Toronto Polar Bears

What Toronto Polar Bears does

Toronto Polar Bears is a privately held professional padel sports franchise and Canada's sole representative in the Pro Padel League (PPL), North America's first professional padel league. Founded in January 2023 when Zale Turner acquired the Canadian franchise rights, the team fields co-ed squads of four active players and alternates competing in men's, women's, and mixed doubles matches across a regular season and championship playoffs held at the Sarah Vande Berg Tennis & Wellness Center in Zephyrhills, Florida. The franchise is led by a multi-owner group comprising Turner (founder, majority owner, President & CEO), Josh Garr (President of a.p.i. Alarm Inc., majority owner of the Toronto franchise), former MLS MVP Sebastian Giovinco, sports/entertainment executive Rick Di Gironimo, and (since December 2025) minority stakeholder Edward Rogers, executive chair of Rogers Communications Inc.

The franchise's core offering is the professional padel team itself, supplemented by a direct-to-consumer merchandise e-commerce store at shop.torontopolarbears.com. There is no proprietary technology platform; operations center on athlete management, match promotion, sponsorship sales, and brand building. Revenue is generated through four streams: ticket sales for PPL matches (shared across the seven-plus franchises), corporate sponsorship deals (a.p.i. Alarm Inc., Alarm.com, Canaccord Genuity Corp., and league-level Founding Sponsor Merrill Wealth Management), merchandise sales, and broadcasting/media rights shared league-wide (CBS Sports, Bloomberg TV, TSN, BeIN Sports, and YouTube live streaming reaching 100M+ TV households).

The go-to-market approach is community-led, combining celebrity athlete ownership, league-level media exposure, and grassroots infrastructure development — owners Giovinco and Di Gironimo plan to open T10 Padel, the first dedicated padel courts in Toronto. The team operates with 1-10 employees, plays home matches at a neutral Florida venue rather than in Toronto, and has not disclosed ticket pricing, merchandise unit economics, or financial results. Distribution is multi-channel: live match attendance (via Eventbrite), e-commerce, television broadcast, and free YouTube streaming, with marketing concentrated in owned digital properties, social media, and earned coverage in major Canadian outlets (Globe and Mail, Toronto Star, Sportsnet, TSN, CBC).

Name

Toronto Polar Bears

Legal name

Toronto Polar Bears™

Website

https://torontopolarbears.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2023

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Toronto Polar Bears is Canada's only professional padel franchise, competing in the Pro Padel League (PPL). Founded in 2023, the team generates revenue from tickets, sponsorships, merchandise, and broadcast rights, serving padel fans across North America.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Headquarters

HQ city

Toronto

HQ country

Canada

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure, Others

Revenue model

1. Ticket Sales and Match Revenue: The team generates revenue through ticket sales for PPL regular season and championship matches held at the Sarah Vande Berg Tennis & Wellness Center in Zephyrhills, Florida. Revenue is shared across the league's seven franchises.
2. Sponsorship and Advertising: Corporate sponsorship deals with companies including a.p.i. Alarm Inc., Alarm.com, and Canaccord Genuity Corp. displayed on team website and uniforms. Merrill Wealth Management serves as the Founding Sponsor of the PPL.
3. Merchandise Sales: Official merchandise store (shop.torontopolarbears.com) selling branded apparel and fan gear to generate direct-to-consumer revenue.
4. Broadcasting and Media Rights: PPL matches aired on CBS Sports Network, Bloomberg TV, BeIN Sports, TSN, and live-streamed on YouTube. Broadcasting revenue shared among league franchises.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels7 records

Core offering

Toronto Polar Bears is a professional padel sports franchise that fields a co-ed team (men's, women's, and mixed doubles) competing in the Pro Padel League's regular season and championship playoffs at the Sarah Vande Berg Tennis & Wellness Center in Zephyrhills, Florida. The team also operates an official e-commerce merchandise store selling branded apparel and fan gear to consumers worldwide.

Product overview

Toronto Polar Bears operates as a professional padel sports franchise and is Canada's only professional padel team competing in the Pro Padel League (PPL). The organization's offerings consist of: (1) a professional padel team competing in co-ed league matches across regular season and championship playoffs; and (2) an e-commerce merchandise store for branded fan merchandise. The team was founded in January 2023 with Zale Turner as founder, majority owner, President and CEO, alongside co-owners including former MLS MVP Sebastian Giovinco and sports/entertainment executive Rick Di Gironimo.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Toronto Polar Bears Professional Padel Team Canada's only professional padel team competing in the Pro Padel League (PPL), featuring co-ed competition across men's, women's, and mixed doubles matches in a regular season and championship playoffs. Targeted at padel fans, sports spectators, and the broader North American sports-entertainment audience.
• Official Merchandise Store Direct-to-consumer e-commerce store at shop.torontopolarbears.com selling official Toronto Polar Bears branded apparel and fan merchandise to consumers.

Named customers1 record

Segments1 record

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

Three partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• Sarah Vande Berg (SVB) Tennis & Wellness CentercoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 April 2023The SVB Tennis & Wellness Center in Zephyrhills, Florida serves as the official venue for PPL's inaugural and subsequent seasons (2023, 2024). The facility, operated by owner Pascal Collard, hosts all seven team matches across five regular season weekends plus championship weekend. It is described as one of the top facilities in Florida and the U.S.
• Adrian MoralesminorOthers · 1 January 2023Adrian Morales, a Spanish padel enthusiast based in Toronto, is the Head Manager of the Toronto Polar Bears. Frustrated by the lack of padel courts in Canada after relocating from Spain, Morales became the team's general manager and hopes to become a professional padel player.
• Pro Padel League (PPL)coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2023The Toronto Polar Bears is a franchise team within the Pro Padel League (PPL), North America's first professional padel league. The PPL owns and operates the league structure, manages broadcast rights (CBS Sports, Bloomberg TV), organizes the player draft, and coordinates the season schedule across all seven franchises. The Toronto Polar Bears operates under the PPL's league governance and revenue-sharing model.

Scale indicators5 records

Recent moves7 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Arkansas Matrix: One of the seven inaugural PPL franchises. Direct peer competing under identical league economics and match format.
• New York Atlantics: PPL franchise that joined the league after the inaugural 2023 season. Direct peer under the same PPL league structure and franchise economics.
• Los Angeles Beat: Original PPL franchise and direct league peer. Comparable professional padel team competing under identical league economics, broadcast distribution, and athlete draft structure.
• Miami Padel Club: One of the seven original PPL franchises and direct league peer. Competes in the same co-ed padel format, shares league broadcast and sponsorship revenue, and operates under the same PPL governance framework as Toronto Polar Bears.
• Cancun Waves: PPL inaugural franchise that reached the 2023 championship match. Direct peer in league competition, revenue sharing, and broadcast exposure.
• Las Vegas Smash: Fellow PPL franchise that won the inaugural 2023 PPL Cup. Operates under identical league structure, revenue sharing, and match format as Toronto Polar Bears, making it the closest direct comparison for franchise economics and team performance.
• San Diego Stingrays: PPL co-founder franchise and direct league peer. Competes in identical league structure with shared broadcast rights and revenue pooling, providing direct franchise-level comparability.

Broad incumbents

• Premier Padel: Global professional padel tour sanctioned by the International Padel Federation (FIP). Represents the dominant global padel competition circuit, providing a benchmark for padel player economics and broadcast scale that PPL aspires to match in North America.
• World Padel Tour (WPT): Historic global professional padel circuit (later merged with Premier Padel). Comparable professional padel competition format with established broadcast deals and player rankings, serving as a structural reference for PPL's league model.
• Major League Pickleball: Premier North American pickleball league with team-based franchise model similar to PPL. Comparable emerging-racket-sport league economics, but pickleball is more established in the U.S., making MLP a benchmark for PPL's potential scale.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• YouTubeyoutube.com/@propadelleague
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/toronto-polar-bears

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles2 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds1 record

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Toronto Polar Bears