New Podcast Emerging Launches to Pull Out the Real Lessons Behind the Racquet Sports Boom
Ben Nichols and Patricio Misitrano sit down with the founders, operators, brand executives and investors shaping padel, pickleball and beyond to get to the real lessons behind the deals, the clubs and the culture.
New York, NY, September 28, 2026: Ben Nichols and Patricio Misitrano, two leading figures in the international racquet sports industry, are launching Emerging, a new podcast about the business behind padel, pickleball and the wider racquet sports boom. The first episode releases Tuesday, September 29 at 10 a.m. ET, with new episodes every other Tuesday.
Racquet sports are among the fastest-growing categories in world sport, and a whole industry is being built around them, spanning equipment, apparel, technology and real estate. Every month, new operators, investors and brands enter the market, but there are few places to hear directly from the people who have already built in the sector about what worked, what didn't and where things are heading. Emerging arrives to fill that gap.
Every other week, co-hosts Nichols and Misitrano sit down with the people building the business behind the boom to break down its biggest bets, challenge its loudest opinions and share what they've learned on the front lines. Misitrano brings deep industry expertise, Nichols brings culture-forward storytelling, and together they aim to get to the heart of the issues in the sector. The show is designed for anyone building in the space, investing in it, or equally from outside the racquet sport industry with a curiosity or interest in entering it.
"When we first met four years ago, at the very start of our padel journeys, padel in the U.S. was mostly pitch decks and promises. A lot of businesses, brands and initiatives have been built since then, and not all of them have worked," said co-hosts Ben Nichols, founder of The 22, and Patricio Misitrano, founder of Misitrano Consulting. "The founders, executives and operators we talk to are learning hard lessons which can benefit so many others stepping into the industry. Emerging is an unscripted show where we have those conversations, so that anyone building in this industry, investing in it or thinking about joining it can see where it's really heading."
The first episode traces those four years and the changes the hosts have seen across padel, pickleball and the wider industry. Upcoming guests include Steve Bellamy, founder of Tennis Channel and creator of TYPTI, a new disruptive racquet sport designed for existing pickleball courts, who joins the hosts to take on a simple question: can you manufacture a sport?
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