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World Padel Tour

Swedish WPT organizer on Tele2 Arena: ”Largest arena for a padel event ever”

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Swedish WPT organizer SPO is aiming to make new padel history this spring. The plan is to bring in 15,000 spectators a day, but if most tickets don't sell quickly, the tournament could move. This says Swedish Padel Opens tournament director Urban Johansson in an interview with the Swedish site PadelDirekt. 

On Wednesday morning, the unexpected news leaked via Instagram: the Stockholm World Padel Tour event on 20-24 April will be held at Tele2 Arena, the football stadium where the famous football team´s Hammarby and Djurgården have their home.

The stadium currently holds 30,000 spectators. 

— It will be the biggest arena for a padel competition ever. The competition in Malmö gave a good taste, and now we raise the bar even further, says Swedish Padel Opens Tournament Director Urban Johansson to the Swedish site PadelDirekt. 

His main concern is the Swedish weather, But Urban Johansson is hopeful. 

— In April, the climate in Stockholm is quite nice anyway. We will divide the arena and build a grandstand and cabanas to frame the court. It's going to be tight and nice, explains Johansson.

But it's not entirely clear that the venue will be Tele2 Arena when the world stars arrive on 20-24 April.

— We would have booked Globen or Hovet if it had been available. Globen is booked up, but we'll hear if Hovet is available in mid-March. We can't rent the arena until then because there might be ice hockey there then. That's how it is.

Globen and Hovet are two large indoor venues close to Tele 2 Arena. 

”We will combine the WPT matches with music.”

PadelDirekt: So the final decision will be made in two months?
— Yes, unless we have sold 10,000/day before then. That's the goal, and then we'll run on Tele2 anyway, Johansson says. 

It will be a challenge: during the successful WPT Malmö Open last autumn, 6800 tickets were sold for the Saturday matches, a record outside of Spain. 

In addition to the risk of bad weather, the corona pandemic is a factor that is a problem. Right now, Sweden has a restriction of 500 people going to big events. 

— We will combine the WPT matches with music on Friday and a big padel party on Saturday. The upper section at Tele2 will offer affordable tickets to attract families, SPO Tournament Director Urban Johansson says.

Stockholm WPT will be a major milestone for the Swedish padel.

— It is a milestone. Now we will fight to make this even better than in Malmö, Johansson says. 

PadelDirekt: When will the tickets be released?
— Within two weeks, we hope.




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