Tennis Country: Now a Network

onair

The USTA recently announced that they had invested millions in The Tennis Channel, an American cable tennis channel. Earlier in 2006, the USTA invested in the Pacific Life Open in Indian Wells, California to help insure that the struggling event remained in the U.S. The mandate of the USTA is to support the growth of tennis in the U.S. Clearly, a TV network devoted to tennis programming appeals to tennis fans and may attract new fans over time. At the same time, a major nationally-televised tennis tournament also appeals to tennis fans and possibly broadens tennis’ appeal to general sports fans. However, the lines are starting to become a bit blurry. What should be the role of a non-profit national tennis association, aka the USTA, versus free enterprise and the business world at large? What about investing in other weak U.S. tennis tournaments or a tennis magazine or even a tennis website? All clearly support the needs of tennis fans and help "grow" the game. So are all of them really worthy of financial support from the USTA and how should they make their investment decisions? Or perhaps, the USTA's money should instead be focused entirely on junior development and community tennis initiatives?

Posted by TC at 08:39 AM |

Recent Posts

Categories

Archives

December 18, 2006

Now a Network

Email to a friend

Search

Clubhouse