Bay Padel opens in San Jose, giving lively boost to sleepy downtown

SAN JOSE — Bay Padel has opened its doors to the public for the first time in San Jose, bringing a fast-expanding racket sport and lively activities to the city’s sleepy downtown.

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The downtown San Jose venue hosted tournaments, lesson-seeking padel enthusiasts and other padel fans over the weekend as part of a soft opening for Bay Padel on July 11.

Bay Padel’s opening marks the latest venture to join the Google-created Creekside Socials community and sports district that the tech giant established as a way to help activate this section of the western edges of the city’s downtown.

“We are having a great turnout and we are very busy,” said Lucas Tepman, a co-owner of Bay Padel. “We hosted three tournaments for beginners, intermediate, and advanced players, and they were all full.”

About 350 people came out to the Bay Padel San Jose venue as of midday for opening day on Saturday, Tepman estimated.

The Bay Padel San Jose venue is located near the SAP Center and Diridon train station with an entrance on South Montgomery Street near the light rail tracks, although the official address is 87 Barack Obama Blvd.

“We’re seeing good crowds,” said Matias Gandulfo, co-founder of Bay Padel. “We’re seeing a lot of people new to the sport who have never played.”

Padel is enjoying dramatic growth in the United States and worldwide. As of April 15, more than 1 million people were playing padel on more than 1,000 courts, according to a post by Mike Dorfman, chief executive officer of Padel Pro League. Both those numbers were around zero in 2022, when the 10-team Pro Padel League was founded.

That nationwide enthusiasm appears to be taking root in San Jose at the Bay Padel venue.

“Besides the tournaments, we offered an intro to padel,” said Pedro Zorraquin, vice president of growth for Bay Padel. “We had about 70 people sign up for those” as of the middle of the day on Saturday.

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Hapa’s Brewing Company, a beer garden a couple of doors away from Bay Padel, helped out the sports venue with some pop-up refreshments and food, according to Gandulfo and Tepman, adding to the lively community atmosphere in Creekside Socials.

“We think we have an amazing location in Creekside Socials,” Zorraquin said. “It is so close to the Caltrain station. It’s pretty exciting.”

More activation could be in the works for Creekside Socials as a result of a recent real estate deal involving the San Jose Sharks and Google.

On July 10, an affiliate of the Sharks hockey team paid $10 million for an office building at 450 West Santa Clara St. that the NHL team will use as its permanent headquarters across the street from the SAP Center.

A standalone Sharks headquarters next to Creekside Socials could further bolster the activities in the sports district and outdoor community.

Bay Padel San Jose, which totals 28,000 square feet, contains six courts and also offers food and beverages, a recovery area and a sauna room. People will be able to book private lessons and schedule private games.

Now that Bay Padel has officially launched its soft opening, the venue is poised to build momentum ahead of the Bay Padel San Jose grand opening on Sept. 12.

“We are seeing a lot of people who are new to the sport and have never played it before,” Gandulfo said.

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