Padel is ludicrously more expensive than pickleball

We never liked the "tennis vs. pickleball” or "padel vs. pickleball” debates. Can’t we all just get along?

But with locations scarcer by the year, the racquet sport wars start to make things seem simpler and less friendly. With a rectangle of land and a spreadsheet, developers will decide which sport is deserving of the space as time goes on.

This week, we run the “facility math” behind pickleball and padel: what each court takes to build, what it can earn, and why club layouts are quietly being rethought globally.

→ This Week: Court Math: Pickleball vs. Padel | Shot of the Week | Mexico: Pickleball’s borderless success story

The tennis vs. “new racquet sports” fight that we've seen in recent years isn’t really about tradition or even noise. It’s about what a club owner can do with the same rectangle of land.

When participation shifts and court time gets scarce, facilities start asking a brutally simple question: what can we fit here, what does it cost to build, and what earns the most per hour (and per square foot)?

That’s why Novak Djokovic warned that tennis clubs may convert courts to padel and pickleball because it can be “more economical”—in his words, you can fit three padel courts inside the footprint of one tennis court.

But that has us wondering…which is the more economically rewarding sport to build out, pickleball or padel?

A pickleball court is 20’ x 44’, but the recommended build footprint is closer to 30’ x 60’ (min) or 34’ x 64’ (preferred) once you include safe run-off. Padel’s playing area is about 66’ x 33’ inside a glass/steel enclosure, often with a larger external footprint once the structure is accounted for.

Then, the capex split: pickleball can be cheap and fast (especially conversions, which can be $7.5k–$10k per court, or far less with cheaper materials).

Padel is typically a heavier build: one UK construction guidance example totals roughly £71k for a single court when you include base, drainage, and lights.

But there’s growing bullishness on padel, and it has to do with pricing power. In some markets, padel courts book at $120/hour peak (Boston) or £80/hour (London).

The bottom line is that padel and pickleball aren’t really competing on the same playing field:

It’s easier to add courts quickly and keep players busy. But which of these sports is more likely to receive investment is highly dependent on your local scene: how much space you have, what you can afford to build, what players will pay, how often courts can stay full, and whether demand is actually there week after week.

As costs even out across sports, we’re likely going to see padel give pickleball a run for its money, at least in affluent areas.

Though the entirety of this point is hard-fought and well-played, there is something particularly special about the end, when the player closest to the camera feigns a simple dink, only to put the ball wide over the should of his opponent.

In this rare instance, a reset just wouldn’t have been right — was off balance and straining for the shot, he had to put it away. But to put so much misdirection into it while sliding was stunning, to say the least.

When we’re filming, coaching, or playing matches that actually mean something, we reach for Franklin X-40s. The one-piece construction and 40 precision-drilled holes give you a truer flight and more consistent bounce, so points are decided by your decisions, not by a wonky hop.

They’re USA Pickleball–approved, the official ball of the US Open, and the official ball of The Pickleball Clinic for a reason: everyone knows how it’s going to play.

Indicative total cost to install one padel court in Great Britain (lights + ring beam/court base/ducting/drainage), based on delivered 2025 project costs; real-world totals vary by site conditions and requirements.

Source: LTA.

Interesting tidbits from within the pickleball community:

Can you guess where we’re headed? Respond to this email with your guess. First one to get it right will receive something nice!

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For the record, I wrote the above Mexico pickleball feature weeks before the current cartel violence broke out. But I wouldn't have pushed it this week, anyway, and the reason is very simple.

Over several years and different jobs within pickleball, I've spoken with countless individuals who told me that pickleball either “saved their life” or, at the very least, had a majorly positive impact on it.

Of course pickleball isn't saving any lives right now in Mexico, at least not in the affected areas. But as a writer, I get to tell stories and make decisions about when and how to do it. I think there are far, far worse decisions to make than to remind everyone reading that that pickleball is a people story first, a thread of community and sanity that shows up most clearly when the world is unstable.

It’s easy to look across a border and see fear, but it’s much harder and more rewarding to look for connection. We're wishing safety and peace for Mexico and anywhere there is strife in the world.

Do not hesitate to email Adam or connect with him on LinkedIn with questions, concerns, or story ideas!