Pro Padel League lands first national TV deal with CNBC for 2026

USA Sports is putting the Pro Padel League on CNBC for five championship matches in 2026, and that is the kind of distribution deal that changes how a niche league gets seen. For the first time, the PPL will be broadcast on a national television network, with three men’s finals and two women’s finals scheduled to air across the season.

The league announced the partnership on July 2, and the timing matters because it lands in the middle of a season built for exposure. The CNBC package includes New York on July 12, Los Angeles on August 16, Playa del Carmen on September 27, Guadalajara on November 22 and the City’s Cup Finals in Miami on December 6. New York’s stop opens the campaign July 9-12 at Hammerstein Ballroom, setting the tone for a 2026 slate that stretches across North America rather than hiding behind a single showcase weekend.

That calendar gives the league something it has not had before: a clear path for casual U.S. viewers to stumble onto padel in real time, not only on social clips or niche streaming windows. The five broadcasts line up with the PPL’s biggest competitive moments, and they put both divisions on equal footing instead of making the men’s side the only national draw. Diane Gotua, the PPL’s chief commercial officer, said the deal was a significant milestone for the league and for the growth and visibility of padel across North America. She added that CNBC will allow the PPL to showcase the intensity of its competition, the talent of its players and the strength of its team-based format to a national audience.

The broadcast push comes with the league trying to widen its footprint in markets that already matter to the schedule. The PPL says its 2026 season features five events across North America, and four of them are in team markets: New York, Los Angeles, Cancun/Playa del Carmen and Miami. The league also says it has 10 teams across the United States, Canada and Mexico, a structure that makes a national TV presence more valuable than a one-off exhibition slot.

The money behind the expansion is sizable too. The PPL raised $15 million in a Series A round led by Charlotte Hornets co-chairman and governor Rick Schnall, with Left Lane Capital, Andrew Schwartzberg and Jason Tillis among the backers. Schnall has said the league’s momentum, world-class talent and team model create a scalable platform, and the roster has star power from Sebastian Giovinco, Tommy Haas, Juan Martín del Potro and Daddy Yankee. The United States Padel Association has estimated the sport could grow to 20,000 courts and 15 million active U.S. players by 2030, which explains why the leap to CNBC feels less like a novelty and more like the start of a real legitimacy test.