Corona Extra Deal A Big Step Forward For ATP World Tour's Image

At a time when the global economy "continues to teeter on the brink," the ATP World Tour's deal with Corona Extra is a "big deal," according to James Martin of ESPN.com. Beyond the "dollars and sense, this deal is a huge step forward for the game's image," as tennis has been "considered a country-club sport." Despite the "growth of the game in public parks, tennis continues to be saddled with its elitist image," and one reason is that the sport's business side "has a long tradition of signing up luxury brands, such as Lexus, Mercedes and Rolex." But Corona "will allow the men's tour to speak to a much larger demographic -- the highly coveted Joe Sixpacks of the world." Corona was a "smart choice" as a beer brand, as it  is a "savvy company that practically invented Cinco de Mayo" in the U.S. Marketing "smarts like this will only help men's tennis." It might take some time "getting used to seeing the Corona Extra logo on the nets," as "about two-thirds of the tour's tournaments will have them by 2011." But the Corona deal "represents two truths: beer is good, and beer is even better in a bad economy" (ESPN.com, 2/24).