Barclays to sponsor ATP World Tour Finals in £17m deal
 

The ATP, governing body for the men's professional ATP tennis circuit, has announced that Barclays will be the title sponsor of the ATP World Tour Finals from 2009.

As part of the 2009 restructuring of men's tennis, the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals will replace the Tennis Masters Cup, currently held in Shanghai's Qi Zhong Tennis Center, as the ATP Tour's season finale. The Barclays ATP World Tour Finals will be held in London's O2 Arena in November 2009 and will feature the world's best eight singles players and eight doubles teams competing to become the number one player of the year. The five year deal includes the option to extend to eight years and is worth around £3.5 ($7) million a year. Television coverage of the 2007 Tennis Masters Cup was distributed to over 166 countries and watched by a cumulative worldwide audience of 50 million people. Platform Elizabeth G. Chambers, Chief Marketing Officer, Global Retail and Commercial Banking at Barclays noted the benefits that the sponsorship would provide to the global bank: "We are very pleased to be bringing the ATP Barclays World Tour Finals to London next year. " It provides a solid platform for Barclays to deepen our relationships with key clients in line with our growth strategy, while also heightening our global profile," she said. Commenting on the announcement, Etienne de Villiers, Executive Chairman of the ATP said: "I am delighted to welcome Barclays as the new title sponsor and partner of the ATP World Tour Finals. Our objective was to find a sponsor for our premier ATP event that was a global leader and we have achieved that. Men's tennis is on the verge of exciting and unprecedented change, designed   to unlock the vast potential of our sport and I am thrilled that our new partner, Barclays, shares in that vision for the future". The ATP World Tour Finals will form part of the Barclays global sponsorship strategy. The strategy is designed to reflect the interests of the Group's customers, clients and stakeholders around the world and to help it contribute to all of the communities in which it operates. Specialist It's worth noting that Barclays is actively involved in both community and professional sports. Sporting events are of interest to Barclays customers, says the bank, and provide the Group with significant opportunities to build the Barclays brand around the world. Barclays has a specialist team dedicated to strategically leveraging sponsorships. Other major sponsorships include the Barclays Premier League (football), the Barclays Classic (golf), Barclays Churchill Cup (rugby) and the Barclays Dubai Tennis Championships (tennis).