The rising worldwide stature of padel, the racquet sport, shall be underlined on Friday when its main skilled tour unveils an enormous industrial tie-up with Red Bull.
Sky News has learnt that Premier Padel, which is owned by Qatar Sports Investments (QSI) and the Austrian-founded power drinks producer, will announce a four-year partnership spanning broadcast, manufacturing and sponsorship.
Under the deal, which insiders stated was price tens of thousands and thousands of kilos, Premier Padel matches from the latter levels of every event shall be streamed on Red Bull’s media platform, Red Bull TV, in additional than 130 nations.
Red Bull may even create content material for the game’s followers all through the length of the partnership, which is able to run till the tip of the 2027 season.
One supply described the deal as “transformational” for padel.
It is alleged to have been pushed by Nasser Al-Khelaifi, QSI’s chairman, who can be president of Paris Saint-Germain, the Ligue 1 soccer membership majority-owned by the Qatari group.
The settlement will give Premier Padel entry to the inventive and media experience of an organization which has change into a powerhouse in world sport via its success in Formula One motor racing.
Red Bull additionally has a serious presence in biking, different motorsport and mountain biking, amongst different sports activities.
Although nonetheless considerably smaller than tennis in participation and industrial phrases, padel’s progress has been eye-catching lately.
Its recognition has been buoyed by the next it has attracted from celebrities and athletes from different sports activities, together with footballer Lionel Messi and Jurgen Klopp, the Liverpool supervisor.
Premier Padel was based by QSI alongside the International Padel Federation and the Professional Padel Association, with occasions to be held at venues resembling Roland Garros, house of the French Open tennis championships.
This 12 months’s tour kicks off in Saudi Arabia subsequent week, with 25 tournaments scheduled in 18 nations.
Last 12 months, QSI introduced a deal to accumulate the World Padel Tour, enabling it to unify the game’s world calendar in an try and make it extra enticing to sponsors and broadcasters.
People near the game drew a distinction between Premier Padel and new entities in different sports activities, resembling LIV Golf, the place billions of {dollars} of Saudi funding have torn a schism via the skilled sport.
Premier Padel was created along with the game’s federation and its gamers, moderately than being established as a breakaway, as LIV Golf was.
QSI and Premier Padel declined to touch upon Friday, whereas Red Bull couldn’t be reached for remark.
Source: information.sky.com”