WTA Tour CEO Scott Says Championships Leaving L.A. In '05

Scott Says WTA Championships Moving Out Of L.A. In ‘05

WTA Tour CEO Larry Scott, in a press conference prior to the finals of the Bank of America WTA Tour Championships at Staples Center last night, said that the "plan for the tournament was to move out of [L.A.] in 2005," according to Lisa Dillman of the L.A. TIMES. AEG and Octagon each own 50% of the event, and while their contract is for seven years, "there had been a plan to review the progress after three years" in L.A. AEG President Tim Leiweke "was dismayed at the news becoming public just before the final," as it would "make the job of his sales team that much more difficult" if next year's event is viewed "as a lame duck." Scott also said that a delegation from China has "express[ed] interest in playing host to the tournament in 2005," and that there is also interest from Europe and other U.S. cities. Scott: "I think the initial strategy was that this event should move from time to time. It is the crown jewel of the tour circuit. It is a promotional opportunity to move it around the world." Leiweke: "You have somebody like our company and Octagon, to their credit, that have lost millions of dollars on this tournament, trying to build it over a period of time and make it work in L.A. Now at the same time, we were saying if we can't get it to a point of making sense in L.A., what do we do with it? But again, that was a private conversation we were having. I didn't know they were going to publicly announce that next year is our last year." More Leiweke: "They've got to fix tennis, because eventually what they're gonna do is they're going to drive people like us out. Because this is not a way to run a business" (L.A. TIMES, 11/11). But Octagon's John Arrix said, "It's important to build up the importance of the tournament globally, which we are doing, but leaving after three years is the plan" (TENNISREPORTERS.net, 11/10).

DIFFERING OPINIONS: Billie Jean King said of the event, "It takes five years to make an event, especially in [L.A.], Orange counties, because it's a big market" (L.A. DAILY NEWS, 11/10). Scott: "I wouldn't dispute what Billie Jean said but there are other objectives that have to be balanced. We've got different constituents in different parts of the world that need to be served. Being in [L.A.] is not the ideal time zone for our European television broadcast partners" (TENNISREPORTERS.net, 11/10).

SUCCESS? In L.A., Ramona Shelburne writes attendance at this year's event was up 57% per session "and players widely heralded the new round-robin format as a positive change" (L.A. DAILY NEWS, 11/11). Announced attendance at last night's final was 8,925 (L.A. TIMES, 11/11). Attendance of 8,825 at Sunday's semifinals was "bigger than the crowd on the corresponding day" last year (L.A. DAILY NEWS, 11/10).

CEREMONIOUS: There was a "tribute to 30 years of WTA history" held on Sunday, and the L.A. TIMES' Diane Pucin wrote, "All 13 of the women who have been ranked No. 1 over the last 30 years were invited to the ceremony. Eight showed up," including Justine Henin-Hardenne, Kim Clijsters, Jennifer Capriati, Lindsay Davenport, Martina Hingis, Tracy Austin, Martina Navratilova and Chris Evert. Those not attending were Venus and Serena Williams, Steffi Graf, Monica Seles and Arantxa Sanchez Vicario. King was also honored at the ceremony for her work in promoting women's tennis (L.A. TIMES, 11/10).

ANOTHER VOLLEY: Andre Agassi: "If I could change tennis, it would be organizing all the bodies of tennis. It's sort of absurd to have so many people, so many organizations, working separately — in some cases, arguably, even against each other — for sponsorship dollars, for air time, for branding. The game could stand a commissioner, there's no question about it." The AP's Howard Fendrich noted one example of conflicting interest among tennis' governing bodies came last night, as Agassi's opening match against Roger Federer at the season-ending Tennis Masters Cup in Houston was played at the same time as the WTA Tour Championships final. Agassi: "We have all these different groups that are sort of only interested in how their tournament does or how their tour does" (AP, 11/10).