: Who's in Charge?

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There has been talk for years about establishing a tennis commissioner. Recently, Andre Agassi’s name has been thrown into the ring as a possible candidate for this position. One could debate the merits of Agassi and probably several other people connected with tennis, sports and even the general business world as possible commissioners. What role could and should a commissioner play in the sport of tennis? All the U.S. team sports, e.g. NBA, NFL, NHL, MLB have commissioners. These men work closely with the team owners and the players’ associations. They oversee contract negotiations for TV and sponsorship rights, deal with disciplinary issues and lead discussions regarding changes to the sport, rules etc. In theory, a tennis commissioner would work with the tournament directors and the ATP and WTA. However, tennis currently also has the ITF which has oversight for the Grand Slams and Davis Cup. The challenge in tennis has always been to get all the various factions to work together since often they have varied agendas. For the moment, although there are some TV and sponsorship deals that are tour-wide through the ATP or WTA, the majority of the sponsorship deals are done on the tournament level. Clearly, money and the tournament schedule would be the hot issues. There needs to be better coordination and some streamlining of the schedule. Most likely that would be easier for a more independent party to accomplish so here’s to hoping that the often adversarial factions in professional tennis can come together long enough to agree to create a position for a commissioner. Then the real debate can begin over who is the ideal candidate!

Posted by TC at 07:11 AM || Comments (16)

Comments

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