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PASSING SHOT: ATP AND WTA RESOLVE SCHEDULING CONFLICT

          The ATP Tour and Corel WTA Tour have resolved a
     scheduling conflict between the two season-ending
     championships on the men's and women's tours.  The ATP Tour
     will move its '98 ATP Tour World Championship in Hannover,
     Germany, to the week of November 23, while the women's Chase
     Championships will be played the week of November 16.  There
     is no scheduling conflict this year because the ATP
     championship will be played the week of November 10 and the
     Corel WTA championship the week of November 17 (WTA Tour).
          DADDY BUTCH: The process of transferring ownership of
     the ATP Tour's Pilot Pen International in CT from Jim
     Westhall to Butch Buchholz was examined by Greg Garber of
     the HARTFORD COURANT.  In convincing Buchholz to take over
     the event, Yale agreed to increase its commitment to the
     tournament for '97 from $85,000 to $125,000 and later
     secured GE, Yale-New Haven Health Systems, Inc., People's
     Bank, SNET and the law firm of Day, Berry and Howard as new
     sponsors.  With an additional $50,000 from Yale, the school
     secured new commitments for '97 worth $390,000.  The school
     would also grant Buchholz a license to market Yale's name,
     something Westhall was never granted.  In addition, a new
     lease deal has Buchholz paying around $250,000 for use of
     the CT Tennis Center, "instead of" the previous "annual
     facility fee in excess of $300,000" (HARTFORD COURANT,
     8/10).  Since Buchholz had only three-and-a-half months to
     "pull things together," the COURANT's Garber wrote it will
     "almost certainly" lead to the lowest attendance since the
     event moved to New Haven in '90.  In all, 190 box holders
     didn't renew their seat commitment this year, and Buchholz
     "is not selling boxes on a daily basis -- a long-range
     decision that will cost him $300,000 this year."  While he
     has spent $250,000 on advertising, the tournament "is
     notably short on marquee names" (HARTFORD COURANT, 8/10). 
          NOTES: Prize money for the '98 Great American Insurance
     ATP Championship in Cincinnati will increase from $2.3M to
     $2.45M.  Associate Tournament Dir Bruce Flory: "We can't
     just raise ticket prices.  It means that we have to go after
     more sponsors and that's my job" (CINCINNATI ENQUIRER,
     8/10)....Tennis Canada "is footing a big chunk" of the TV
     coverage of this week's du Maurier Open women's tennis
     tournament in Toronto, but the national association "says it
     expects to break even," according to William Houston of the
     Toronto GLOBE & MAIL.  Tennis Canada is paying for TV
     technical resources and receives commercial time in return
     on TSN and CTV.  Stacey Allaster, Tennis Canada's Dir of
     Corporate Sales & Marketing, said that the ad revenue "will
     pay for its investment."  The total cost to Tennis Canada
     for providing equipment for both the men's and women's du
     Maurier this summer is $300,000 (GLOBE & MAIL, 8/12).

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