Add-In: USTA Eyes Spring Version Of Successful U.S. Open Series

Kantarian Eying New Spring Tennis Series

USTA Chief Exec of Professional Tennis Arlen Kantarian, "the architect'' behind the USTA's summer U.S. Open series, believes that "setting up a 'Spring U.S. Open Series' could yield similar results," according to Dan Weil of TENNIS. Kantarian indicated that ESPN2 ratings last year for the Pacific Life Open and the Sony Ericsson Open, which would "be the highlights of the spring series, lagged behind the network's ratings for its summer series." Nielsen ratings show that the Pacific Life Open, which has the highest attendance of any non-major tournament, trailed the U.S. Open Series ratings by 43%, while ratings for the Sony Ericsson Open trailed by 32%. Those two events, in addition to six ATP and Sony Ericsson WTA Tour tournaments played in the U.S. from February to April, would form the spring series. However, Kantarian has a "ways to go before he turns his vision into reality," as he must "convince not only TV broadcasters, but the ATP, WTA, and each of the tournaments to get on board." Pacific Life Open Tournament Dir Steve Simon: "We need to understand what it can do and does it make business sense. We welcome the opportunity to work with the USTA." Weil notes Kantarian "acknowledges the obstacles yet remains 'encouraged' that a spring series will get off the ground, in 2009 at the earliest" (TENNIS, 03/'08 issue).