The first padel league created in the United States is already attracting top players. We explain how it works and who is going to play
The Pro Padel League is the first padel league created in the United States. 2023 was the first year in which it was launched, as a pilot project, to see how it worked. But it seems that it will be consolidated in 2024.
The league is made up, for now, of 7 mixed teams distributed between the United States, Mexico and Canada. The franchises are located in Cancun, Los Angeles, Miami, San Diego, Toronto, Arkansas and Las Vegas. Each team has 8 players, of which there are 4 “starters”, two male and two female, and 4 “substitutes”.
The PPL tries to adapt padel to the competition format of other leagues in the United States, with drafts, All Star games between conferences or playoffs. In fact, the 4 best teams during the year compete for the title at the end of the season in this playoff format.
One of the objectives of this league is to spread padel, still unknown to most Americans, throughout the country. Although in the Miami area and the southeast coast there are already quite a few fans, in the rest of the country there are other racket sports that are more popular.
“Padel has more than 25 million players worldwide and is growing in popularity in the US with the number of padel courts set to double this year. It is projected that more than 8 million players will be playing in the US by 2030,” commented Marcos del Pilar, Commissioner of the PPL.
With the addition of World Padel Tour to Premier Padel next year, it looks like the calendar will be more free for players, as there will only be one major circuit. That will allow them to play other competitions, like this one.
That’s why many players are already joining teams in the Pro Padel League. Seba Nerone, Juan Martín Díaz, Pablo Lima, Elí Amatriain, Lamperti, Lucía Sáinz, Maxi Sánchez, Victoria Iglesias, Pincho Fernández and Javi Barahona have already said yes.
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