Tennis spending to total £350 million in 2009: report

Worldwide sponsorship spending on amateur and professional tennis tournaments, leagues and sanctioning bodies will total $581 million (about £350m) in 2009, a 1.3 percent increase from 2008, according to IEG Sponsorship Report, a leading US authority on sponsorship. Pressured by the global economic downturn and fallout from cutbacks in the financial services and automotive categories, the increase is down significantly from the eight percent rise in 2008 and 10 percent increase in 2007, says IEG.

Case in point: in the US, the ATP Los Angeles Open is going without a title sponsor this summer following the loss of mortgage crisis hit Countrywide Financial Corp., which was purchased by Bank of America Corp. last year. "Like other sports properties, tennis is not immune to the economic downturn. But the decline in spending by some key categories has been tempered by new money from both first-time and existing sponsors", said William Chipps, IEG Sponsorship Report's senior editor. Partnership For example, staffing outsourcer MPS Group, Inc. this year replaced Bausch & Lomb, Inc.'s long-running title of the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour stop in Amelia Island, Fla. and moved the event to Ponte Vedra Beach. In addition, online broker Scottrade, Inc. announced a new partnership with the ATP/WTA Sony Ericsson Open in Miami. On top of that, Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications AB recently renewed its three-year old title of the event through to 2011. Internationally, BNP Paribas earlier this year expanded its involvement in tennis by signing official partner status of the International Tennis Federation's NEC     Wheelchair Tennis Tour and Invacare World Team Cup. The bank sponsors a number of other tennis properties around the world, including the Davis Cup by BNP Paribas, the Fed Cup by BNP Paribas and the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, California. In addition to providing access to upscale audiences, tennis has benefited from increased tournament attendance, as well as growing popularity among younger consumers, Chipps added.