End of 2011 season thoughts

philwrig · Hall of fame

RE: End of 2011 season thoughts

jb288 · Satellite level

Well precisely Phil! Why not make Roehampton pay its way by hosting multiple tournaments (an 8-week run of 25ks like in Oz, say!); the income that would generate for the NTC would be pretty good, surely?

philwrig · Hall of fame

That makes too much sense.

Ratty · County player

Er, how does putting on a $25K generate income?

RBBOT · Futures qualifying

It obviously wouldn't work here.

For the Turkish scenario it works because:

a) they get the income from the hotels to cover the cost of the tournament
b) they are beach holiday hotels, so they probably make additional money offering coaching to tourists from the pros competing
c) out of season empty rooms would be costing them money otherwise
d) its all in one place so the competitors will stay for multiple weeks rather than leaving once knocked out, increasing the hotel revenue - if the LTA put all their tournaments in one place they'd get complaints about not giving the rest of the country fair access
e) Turkish wages for the tournament staff are a lot cheaper than the UK equivalents
f) warm winter weather makes it an attractive place to be

When's the last time anyone took a holiday in Roehamption?

-- Edited by RBBOT on Monday 12th of December 2011 10:00:36 PM

jb288 · Satellite level

As someone who's had holidays in Milton Keynes and East Grinstead I'm not the best person to answer that :p

I suppose you're right, but still the principle of a kind of three-tier system of a) year-round British Tour; b) 15-20 or so 10 & 25ks (added together) and c) a couple of bigger ITFs/WTAs would be the best for reducing the need for central funding and allowing players to pay their own way.

Peter too · Tennis legend

University Halls of residence are largely unused for several months every summer and could be hired quite cheaply to provide accommodation for outdoor tournaments. Hotels in costal resorts could provide accommodation cheaply for indoor tournaments in the winter months. It just needs suitable sports venues near the available accommodation.

indiana · Tennis legend

jb288 wrote:
As someone who's had holidays in Milton Keynes and East Grinstead I'm not the best person to answer that :p

I suppose you're right, but still the principle of a kind of three-tier system of a) year-round British Tour; b) 15-20 or so 10 & 25ks (added together) and c) a couple of bigger ITFs/WTAs would be the best for reducing the need for central funding and allowing players to pay their own way.

Would be great to have some more British tournaments, but there still remains basically the question Ratty asked : How do they generate income ?

As far as I can see they don't. They cost and rather a lot.

Assuming, especially in these times, they are not going to get company sponsorship, must come down to the LTA subsidising them. I'm not quite up on what the LTA funds are like.

Paying for additional tournaments would seem to me to be far more than anything saved in some reduced central funding of players.

-- Edited by indiana on Tuesday 13th of December 2011 12:29:57 AM

Shhh · Challenger level

The British Tour itself takes up a lot of money. It has an important role to play in the mix of things but, despite all the upgrading and improvements, it's usual for just a couple of players with more than 5 ranking points to enter.

I follow the British Tour but, if it was a financial choice between losing a dozen of events there, to add half a dozen Futures to the circuit would it be worth it?