Mint Explainer | Why new-age sports padel and pickleball are turning into a magnet for consumer brands

Zomato parent Eternal Ltd is looking to add a feature to let users book courts and turfs for premium sports through its District vertical, months after rival Swiggy became a co-owner of the Mumbai team in the World Pickleball League, aligning itself with one of the fastest-growing recreational sports worldwide. In November, ITC Foods entered into a five-year partnership with the All India Pickleball Association to promote the sport in India.

From fitness firms backing community leagues to startups sponsoring niche tournaments, there is a shift in how companies are trying to reach younger, lifestyle-driven users. Mint unpacks why these partnerships are rising and what companies need to consider as they turn to sports as a strategic marketing channel.

Why are sports partnerships relevant?

Sports offer emotional intensity, cultural traction and built-in communities, all of which make them powerful vehicles for engagement.

“Sports is the new Bollywood in the marketing world," said Ankur Bisen, a senior partner at The Knowledge Company, a market intelligence firm. “Sports brings together participants rather than just spectators, giving brands multiple points for activation."

In India, this appeal is now being strengthened by the rise of emerging recreation formats such as padel and pickleball, which are easy to learn, social in nature and rapidly creating urban micro-communities.

A key driver in recent years has been the emergence of premium sports ecosystems. Up-and-coming sports like pickleball, padel, and teqball not only signal a shift in India’s recreational sports culture but also present a significant opportunity in the fitness and leisure market, opening the door for new investments and infrastructure development across the country.

The country’s pickleball market alone is projected to increase at a compounded annual growth rate of 26% from 2024 to 2029, according to market research firm Bonafide Research. As one of the world’s fastest-growing sports, pickleball has attracted over 5 million players across 84 countries, with 40% of the participants being female.

In India, there has been a 275% increase in the number of active players over the past three years, with participation expected to surpass 1 million by 2028. By late 2024, India was estimated to have had 1,000 pickleball courts and 10,000 players competing at a professional level.

Heightened sports fandom, booming social media reach of sportspersons, as well as rising interest in niche role models have also resulted in companies signing up sportspersons as brand ambassadors. Athlete endorsements in India touched ₹1,224 crore in 2024, led by cricket and endorsements for emerging sports boosted by the Paris Olympic Games 2024, as per a report by global marketing firm GroupM (part of WPP).

Retail digitization platform KiranaPro brought on board Indian badminton icon PV Sindhu as an ambassador and strategic investor in 2024.

How do companies benefit by associating with sports?

Apart from driving loyalty and repeat interactions, these partnerships help rewire a company’s marketing strategy—shifting it away from traditional advertising to people-led marketing, according to The Knowledge Company’s Bisen.

Premium and new-age sports, popular with younger users, deliver sharper reach on digital channels because the target audience is sharper. While the partnerships may represent only a tiny fraction of a company’s overall revenue mix, it has more long-term advantages like better brand recall.

However, success depends on thoughtful execution. The first challenge is clarity on return on investments. Sports partnerships create buzz, but companies must convert that into tangible outcomes like increased app activity, higher retention, deeper loyalty or improved brand perception.

“Without clear metrics, the spend risks becoming vanity-driven," Bisen noted.