The O2 Arena will host the ATP Finals through '20.GETTY IMAGES
After a decade as the venue for the ATP Finals, London’s O2 Arena "will have to sing for its supper" after organizers announced a tender process for the next host of the event, according to Simon Briggs of the London TELEGRAPH. According to the ATP’s announcement on Wednesday, "Any interested parties must submit their official applications to the Sports Business Group at Deloitte by 2 November 2018... with a final decision to come not before March 2019." The O2 Arena "has already been confirmed" as the tournament's base until '20, which will be its 12th straight year in London. The city can "of course bid to continue its tenure," and the fact that more than 250,000 people usually show up for the eight-day event is a "powerful asset." But "the one thing that London cannot offer is a hefty state-funded guarantee." Cities like Beijing or Abu Dhabi "could potentially blow it out of the water with a giant pile of cash." ATP Exec Chair Chris Kermode "argued that the regular presence of sellout crowds gives the event an atmosphere and buzz which would be hard to replicate" in the Middle East or Asia. The value of the ATP Finals to British tennis "is enormous." The event, which is televised live on the BBC, "offers a vastly more accessible environment than Wimbledon or Queen’s, the two other male tournaments with comparably strong fields" (TELEGRAPH, 8/8).
