(Un)Desirable Tennis Tournament Sponsors...
It’s late in the season for tennis pros, but there’s still plenty of money and rankings points at stake at the two ATP World Tour tournaments in Valencia, Spain and Basel, Switzerland. Part of that money is courtesy of Bet-at-Home.com, which is a sponsor in Valencia, and Davidoff cigarettes, which is a sponsor in Basel.
Given the concerns in professional tennis the past few years regarding online betting, it’s
quite surprising that tournaments are (still) allowed to accept sponsorship money from betting companies. In fact, there’s information on the homepage of the official Valencia tournament website which promotes betting on specific matches in the tournament. Valencia is not the only tournament with a betting sponsor. On the 2010 Australian Open website, Betfair is listed as the “Official Sports Betting Operator” of the tournament.
In Basel, there are issues surrounding the sponsorship of the event by Davidoff, which sells cigarettes, cigars and aftershave. In 2005, the European Union banned tobacco advertising, but Switzerland is not in the EU and tobacco sponsorship is legal. Nonetheless, there have been repercussions for the Basel tournament as Eurosport canceled its plans to televise the event because of pressure from French anti-tobacco protesters. A German satellite broadcaster is carrying the tournament instead. Anti-tobacco groups also apparently asked Roger Federer to withdraw from his hometown tournament, but he has not responded. In addition, Unesco, the UN's cultural arm, returned a donation from the tournament organizers and no longer wants to be associated with the Basel event.
The scenario regarding Davidoff’s sponsorship is reminiscent of the complaints about Virginia Slims, which was a major sponsor of women’s pro tennis for many years. As a sport, the feeling was that professional tennis should (always) be projecting a healthy lifestyle to its fans. Virginia Slims’ support was important in promoting women’s pro tennis at a critical stage in its development. At the same time, there was definitely a desire to shed the negative PR issues of having the Tour’s title sponsor be a cigarette company. It seemed tennis was moving away from “undesirable sponsors,” but clearly it’s a tough challenge for tournaments, especially in these tough economic times when they still need to fill the stands. That’s a rationalization, but still…
In Basel, there are issues surrounding the sponsorship of the event by Davidoff, which sells cigarettes, cigars and aftershave. In 2005, the European Union banned tobacco advertising, but Switzerland is not in the EU and tobacco sponsorship is legal. Nonetheless, there have been repercussions for the Basel tournament as Eurosport canceled its plans to televise the event because of pressure from French anti-tobacco protesters. A German satellite broadcaster is carrying the tournament instead. Anti-tobacco groups also apparently asked Roger Federer to withdraw from his hometown tournament, but he has not responded. In addition, Unesco, the UN's cultural arm, returned a donation from the tournament organizers and no longer wants to be associated with the Basel event.
The scenario regarding Davidoff’s sponsorship is reminiscent of the complaints about Virginia Slims, which was a major sponsor of women’s pro tennis for many years. As a sport, the feeling was that professional tennis should (always) be projecting a healthy lifestyle to its fans. Virginia Slims’ support was important in promoting women’s pro tennis at a critical stage in its development. At the same time, there was definitely a desire to shed the negative PR issues of having the Tour’s title sponsor be a cigarette company. It seemed tennis was moving away from “undesirable sponsors,” but clearly it’s a tough challenge for tournaments, especially in these tough economic times when they still need to fill the stands. That’s a rationalization, but still…
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Comments
There is obviously a lot to learn. There are some good points here.
Posted by: MrBarns | February 1, 2010 06:43 PM