Corona crisis: Why the small tennis tournaments are fighting for survival
What's next in the tennis year 2020? There are currently no answers, but one thing is clear: the smaller tournaments in particular face an uncertain future.
by Florian Goosmann
last edit: Apr 05, 2020, 04:29 pm
Wimbledon - canceled. The French Open - postponed. The US Open - still on schedule, but is now being turned into a hospital to help New York fight the corona virus. Nothing can be planned at the moment, whether tennis will even be seen again in 2020 seems questionable.
Especially for the smaller tournaments. "It's not like in football where 60 or 70 percent of the revenue comes from television and other media," Edwin Weindorfer recently told The New York Times . Weindorfer is behind the tournaments at the Stuttgart Weissenhof, in Berlin and Mallorca. "It's more like that 70 percent come from sponsors, at least in the lower categories. We are more affected than other sports when sponsors are weak."
Weindorfer had already ruled out in the tennisnet podcast that his tournaments in Stuttgart and Berlin could take place without spectators. Even if the ATP had asked to explore all possibilities. "It can't be played with full prize money," said Alex Antonitsch, tournament director of the Generali Open in Kitzbühel about possible ghost games.
250 tournaments: "A medium-sized sponsor away from landing in the red"
Bill Oakes, former tournament director of the Winston-Salem Open and chairman of the ATP 250 tournaments, told the New York Times that 250 tournament tournaments could make an average net profit of $ 125,000 - on a budget of $ 4 million -Dollar (which includes prize money, entry fees, instant maintenance, catering and Co.). In the 500 tournaments, on the other hand, there is talk of a profit of $ 1.1 million, in the Masters 1000 tournaments there are around 6 million.
"The average 250cc tournament is a medium-sized sponsor from being in the red," says Oakes. "Every tournament has to be very concerned about what's going to happen at the moment." Another point is of course the license fee. If a tournament cannot normally be held, the sale threatens.
Corona virus: No insurance
13 out of 38 tournaments in the 250cc category would have lost money in 2018, at a time without corona, the New York Times continues. "It makes a difference whether you are Indian Wells and Larry Ellison provides the financial means - or whether you are the Winston-Salem Open," continues Oakes.
However, insurance like the one Wimbledon had taken out is too expensive for many, with annual fees for ATP and WTA events between US $ 200,000 and US $ 700,000. "We have insurance against earthquakes or terrorism," said Weindorfer. "But no tournament I know has insurance against this virus. Nothing works."