SFIA Report: is padel gaining momentum in the USA?

In the United States, there has never been so many people practicing sports in the last year. The report by Sports and Fitness Industry Association (SFIA), an association based in Washington that promotes sports and fitness, highlights that from June 2025 to June 2026 the participation rate of Americans has risen to 81.3%, continuing a growth trend monitored by SFIA since 2019. To understand who consistently engages in a certain activity, SFIA looked for those who dedicate themselves to at least one monitored activity with significant and constant frequency. A more stringent parameter, which helps evaluate long-term involvement in sports activities, screening up to 51.3% of the population. The most interesting aspect is that part of the growth is driven by padel. Although its base of practitioners remains relatively small, in the second year of monitoring by SFIA there was a 14.5% increase. A sign of roots that, albeit slowly, is beginning to take hold in the United States. On the other hand, pickleball is starting to show its first signs of slowing down and market saturation, with a 1.3% increase in the first half of 2026 after five consecutive years as the fastest growing sport according to SFIA data. The title of fastest-growing sport in the report has instead passed to padel, which ranks ahead of flag football and pilates.