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).
