The eight-city North American Senior Men's Tennis Tour
is scheduled to announce today in N.Y. that Success Magazine
will be its umbrella sponsor, according to the
SportsBusiness Journal's Daniel Kaplan in an exclusive for
THE DAILY. Success Magazine, which covers business and
entrepreneurial issues, is dormant but plans to relaunch in
June. The Tour, which will now be called the Success
Magazine Tour, has been without an umbrella sponsor for over
a year, since John Nuveen & Co. did not renew its deal.
Terms of the Success deal were not disclosed (THE DAILY).
IS THIS CUP HALF EMPTY? TENNIS' Andrea Leand reports
that ISL, which last year "bought the promotion rights" to
Fed Cup through 2005 from the ITF for $20M, has "come up
empty in recruiting the sugar-daddy equivalent" to Davis Cup
sponsor NEC. The ITF's national federations are "reluctant
to kick in because" Fed Cup has "never turned a profit"
since its inception in '63. Leand: "The root of the
problem? Player apathy -- even more so than on the men's
side. Last year, only five of the Top 10 women participated
[in Fed Cup]." But ISL Managing Dir of Tennis Chris Rennert
said that he's "close to making a deal" with ESPN to
televise the 2000 final, and "several U.S. sites have shown
interest in hosting the event" (TENNIS, 5/00 issue).
