, using pickleball as the “gateway drug” that eventually gets people into padel might be the smart move.
Aris Sevastianos, an American who has played all over the world (including in countries like Argentina, Colombia, Greece, Panama, Serbia, and Spain) and now runs the El Remate padel newsletter (a great read, by the way!) echos my sentiments, telling me:
It depends on geography and facility constraints. In smaller (often non-coastal) markets, pickleball can be a strategic on-ramp for padel clubs, creating a funnel of stronger, nimbler pickleballers and building awareness where padel is still less familiar. In larger markets (e.g., NY, FL, TX, CA), padel doesn’t need pickleball as a crutch; cultural familiarity and curiosity already exist.
Padel clubs may add limited pickleball if space allows (e.g., room for two pickleball courts but not another padel court), but pickleball-first clubs should generally stick to their core offering given pickleball’s stronger, more predictable demand and padel’s higher operational, staffing, and market-education burden.
That being said, there are plenty of (usually) valid reasons why people don’t want to add pickleball courts to their padel clubs, like:
⚠️ Noise concerns…
⚠️ Plenty of other cheap/free pickleball courts nearby…
⚠️ Lower average cost per hour to book pickleball courts versus padel courts…
But, as I’ve discussed with multiple operators around the country, if padel really starts to take off at a club, it’s generally much easier to convert pickleball courts into more padel courts than it is to retroactively add pickleball courts to try to attract customers if nobody shows up to play padel.
Plus, it’s a pretty bad look.
Personally, I’m a much bigger fan of padel-only clubs. But at this early stage in the sport’s growth, it may not be a realistic/smart option in many parts of the U.S.
Which is why I asked a handful of people from around the U.S. padel industry what they think.
The Experts Weigh In
Ruben Gonzales, who owns and runs two padel-only U-Padel branded clubs in Texas (in San Antonio and the Woodlands, outside Houston) tells me:
I believe padel is still a year or two from exploding. In the meantime, you have to survive until the tsunami comes. So, I would put pickle in a new club before overgrowing [on the padel side].
For example, start with four padel courts, and then use the rest of the space for pickle, yoga, rehab, or anything else that brings in income and people. Once padel grows, you can take that space back [for more padel].[Pickle and padel] are two different animals, each with its own needs. To make them grow you have to attend them and support the one that brings the most benefits.
Meanwhile, Patricio Misitrano, who co-founded the world’s first-ever indoor pickleball and padel club at the Sports Haus in Norwalk, CT, before going on to found Misitrano Consulting and serve as the CEO of Racket Social Club says:
Padel and pickleball can live together, but they attract different types of players and run on different business models. If a club mixes both, it has to be intentional, because the programming and community vibe aren’t the same.
When done right, the two sports can boost each other. When done wrong, the whole place feels confused.
Chris Klein, of the International Association of Pickeball & Padel Facilities (IAPPF), adds:
"Padel is the future for pickleball facilities in North America. These two sports are a perfect match, complementing each other with their highly social nature and easy learning curve. Padel attracts younger generations, including Gen Z and Millennials, who might not otherwise visit a pickleball facility."
Finally, after digging into some serious data, Jo Vos, Director of Marketing at leading U.S. pickleball and padel booking platform Playbypoint tells me:
Across Playbypoint's multi-sport clubs in 2025, padel courts generated around 6x the annual court booking revenue of pickleball courts — due to premium pricing and higher utilization.
At the same time, pickleball broadens the member base and creates a natural on-ramp into padel, with consistent crossover between the sports.
What we've seen is that multi-sport clubs retain members just as well - or slightly better - than single-sport facilities, which tells us the combination grows both revenue and community.
At the end of the day, there doesn’t seem to be any hard-and-fast “right” answer to this question at the moment. But it does seem that as many U.S. padel clubs around the country struggle with occupancy, the padel-only community is starting to soften its stance towards pickleball. Which makes me think we’ll start to see far more multi-sport facilities coming online going forward.
Perhaps not my personal preference (unless they include squash!) but if it keeps helping padel grow around the country, then I think it definitely is the right answer.
Agree? Disagree? Let me know in the comments below or by voting in this poll:
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