How Conquer Padel Club Is Bringing the World's Fastest-Growing Racquet Sport to the U.S.

Conquer Padel Club is introducing one of the world's fastest-growing sports to American players through a network of premium indoor clubs designed for players of every skill level. Led by CEO Barry Falcon, the brand combines professional coaching, leagues, tournaments and social experiences to create a destination centered around the rapidly growing game of padel. Originally launched in Mexico, Conquer is now expanding across the United States with a vision of becoming the country's leading padel franchise.

“Padel is the fastest-growing sport in the world,” Falcon said. “While it's not the fastest-growing sport in the U.S. because pickleball has that locked up, it's a global sport. It's also a race to the Olympics to see whether padel, pickleball or maybe both get there first.” 

As awareness of padel continues to grow across North America, Conquer is focused on creating premium indoor facilities that deliver a consistent experience while making the sport more accessible to new players. Falcon believes the combination of recurring memberships, organized programming and community engagement creates a strong opportunity for franchise owners.

“Having all those wellness modalities helps the members and strengthens the community. We don't want people to play and leave,” Falcon said. “We want them to play, grab a smoothie, hang out, use the cold plunge, stretch, relax, maybe get a massage and experience total wellness around the sport. Most people play for about an hour and a half. More competitive players might play two hours, but people aren't playing five hours. The average person plays three times a week, while the most dedicated players may play five days a week.” 

Having decades of franchise leadership experience, Falcon sees Conquer as an opportunity to introduce an established international sport through a proven franchise model. As the brand expands into new markets, the focus remains on building long-term relationships with members while growing the sport throughout the United States.

“We're definitely early adopters,” Falcon said. “There's maybe one other franchisor entering the category, but we want to remain the leader.”

Falcon joined 1851 Franchise Publisher Nick Powills on a recent episode of the “Meet the Franchise” podcast. A transcript of his interview with Powills has been provided below. It has been edited for brevity, clarity and style.

Nick Powills: How did you accidentally fall into franchising? What's your franchise backstory?

Barry Falcon: My franchise backstory is that I was initially a franchisee of a company called Velocity Sports Performance. My daughter was a top-10 athlete, and I figured I'd buy that franchise so people could train and get going. That was my first foray into franchising.

I invested in that business and grew the company for a couple of years. Then I decided I wanted to be the franchisor. I sold that business and started ShelfGenie. I left after five years but stayed on as chairman of the board. Then I went to run Concrete Craft. After a couple of years, we sold Concrete Craft to Home Franchise Concepts. I worked with Franchise Group for about 12 years. ShelfGenie was sold to Neighborly in 2020. I met the guys at Conquer in 2025, and we launched the franchise in mid-2025. Now we're growing.

Powills: Looking at all those different moments, what are you most proud of accomplishing in franchising?

Falcon: Two things: no lawsuits at all on either side, as a franchisee or a franchisor, and no franchisee has gone bankrupt. Unit economics are absolutely key. That's my mantra in every business I'm involved in. I'm happy to say I haven't been sued or sued anybody, and our franchisees are making money.

Powills: Not that I'm comparing you to Michael Jordan, but if I asked him whether he classified himself as a basketball player or a baseball player, I'd hope he'd say basketball because the baseball didn't go so well.

You've experienced both sides. If you had to choose one, not because you don't enjoy the other, but if franchisees and franchisors were hanging from a cliff and you could only save one side, which would it be?

Falcon: Franchisor, for sure, without a doubt. The reason is you're really mentoring people. They're buying into your vision and, of course, you. But I always tell people, "Buy the brand. Don't buy me, because I'm not going to be here forever."

Being a franchisor is about helping people gain financial independence while mentoring them in business and growing the brand, product or service you're offering. I like being the teacher, and I like seeing people succeed. I've had a lot of franchisees in the systems I've been involved with do very, very well, and I'm proud of those accomplishments.

Powills: This isn't meant to put down your first experience as a franchisee, but knowing how passionate you are about the teaching component, did being a franchisee give you a different perspective? Did it help make you a better franchisor because you'd experienced things from the other side?

Falcon: Yeah. The toughest thing as a franchisor is picking the wrong franchisee. I was never in a position where I desperately needed the check, but if you pick the wrong franchisee and don't follow your process, you find out that person is sucking the life out of you all the time. That's not much fun.

I don't mind having underperforming franchisees you can help grow. That's fine. It's having franchisees who think they know everything and want to reinvent the entire system that's been successful for years. They're so entrepreneurial they challenge everything and want to change everything. They're not good students. I like to get those people out of the system as fast as possible because life's too short.

Qualification is really important, and too many emerging brands just take the check. I've seen it happen too often. Three months later they're asking, "What did I do this for?" Well, they needed to make payroll. I call them high-maintenance franchisees.

Powills: Part of the challenge in franchising, especially when you're not the founder or owner, is the false pressure to grow. Sales goals often get pulled out of thin air, and the data doesn't support them. That's probably why salespeople turn over so often.

At a good franchise brand, though, the tail doesn't wag the dog. You're saying yes to the right people, people who are properly qualified, have enough rainy-day capital and are vetted the right way. Even if that takes more time, it ultimately creates more revenue because those franchisees outperform the average and generate higher royalties for the same amount of work.

Falcon: When you're an emerging brand like Conquer, you're working very closely with those initial franchisees because you don't have every "T" crossed and every "I" dotted yet. Your brand standards manual, your fixtures and everything else are still developing.

We have some great franchisees, and we sold a lot of territories without an Item 19. That could be good or bad, but it worked out well for us. Those early adopters are very engaged in helping grow the brand.

Powills: Tell me about the business. I know the category well. Anyone paying attention to racquet sports or franchising has heard about padel. Give us the state of the union.

Falcon: It's the fastest-growing sport in the world. While it's not the fastest-growing sport in the U.S. because pickleball has that locked up, it's a global sport. It's also a race to the Olympics to see whether padel, pickleball or maybe both get there first.

Padel has unified associations globally, while pickleball is still figuring out ownership structures. The sport is growing rapidly. It started in Mexico but became heavily established in Spain. It's also very popular in the U.K., Germany, France and throughout Europe and Asia.

People measure growth by courts. In 2025, about 8,000 new courts were built, bringing the total to roughly 58,000 worldwide. To put that in perspective, the U.S. had around 600 courts in 2024, and now it's well beyond that.

Originally, most courts were outdoors, especially in Florida and other areas with large Hispanic populations. But people learned from pickleball that indoor facilities eliminate weather concerns and allow year-round play, so now the trend is shifting indoors.

Municipalities have free pickleball courts, but very few public padel courts exist. The courts require specialized glass, maintenance and artificial turf. The biggest challenge is awareness. People have to know what the sport is before they'll play it. Nine out of 10 people I told about the business had never heard of it.

You get converted tennis players, pickleball players and squash players. Most people who try it love it. There's a little more running than pickleball because you're playing balls off the back wall. You need to be in better shape. The target player is generally 20 to 50 years old, whereas pickleball has many players in the 65-to-80 range. The paddle is relatively light, the ball is slightly smaller than a tennis ball and the game moves quickly.

I think we're four or five years behind pickleball. Awareness is still the biggest challenge. The second biggest challenge is educating landlords. Our franchisees need buildings with high ceilings, the right column spacing and acceptable rent. Many landlords have no idea what padel is, so convincing them the concept benefits the community and can get permitted is another hurdle.

Powills: How many units do you have open now?

Falcon: We have two open. One is in Tempe, Arizona. That's our flagship location with five courts in 22,000 square feet. The second opened three weeks ago in Lehi, Utah. It has seven courts in 30,000 square feet. Those are both corporate locations.

We have 12 franchise locations under construction around the country, including Tampa, Jacksonville, Orlando, Los Angeles, Seattle, Reno, Chicago, New Jersey, New York and Connecticut. We have four franchisees developing those 12 locations.

Powills: As an outsider, one thing stood out to me on your consumer site. You describe it as "your ultimate club haven." To me, that represented holistic wellness. I saw a place where people build relationships, where it's not one-size-fits-all. You're bringing together wellness concepts that normally exist separately and creating a destination. I actually like that.

If it were my business, I'd move that messaging to the top of the franchise site because it communicates the opportunity so well. How important has that positioning been in helping franchisees understand the different revenue streams they'll have?

Falcon: It's very important. Baby boomers want to age well, and health is a major category. If they're playing the sport, they also want a cold plunge afterward. So we have cold plunges, saunas, infrared saunas, lockers, showers and compression therapy.

Another question is whether you mix pickleball and padel in the same facility. Some people do. We decided not to, at least for now. It depends on the building size and, ultimately, on rent because rent is the No. 1 consideration.

Having all those wellness modalities helps the members and strengthens the community. We don't want people to play and leave. We want them to play, grab a smoothie, hang out, use the cold plunge, stretch, relax, maybe get a massage and experience total wellness around the sport.

Most people play for about an hour and a half. More competitive players might play two hours, but people aren't playing five hours. The average person plays three times a week, while the most dedicated players may play five days a week.

There are also social events and community gatherings. One thing that's fascinating because the sport is so established in Europe is the use of WhatsApp groups. A club might have 300 members, all communicating through WhatsApp. Someone posts, "Looking for two players tomorrow at 7 a.m. Anybody available?"

In the U.S., people use GroupMe or text messaging, but WhatsApp dominates internationally. We use it throughout our franchise system. We have franchise marketing groups, construction groups and other communication channels. It's become an essential tool.

Powills: Looking at this from the outside, I see similarities to concepts like Topgolf that made a sport more accessible. But unlike golf, you also have the recovery and wellness components built into the experience.

As conversations around longevity continue, everything you're offering supports that lifestyle. Once consumers understand they can combine physical activity, recovery, membership and community under one roof, I think the business becomes very interesting. The 12 locations under construction are really pioneers.

Falcon: We know our early adopters are pioneers because we're pioneers in the sport. One of my partners lived in Hermosillo, Mexico, where he played all the time. Later he moved to Tempe for work and said, "Let's do this." That's how it started. I met him and said, "Let's franchise it," and he agreed.

We're definitely early adopters. There's maybe one other franchisor entering the category, but we want to remain the leader. Some of our franchisees are former collegiate tennis players, so they naturally want the fitness component. They're adding mezzanines with treadmills, ellipticals, weights and full workout spaces because that's their background.

Powills: This isn't an investment for someone just starting out. It's really for wealth builders because of the investment level. Are you seeing common backgrounds among your franchisees beyond tennis?

Falcon: Some of our Florida franchisees came from tennis. They loved playing padel but were driving 40 or 50 minutes to play, so they decided to buy three locations. Our first franchisee was a Planet Fitness franchisee. He owned 20 or 30 clubs, sold them to private equity and started looking for the next opportunity. He understood wellness.

Our franchisee in Beverly Hills was a fashion designer. He saw the sport, had never played before, loved the concept and bought two locations in Los Angeles. It's about a $2.5 million investment, so it's not for the faint of heart. Most of the people attracted to it enjoy sports and recognize this as a new racquet sport entering the U.S.

Some want to be early adopters while territories are still available. Some hope to grow and eventually exit, while others want to build large portfolios. We have franchisees who aspire to own 10 or 20 locations. First, though, you have to open the first one, make it profitable and then move to the next.

Powills: Let's pretend someone is watching this and they're intrigued. Any closing thoughts on why they should look at this business?

Falcon: It's a lot of fun. It has good unit economics, and it's still early stage. That's absolutely key.

Powills: Going back to your opening comments, no litigation, no franchisee bankruptcies, success as both a franchisee and franchisor, and multiple exits. I imagine you wouldn't put your name behind something you didn't believe in. That's another checkmark.

Falcon: Absolutely. I've exited three franchise companies already. Two went to private equity, and one went to a private buyer. Our goal is to do the same thing here before I get too old.

Powills: I love it. Barry, great catching up with you. Thanks for sharing your story.

Falcon: Thank you. We'll have to plan another conversation when the Chicago location opens.

Watch the full episode above or on YouTube.