In the first quarter of 2023, we had a 5% growth in the number of facilities in Italy and an 8% growth in padel courts compared to the end of 2022
Compared to the data at the end of December 2022 (data source “Search for a Padel court” – Padel Observatory “Mr. Padel Paddle“) we had an increase of facilities (sports clubs, padel clubs, accommodation facilities) by 5% which increased from 2.792 to 2.919 (127 more).
For courts the increase was 8% from 7.128 to 7.692 (delta of 564 courts).
The quarterly trend of reducing the number of new facilities that began in Q4 2022 continues as shown in the graph below:
The causes are more bureaucracy in building fields (constraints and permits), rising costs of facilities (both to build and to run a club, “energy bills” theme), termination of the “Covid effect” (demand in 2020 and 2021 was partly inflated due to the temporary closure of other popular amateur sports).
On the one hand, the growth of new facilities is decreasing, but on the other hand, more and more BIG Clubs are being born…
this quarter as many as 13 facilities with an average field count above 8
The regional situation
The regions with the largest number of camps and facilities are Lazio followed by Lombardy and Sicily.
Therefore, Lazio is the region with the highest incidence of courts in Italy (23 percent of the courts in our country are concentrated on the territory of Lazio).
Regional table for No. and increase of facilities and camps 31/12/2022 vs 31/03/2023:
Of the 564 new facilities 378 (two-thirds) are in new clubs while 186 are increases in the no. of courts in sports clubs where padel is already present.
The average number of courts present in clubs in Italy is 2,6, if we consider only the new facilities this year they have an average of 3 courts per club.
In this first quarter the region that had the highest number of courts (124 of which 100 of new clubs) and clubs (24) is Lombardy, which is approaching the fateful threshold of 1,000 courts.
It is followed by Lazio with 123 fields (65 from new clubs) and 15 facilities and Piedmont 47 fields (32 from new clubs) and 17 facilities.
Campania and Puglia have exceeded 400 fields.
It should be pointed out that the new clubs that are springing up in Lazio and Lombardy have at least an average of 4 fields per facility, which is the minimum threshold considered by experts in the field to guarantee the sustainability in the medium to long term of a club along with other factors such as management first and foremost.
There are throughout the peninsula 1.336 municipalities where padel is played of which 213 are in Lombardy, 135 in Piedmont and 113 in Lazio.
The province with the most courts is Rome with 1.373 (370 clubs), followed by 3 other provinces with at least 100 clubs namely Milan with 388 courts (100 clubs) , Turin with 319 courts (119 clubs) and Naples 256 (115).
Chasing the Indoor….
The growth of indoor courts in recent months has been resounding and we have gone from 32% to 37% of covered fields in Italy in a very few months.
Of the 586 fields we have recorded being covered in recent months 205 are from new clubs and 381 from existing facilities that have decided , as a matter of profitability in the winter period, to cover their fields.
All of this resulted in outdoor courts declining for the first time in the boot from 4,843 at the end of December 2022 to 4,821 at the end of March 2023
Lombardy is the region with the highest number of covered courts well 725 (73% of its territory has indoor courts) followed by Lazio 548 (31%) and Piemonte with 285 (50%).
Happy Padel to all
by Carlo Ferrara
For those who would like to have more in-depth local analysis on the development of padel in Italy* can write to Mr Padel Paddle Observatory at the following email info@mrpadelpaddle.com
*Service fee based on type of request
