It's really late here in New Jersey, or really early depending on your perspective of what 1:37 AM means. I'm glad I'm still up, though, as three minutes ago, I received an e-mail from Andrew Walker, Vice President of Global Marketing and Communications for the Sony Ericsson Women's Tennis Association Tour.
The press release announced that Sony Ericsson was extending its global sponsorship of women's professional tennis through 2012. In the extension, Sony Ericsson will still be the primary sponsor and have the most prominent signage, but they are giving up the tour title sponsorship and also giving up title sponsorship of the year-ending tour championships.
So in a short time, the full name of the tour will revert to just the Women's Tennis Association Tour, or WTA Tour and the year-ending championships will not have any title sponsor. I've discussed the current world economic situation and its effect on the professional tennis industry here many times, and this is just another indication that while tennis remains a viable advertising and marketing medium, the sponsors are having to tighten their belts.
It was announced just last week that after the final tally, the Australian Open had its greatest ticket sales and attendance ever, and that the ticket sales were able to balance out the loss of sponsor and advertising revenues at this year's tournament. That is good news, but does show the revenue shift back to consumer sales, not B2B sales. This may not seem significant, but for both the ATP and WTA tours, it is critical.
If profitability is going to rest now on the attendance and ticket sales of the tournaments in a much greater proportion, then the tours,especially the WTA, need to recognize that the major players must absolutely keep their commitments, and also that the WTA Tour needs to build new stars and re-invigorate the old rivalries almost immediately. This shouldn't be a problem, given that Justine Henin and Kim Clijsters have returned with a bang, and it seems that the Williams sisters will be consistent contenders. Go any deeper, though, and there are problems.
A great example is the Monterrey Open that just concluded in Monterrey, Mexico. In the tier three WTA tournament, the relatively unknown Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova (RUS) defeated once-top-tier player Daniela Hantuchova (SVK) easily, 1-6, 6-1, 6-0. Hantuchova was a former top-five player and was once thought to have a shot at one of the major tournament titles. But she is still a dangerous player, and her 22nd ranking is deceptive. Her play and results, however, no longer make her an interesting story. Ditto for Ana Ivanovic and Jelena Jankovic, even though Jankovic currently is still in the top 10.
It may be unfortunate, but what sells the WTA tour is not only the tennis talent, but its off-court marketability. Hantuchova, Ivanovic, Maria Sharapova, and Maria Kirilenko are all model quality and winning on the court directly leads to their marketability off-court. Their marketability off-court directly feeds into the consumer base for the WTA tour. It's a hard balance, especially given that the most revenue generating players aren't going deep enough into most of the tournaments.
Anna Kournikova never won the big ones, and never made it to the final of a big one. But she did win, went deep into most tournaments she played, and was around often for the TV coverage. I remember going to the old A&P tournament in Mahwah when she played it and on her match days, the place was packed. This is part of what makes the WTA tour as watchable as it is.
The BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells is a perfect example. Neither Venus nor Serena Williams are here, sticking to their pledge to never return after the controversial comments and sneers made here a few years ago. The draw is nearly half empty, with most of the top seeds getting first-round byes in what is normally a full 128-player draw. Of the seeded players, Svetlana Kuznetsova is seeded first and the recognizable names are few and far between. Maria Sharapova is in the draw, as well as Kim Clijsters, but then it drops off quickly. Yes, the young, new faces of the tour are here, led by Agnieszka Radawanska and Victoria Azarenka, but they aren't draws yet.
In a week or so, we will know how the tournament fared and who the winner will be. Based on the draw, Kim Clijsters should come away with another Premier Mandatory Tour title. And based on the draw, I guess we have a new meaning for the word mandatory...
Leave a Comment