The Pro Padel League has secured MGM Resorts International as title sponsor of its inaugural Las Vegas tournament, a four-day event scheduled for Nov. 18-21 at Dolby Live at Park MGM, the league announced. The deal puts one of the Strip’s largest operators behind the fastest-growing racket sport in the world during the city’s run-up to Formula 1 race week.
The tournament is the fourth and final stop of the PPL’s 2026 regular season, with all 10 franchise teams from the United States, Canada and Mexico competing for eight spots in the league finals in Miami in December. The championship match on Saturday, Nov. 21 will air nationally on CNBC, according to the league’s announcement carried by PR Newswire.
The partnership extends beyond the arena. A dedicated exhibition court will operate along the Bellagio Fountain Walk during the four days, with players from all 10 teams — including the hometown Las Vegas Smash, competing in its home market for the first time — running clinics and activations for visitors. The league says the week’s citywide events draw more than 300,000 visitors to the Strip.
“Bringing the Pro Padel League to Las Vegas during one of the biggest sports and entertainment weekends of the year is a defining moment for our league,” said Mike Dorfman, CEO of the Pro Padel League. Dan Bernbach, MGM Resorts’ senior vice president of entertainment and sports, said the partnership gives sports fans “additional opportunities to engage with one of the world’s fastest-growing sports.”
For MGM, the sponsorship is a relatively low-cost bet on a sport with momentum. Padel — a walled-court hybrid of tennis and squash — has been expanding rapidly in the United States from its base in Spain and Latin America, and the league says its events reach more than 300 million households through distribution partners in over 100 countries. Attaching MGM’s name to the sport’s first major professional tournament on the Strip positions the company as an early mover in a new category, much as resorts once raced to land residencies and UFC events.
For Las Vegas, the event slots into an increasingly packed sports calendar. The sponsorship announcement comes weeks after the Pro Padel League’s October scheduling news and lands between the Formula 1 Las Vegas Grand Prix on Nov. 19-21 and the fall convention season. Local business watchers have been tracking how the city’s sports economy has diversified: UNLV data released in late October showed sports-related employment in the Las Vegas metro more than doubled in a decade, from roughly 8,500 workers in 2015 to an estimated 18,816 in 2025, driven by the arrival of professional franchises and a growing pipeline of events.
Financial terms of the MGM title sponsorship were not disclosed, and the league has not published projected attendance figures for Dolby Live, a venue that seats several thousand. Tickets for the tournament are already on sale through Ticketmaster, with finals qualification on the line for teams including the Smash in their first home appearance.
