Exciting news for padel enthusiasts in the Windy City: Chicago’s first padel club is slated to open in early 2025, just outside the vibrant Fulton Market District. This pioneering venture is led by Lakeshore Sport & Fitness, a multisport facility operator, and Chicago venture-capital investor Fabian Gosselin. The new facility promises to bring the fast-growing sport of padel closer to city dwellers, filling a much-needed gap in Chicago’s sports landscape.
Padel’s Rise in the U.S.
Padel, with its dynamism and social aspect, has seen tremendous growth internationally. In recent years, it’s started to gain traction in the United States. “It’s growing really fast everywhere else in the world. It’s starting to come to the States, and we wanted to be a part of this exciting growth,” said Peter Goldman, CEO of Lakeshore Sport & Fitness. This new club will be the first of its kind within Chicago, with the nearest existing courts located in suburban Mundelein, about an hour’s drive from the Loop.
A Passion Project Realized
For Fabian Gosselin, the project is deeply personal. Originally from Mexico City, Gosselin moved to Chicago four years ago for business school and found a lack of padel facilities in the city. “When I came here four years ago for business school I wanted to play padel and couldn’t because there weren’t any courts in the city at that time, and it just started kind of like this passion project for me where if you can’t find it then maybe you have to build it,” Gosselin explained. Inspired by the growth of padel clubs in cities like New York, California, and Florida, he decided to bring the sport to Chicago.
The Impact of Pickleball
Interestingly, the recent surge in pickleball’s popularity has helped pave the way for padel’s growth. “The pickleball craze did a great favor to padel by bringing excitement and attention to racket sports,” Gosselin noted. Chicago has seen a wave of new pickleball clubs popping up, including Social Pickleball Fun in Lincoln Park and The Picklr in Naperville. This rising interest in racket sports is creating a fertile ground for padel to flourish.
Chicago’s Padel Future
Gosselin and Goldman are optimistic about the future of padel in Chicago. “We strongly believe that there is going to be a padel-mania in the next few years,” Gosselin said. With the opening of this new facility, they aim to make padel accessible to more people and contribute to its growing popularity in the United States.
As we anticipate the grand opening of Chicago’s first padel club, it’s clear that this initiative will play a significant role in expanding the sport’s reach and fostering a vibrant padel community in the city. Stay tuned with The Padel Weekly for more updates and exclusive insights into this exciting development and other news from the world of padel.
