ATP Implements Series Of Changes Meant To Boost Popularity

Solomon Sees ATP Initiatives As Sign Of Progress

The ATP has announced a series of initiatives designed to enhance player and fan experiences at tournaments. Beginning in ’07, the minimum prize money will increase 10%, the first prize money increase since ’00; some tournaments will start on Sunday rather than Monday and feature a round-robin format; and most matches will be best-of-three sets as opposed to the current best-of-five. The ATP will also establish a multimillion-dollar marketing fund (ATP). SPORTSBUSINESS JOURNAL’s Daniel Kaplan reports the annual marketing budget is set at $4M. Prize money next year will total $64.1M, up 6.3% from $60.3M this year. The new Sunday starts will allow events to include pro-ams, charity and family functions, “part of big push by the ATP to turn events into entertainment festivals and not just tennis tournaments.” Overall, the changes are meant to “shake up men’s tennis and make the game more appealing to broadcasters and fans.” The Tennis Channel CEO Ken Solomon: “In terms of trying to create a consistent fan experience and a more consistent length of match on television, you have to say this is progress” (SBJ, 8/28 issue).

COMMENT FROM THE TOUR: ATP Tour President & Chair Etienne de Villiers: “We plan to transform men’s tennis into an integrated entertainment business based on what makes sense to fans, players, tournaments and media” (South Florida SUN-SENTINEL, 8/28). de Villiers said of currently starting tournaments on Mondays, “We’re in the entertainment business. Why open your event on the worst day of the week? We’re hoping that [20-30%] of our events will use the Sunday start in 2007, and it will be mandatory by 2009.” He added that events that were “close to Grand Slams or Davis Cup weeks would be granted exceptions.” ATPer Vince Spadea said that when the moves were announced to players, “the reaction in the room was generally positive” to the tournament format changes, but “not quite as positive as the reaction” to the prize money increase (N.Y. TIMES, 8/27).