At Primetime Padel, we spend a lot of time talking about "the cage" and "the kitchen," but today we’re stepping into the “boardroom.” If you want to know where the smart money is moving in the racket sports world, you follow Jonathan Rowland. With a career carved out of high-stakes finance and tech—from Redwood Bank to the London Stock Exchange—Rowland is now applying that "institutional" rigor to our favorite sports.
Through VVV Sports Limited and the strategic acquisition of R3 Sport, he isn't just building courts; he’s building a "pure-play" investment ecosystem that spans from Abu Dhabi to the USA. We sat down with Jonathan to discuss the "Wild West" of early-stage padel, his massive global "hub" strategy, and why he believes a rising tide in racket sports will lift all boats.
Jonathan Rowland, Exec Chairman of VVV Sports Limited
Primetime: Jonathan, you’ve spent decades at the intersection of finance and technology, from Redwood Bank to the London Stock Exchange. What was the specific "lightbulb moment" that convinced you that the next great frontier wasn't in fintech, but in the professionalization of racket sports?
Jonathan Rowland: It really came together during COVID, when I saw the acceleration of padel’s growth. At the same time, it’s always been a personal passion. I’ve played and followed the sport for years, so I could see its potential, alongside other racket sports like pickleball, early on.
For me, investing is about recognizing momentum and knowing when to act - not too early, but not too late. I’ve invested across different sectors over the years, but it’s always about identifying the right opportunity at the right time. This was about backing a space I genuinely believed in and having the conviction to move before the market fully caught up
Primetime: We’ve seen VVV Sports Limited successfully complete the acquisition of R3 Sport to create what you’ve called a "pure-play" investment vehicle. For our readers who are more familiar with playing the game than reading a balance sheet, why was this merger necessary to accelerate the growth of padel and pickleball globally?
Jonathan Rowland: We brought the two businesses together to create one group, with multiple platforms, under a single integrated vision. VVV Sports now operates across the full value chain—from athlete management and events through to infrastructure, media, content and brands & commerce.
It’s not about one touchpoint, it’s about building a connected system that can scale—and where each area can support each other. Ultimately, it allows us to build the underlying infrastructure early in emerging sports such as padel and pickleball, with a view to broader racket sport opportunities as the sports industry continues to evolve.
Primetime: R3 Sport isn't just about courts; it’s a full-stack operation involving player management, retail through Bullpadel, and events like the R3 Bullpadel Cup. How does having this "all-in-one" ecosystem change the way a professional player or a local club owner interacts with the sport?
Jonathan Rowland: It’s all about making the sport easier to engage with for all stakeholders. For players, the aim is to offer a more connected support structure—across commercial opportunities, events and where they play—so they can focus on what matters most to them: performance. By bringing players, events, venues, retail and media into one ecosystem, it creates a more connected, commercial and scalable model for everyone involved. It means that everyone can benefit.
Primetime: You’ve set your sights on a massive £100m project in Abu Dhabi, envisioned as the largest padel venue in the world. Why Abu Dhabi, and how do you see that "hub" connecting with your satellite projects in the UK and the USA?
Jonathan Rowland: Abu Dhabi is a market that thinks big and bold. It’s also a place that takes a long-term, strategic approach to sport, with forward-thinking leadership that can see the opportunity in a project such as the academy we’re building. The vision is simply to create the world’s first truly integrated padel hub—combining elite performance, community play and major events, and, in doing so, setting a benchmark for the sport.
Abu Dhabi is well located—it has a central location [in the world] with strong global access and a climate that allows year-round play, making it ideal as a global base for padel. From there, we plan on building out a connected network of padel academies with satellite projects in the UK, Spain and the USA.
Primetime: While padel is your "most visible" business, you’ve recently made moves into pickleball through the Wild Pickleball Agency and the launch of the TOP Series. In your view, do these two sports compete for the same capital and real estate, or is there a "rising tide" effect you’re banking on?
Jonathan Rowland: They are certainly distinct sports with their own identities, yet at the same time I see them as complementary, rather than directly competing with one another. What’s truly changed [in the industry] is that sport is now being viewed as both a real asset class and entertainment—a social experience, not just a place to play. You’re seeing a real shift from traditional leisure, like the pub, to experiences built around participating in sport. That’s driving more capital into the space, and very often that means looking at both padel and pickleball. For us, it’s about building differentiated propositions in each, with their own identity and value and overall. I view it as a ‘rising tide lifts all boats’ situation.
Primetime: You’ve mentioned that "fast-growing sports don't lack demand, they lack joined-up infrastructure." As someone who has built banks from the ground up, what is the single biggest "institutional" hurdle the U.S. and UK padel markets need to clear to reach true sustainability?
Jonathan Rowland: The biggest impediment [to the industry succeeding] is the industry failing to learn to work together. It’s still very early days, and [the emerging racket sports industry] is a bit wild west-esque, with too many businesses being built without a clear direction or a robust plan. For the market to become sustainable, there needs to be more discipline around capital and companies need to adopt a long-term approach. We’re already seeing valuations that don’t always reflect the underlying fundamentals. Ultimately, the businesses that stay focused, deploy capital carefully and build with a clear strategy will be the ones that stay the course.
Primetime: Looking ahead to the rest of 2026, the R3 brand is expanding into media production and "Padel Planet." A year from now, when people look at the ticker VVV on the Aquis Stock Exchange, what do you want that symbol to represent to the global sports community?
Jonathan Rowland: For me it’s clear: VVV should represent the benchmark for how emerging sports are built and scaled globally—whether that’s on the Aquis Stock Exchange or, over time, a U.S. listing. My vision is to create a company that brings together sport, media and entertainment, supporting the full pathway from grassroots players through to professional and Olympic hopefuls, all the while turning fast-growing, fragmented markets into structured, commercial and investable ecosystems.
Whether it’s the massive "hub" in Abu Dhabi or the "Wild West" energy of the UK and US markets, Jonathan Rowland is clear about one thing: the era of fragmented, unplanned growth is over. The "rising tide" is here, and with a multi-platform strategy under the VVV ticker, Rowland is betting that a "joined-up" infrastructure is the only way to win the professionalization race. Keep an eye on that ticker—the cage just got a lot more commercial.