ESPN To Televise Portions Of Wimbledon Qualifiers For First Time

ESPN today officially announced that it "will televise parts of the Wimbledon qualifier rounds before the early July tournament" for the first time. The All England Lawn Tennis Club said that ESPN is "paying a rights fee for the new content." ESPN described its financial outlay as "directed to production costs." ESPN Exec VP/Programming & Scheduling Burke Magnus said that Maria Sharapova’s likely entry into the Wimbledon qualification tournament "did not play a role in the decision." ESPN does "not plan to air the qualification rounds at the U.S. Open, the other significant tennis tournament that the sports network carries" (SPORTSBUSINESS JOURNAL, 5/22 issue).