Drafting off financial momentum from its recent $15M Series A, the Pro Padel League is planning broad changes to its player compensation structure and event schedule, beginning with its 2026 season.
PPL CEO Mike Dorfman told SBJ the plans, which were communicated to PPL team owners and players in a memo Wednesday morning, are intended to create an infrastructure that supports athletes as a primary source of income. They center on:
- The introduction of two-year player contracts for the 2026 and 2027 seasons that guarantee minimum compensation (plus variable prize money and bonuses) and coverage by the league of PPL-related travel, accommodation and medical expenses.
- A requirement that contracted players compete in all PPL events.
- A commitment by the PPL to expand its event calendar from five in 2026 to 10 in 2027, potentially with one event in each of the league’s 10 team markets.
- A new auction-style player draft format.
“Over the last couple of years [we’ve gone] a hybrid route, where players are competing with us, they’re competing elsewhere,” Dorfman said of the PPL, which will stage its third full season with events in N.Y., L.A., Playa del Carmen, Guadalajara and Miami between July and December of this year. “We haven’t really had the means previously -- although it was always where we were going -- to support a full-time calendar. And with that, that means we want to develop talent.”
The event requirement does not mean players under contract with the PPL must exclusively compete for the league, but Dorfman said “the requirement is that we are the priority over everything else when we’re in season.” The PPL concentrates on the North American market, while competing circuits like Premier Padel stage events around the globe.
The new athlete compensation model ties into the auction draft format. Players who register for the PPL draft will self-select into one of five tiers of minimum compensation for the season, ranging from $15,000-$45,000 in 2026 and, when PPL’s number of events doubles, $30,000-$90,000 in 2027. It adds up to a two-year band of $45,000-$135,000 in minimum compensation per player, not counting prize money -- which will total $400,000 across events in 2026 and more than $700,000 in 2027 -- or the coverage of expenses.
Dorfman expects 50-60 players to compete in the PPL this season (i.e., five or six per team), plus another 20 or so in the league’s developmental circuit, PPL II. He added that the PPL’s player field is split about equally between men and women, and compensation will be doled out equally between genders.
The PPL aims to scale to 15-20 events beyond 2027, according to Dorfman, and is exploring potentially expanding its number of franchises as well (albeit more slowly). The league says it has seen multiple teams fetch eight-figure valuations in recent investment rounds, including the N.Y. Atlantics (in which American tennis star Frances Tiafoe recently invested), the Toronto Polar Bears (in which Edward Rogers has a minority stake) and the L.A. Beat.
“We are building for the long term,” Dorfman said. “Scaling a sport and a league like ours, that’s growing as rapidly as it is, we’re not focused on fast returns. That’s not the purpose of this exercise. The purpose is to support as many professional padel athletes as possible and make sure that the sport gets in front of as many people in North America as possible.”
