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CVC Capital Partners is in talks over a $ 600 million deal that would bring together men’s and women’s pro tennis calendars and allow the private equity firm to participate in the sport.
According to the proposals, CVC would take a 15% stake in One Tennis, a new entity created to manage media and data rights for both tours, according to people familiar with the proposals, valued at $ 4 billion.
The Association of Tennis Professionals and the Women’s Tennis Association, the governing bodies of the tours, would remain as separate entities and would be in charge of sports decisions.
But they would coordinate schedules for players and women to participate in more of the same events, as they do in the “majors”: the four elite tournaments, including Wimbledon and the US Open, which have a separate governing body.
If agreed, the deal would be a first foray into tennis for CVC, a Luxembourg-based private equity group that has been pushing sports offerings around the world, including football, rugby, volleyball. , basketball and motor racing.
The company used to own Formula One and MotoGP and has bought from Six Nations, Premiership Rugby and Pro 14 rugby tournaments as well as the International Volleyball Federation. He has held talks to invest in the Italian Serie A football league, the German Bundesliga and the San Antonio Spurs basketball team.
CVC’s recent strategy has been to try to acquire minority stakes in leading competitions in an effort to gain enough influence to take over the commercial management of sports leagues and tournaments and pool media rights packages to sell worldwide.
CVC declined to comment.
The ATP tour consists of 64 tournaments in 31 countries, while the WTA, founded by Billie Jean King in 1973, has more than 50.
Under the proposed agreement, One Tennis would manage the broadcast rights to the tournaments of both bodies, as well as the rights to sell data to gambling companies.
The ATP has a contract with IMG for betting data, while the WTA has an agreement with Stats Perform, which could be monitored by One Tennis if the operation goes ahead.
Mark Webster, executive director of ATP Media’s ATP Media sales and outreach group, has been scheduled to lead One Tennis, and ATP Media will become part of the new entity, said a person familiar with the matter.
One of the people said an agreement could be reached as early as this month. Its goal is to create an entity that can eventually offer the management of data rights and media for Grand Slam tournaments, they added.
The WTA and ATP said they were “continuously looking for ways to bring the sport closer in order to provide an enhanced experience for fans, players and tournaments.” They added: “By working together, we believe there can be important opportunities and we are exploring all options. These are preliminary stages and any opportunities will be assessed in close consultation with our respective stakeholders.”
Both organizations were forced to suspend tournaments last year due to the coronavirus pandemic. Sky News first reported on the news of the talks
Andrea Gaudenzi, president of the ATP, told the Financial Times last year that he was in favor merging ATP and WTA. Roger Federer, who shares the record for winning 20 major titles, and Billie Jean King have also spoken out in favor of a merger.
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