Forget the three-point line: Rick Schnall, co-chairman and governor of the Charlotte Hornets, is taking his shot at padel instead.
Schnall led a $15 million Series A funding round for the Pro Padel League (PPL), a landmark investment for the emerging league, which is expanding its footprint across North America as the sport continues to grow its audience in the United States.
The round also includes Left Lane Capital, the league’s original lead seed investor, returning alongside new participants Andrew Schwartzberg and Jason Tillis. The PPL had previously raised $10 million in 2025.
The league plans to use the new capital to invest in team infrastructure, expand player development pathways and continue building out its event calendar. That includes the launch of PPL II, a developmental circuit designed to create a pipeline of North American talent, with more than $350,000 in guaranteed compensation and prize money.
For Schnall, the appeal is rooted in timing and structure. Padel participation is surging globally, but the U.S. market remains early, leaving room for a league with a team-based model to establish itself quickly. He also believes there is a broadcast opportunity in padel, particularly in comparison to a racquet-sport competitor like pickleball.
“It’s essentially a bet on two factors: the growth of the sport as a participant activity and the potential for a valuable media property,” Schnall told The Athletic. “In general, small startup leagues only succeed if they can become compelling media assets. The NWSL is somewhat of an exception, given its strong in-person attendance, but even so, the business only scales if it becomes an attractive media asset. And I think padel is something that you can appreciate in broadcast.”
Over the past year, PPL franchise valuations have soared, with the New York Atlantics and the Los Angeles Beat both recently valued at more than $10 million. Schnall joins a growing list of sports executives who bet on PPL, including professional tennis player Francis Tiafoe and Ajax professional soccer goalkeeper Maarten Paes, who invested in New York Atlantics, international polo star Nacho Figueras in Florida Goats and Chair of the Toronto Blue Jays and Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment Edward Rogers who bought Toronto Polar Bears.
Commercially, too, the league is beginning to show traction. It has secured partnerships with Frédérique Constant as the league’s official time-keeper and Franklin Sports for the league’s official ball.
Padel has seen recent global growth, with approximately 35 million players across more than 110 countries. The United States Padel Association estimates there will be 20,000 courts and 15 million active players in the U.S. by 2030.
“The interest in the sport just continues to explode,” Mike Dorfman, the commissioner of the league, told The Athletic. “When we started the PPL (in 2025), there were less than 50 courts in the entire country. And now we’re at a place where there’s about over 1000, which is a crazy growth number, but it’s still so tiny in comparison to where we’re going to be in another three years.”
The 2026 season is scheduled to begin July 9 in New York, with additional stops in Los Angeles, Playa del Carmen and Guadalajara before the City’s Cup championship in Miami in December.