Octagon Moves WTA Event At The Home Depot Center To San Diego

WTA Event Leaving Home Depot Tennis Center Pending A Site Inspection Of La Costa Resort

The Sony Ericsson WTA Tour L.A. Women's Tennis Championships "will move to San Diego County next summer," according to Bill Dwyre of the L.A. TIMES. The event, which has been held at The Home Depot Center since '03, starting next year will be held at La Costa resort in Carlsbad, pending a site inspection. Octagon has purchased the tournament, which had been owned jointly by AEG and the USTA. AEG gave Octagon an "option to keep the event" at The Home Depot Center, but Octagon "decided to go back to San Diego and La Costa." The final decision on the sale and event transfer was "made in WTA Tour meetings at the U.S. Open on Wednesday and probably will be made official today or Friday with the release of the 2010 tournament calendar." AEG COO Dan Beckerman yesterday said it was "difficult to attract enough top players to be a big attraction" in L.A. because it was a Tier II tournament. Beckerman also noted it was "hard to secure a title sponsor." The event next August "will offer $700,000 in prize money and be part of what the WTA calls the premier level" (L.A. TIMES, 9/3).