Tennis star Andre Agassi leads $20 million investment in Ballers, a multisport members' club
Ballers, a social multisport venue and members' club, just received a $20 million Series A investment led by tennis star Andre Agassi ahead of its Philadelphia flagship opening in July.
With the location, Ballers aims to combine competition with culture. It will include courts where members can play pickleball, squash, and padel. There will also be a golf practice area with real sand traps and a large turf field where members can play soccer.
'These are all social sports,' cofounder David Gutstadt tells Fast Company. 'They're cool, relevant, elevated, but most importantly social.'
Courting crosscourt players
Pickleball, specifically, is America's fastest growing sport; participation has increased by 311% in the last three years, according to data from the Sports and Fitness Industry Association (SFIA). But almost half of racket sports players are 'crosscourt consumers,' meaning they enjoy playing more than one of these sports, according to research by RacquetX.
And racket sports as a whole are in a growth phase, with five out of seven increasing their year-over-year participation totals, according to SFIA. By creating a dedicated space for these sports, Gutstadt says he hopes to 'bring country club sports to the city.'
'As consumers seek richer social interactions, competition has evolved from pastime to platform,' Lloyd Danzig, a managing partner at Sharp Alpha, a firm that co-led the investment, wrote to Fast Company.
More locations on the horizon
Founders Gutstadt and Amanda Potter say that Ballers is the first of its kind: a multisport venue with a focus on hospitality and creating a culture. Outside of just offering sports practice and competition areas, the Ballers space also includes a full bar, a restaurant, and social activations like DJs or art installation pop-ups.
The Ballers space has been constructed from the shell of an old power plant, giving the club a unique but 'grand and majestic' look, Potter says.
Throughout the rest of 2025 and 2026, expect to see Ballers locations pop up in Boston, Downtown Los Angeles, and Miami.
Ballers has amassed a group of celebrity and athlete investors that represent the venue's array of sports offerings. These investors include tennis stars Agassi, Kim Clijsters, and Sloane Stephens; pickleballer Connor Garnett; and soccer player/padel aficionado Maarten Paes.
As lifelong tennis lovers, Gutstadt and Potter told Fast Company that working with Agassi was a 'dream come true.' Agassi was the 'obvious first pick' to represent Ballers, says Potter, because he represents a shift in racket sports' fashion and culture.
'Andre Agassi came into a sport that was pretty buttoned up and proper—you know, white collar shirts and Wimbledon mentality,' Potter says. 'He came in with a bit of an attitude and shook things up. And that's what we want for Ballers.'
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