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WME-IMG Plans To Keep Miami Open At Crandon Park In Key Biscayne Despite Rumors

WME-IMG plans to keep the ATP/WTA Miami Open, which begins today, at Crandon Park in Key Biscayne, "despite the lack of progress in the fight to improve the event’s tropical tennis venue," according to Daniel Kaplan of SPORTSBUSINESS JOURNAL. After losing in court last year to an opponent of further development, the event’s lawyer called the tennis stop "as good as gone." However, WME-IMG, which owns the event, is "easing off the relocation talk." WME-IMG co-President Mark Shapiro said, "We have the full intention to be in Miami for decades to come." Questioned whether the tournament can make money if it cannot improve the facility, Shapiro replied, “Absolutely.” Kaplan notes concessions and hospitality are "housed in temporary venues, there is one stadium with no overhead protection from the piercing Florida sun, and many of the outer courts could be found at lower-level events on the tours." Well into the early '00s, the event "thrived as a near equal to the four Grand Slams." But a race for capital "ensued in tennis, and many events surpassed the Miami Open, most notably the BNP Paribas Open." WME-IMG won voter approval for $50M in enhancements, yet the Miami Open has been "unable to allocate" that (SPORTSBUSINESS JOURNAL, 3/20 issue).

WELCOME TO MIAMI: Shapiro said, "We’re not moving the tournament to Orlando or anywhere outside of Miami." In Miami, Susan Miller Degnan in a front-page piece notes the tournament "expects the more than 300,000 spectators it has drawn in each of the years" since '10. The Miami Open has seven years remaining on its lease with Miami-Dade County. Officials at the newly constructed USTA National Campus in Orlando have "openly said Orlando would gladly take the Miami Open if the aging tournament wanted to move, ensuring that the event would stay" in the U.S. (MIAMI HERALD, 3/22). Also in Miami, Greg Cote writes it "feels like the Miami Open has won." The tournament  is a "local treasure worth keeping, worth saving, and it’s good to hear the people running the tournament leave no doubt that they agree" (MIAMI HERALD, 3/22).

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