Like many organizations across the sports industry, the USTA experienced a rough but also rewarding '20, characterized by layoffs and a restructuring of the large organization, but also the successful hosting of the U.S. Open. On the latest episode of "SBJ Unpacks: The Road Ahead," USTA CEO and Exec Dir Michael Dowse joined our Bret McCormick to talk about the tumultuous season.
On restructuring the USTA:
Dowse: One of the charges that was given to me by our board was to look at how could we optimize our organization. After doing an assessment I just realized we had too many layers. We were heavy in staff, and we were duplicating our efforts both at our national staff and at our sections. Then you layer in the financial challenges that COVID layered onto the organization and it did result in a pretty significant reorg. We parted ways with over 23% of our organization, but what it’s allowed us to do is be much more focused on our strategic priorities. One of the big things we’re talking about is our mission has always been to promote and grow the sport of tennis, but frankly I think we had a bias of promoting and growing USTA tennis versus any and all tennis. Our new organization and structure is really focused on servicing the entire industry.
On the USTA’s goal in supporting racial justice and diversity and inclusion efforts:
Dowse: We feel like the U.S. Open specifically is a great platform to help promote social justice, but also what we really can control is at the end of the day, tennis needs to reflect our broader society in the U.S. It doesn’t today. There’s the perception that we’re an elitist sport, which is unfortunate because tennis really has no barriers to entry. It’s relatively inexpensive with the millions of public courts we have both through parks and high schools. You can buy a fabulous entry level tennis racket now for under $50, and a can of tennis balls is still around $2 per can.
On communicating with the other Grand Slams about best COVID protocols:
Dowse: We’ve been in constant contact with them, and not just the Australian Open but our peers at the other Slams as well. We have bi-weekly calls with Roland Garros, Wimbledon, Tennis Australia and ourselves, and in those meetings we are sharing best practices. They have different nuances and circumstances as all our Slams do with the different governments we’re working with, but there were some learnings at the U.S. Open and at Roland Garros that have been shared with Tennis Australia. We’re excited to hear that right now it’s a green light. It’s been pushed back a few weeks, but it looks like we’re going to be able to pull this thing off, which is really good for our sport.
