League play has irreversibly transformed Adult tennis at the USTA. This weekend we have been exploring how Leagues became the top priority. Community Tennis Associations were established as the second organizational objective, and tennis tournaments brought up the rear. To wrap up this topic, it is now time to “follow the money” that fueled development across these three areas.
In his excellent book on the history of Tennis in Texas, “Cattle to Courts,” Ken McAllister noted that when the USTA unveiled Leagues in 1980, it was coincidental with the time when the USTA started to generate serious revenue from the US Open. This graph from tennis companion.org, illustrates that point.
Before (and after) the USTA started to generate so much income from the US Open, the organization was largely operated by a cadre of volunteers. However, prior to 1980, those volunteers paid their own expenses associated with supporting the organization. After that time, volunteers that did well in the organization had all their expenses to the annual meeting at the US Open (and other luxury venues) paid by the USTA.
The year by year US Open prize money is a reasonable proxy for revenue growth within the USTA over this time period. The organization’s objective was to make the US Open the premiere Grand Slam event. One way to establish “Alpha” superiority was by offering the highest prize money. The USTA was certainly not risking insolvency by doing so.
USTA League play benefitted from a massive influx of cash at the precise moment that it became the top priority of the organization. Leagues were front and center of the mission “to promote and develop the growth of tennis.” The USTA had the resources for extravagances like League National Championships. Those events also created luxury travel opportunities for the salaried staff and volunteers. Those were the same people that were making the strategic decisions for the organization including the future prioritization of USTA League play.
The rapid expansion of revenue was transformational to the USTA. However, close examination of the strategic priorities list reveals that it was framed as tennis delivery mechanisms rather than actual strategic elements. The financial reach of the organization may have exceeded its operational and accountability capacity during this period.
Because I am an “old guard conservative” in Ken McAllister’s terms, I value tennis tournaments as the pinnacle of competition in the sport. As such, any strategy that relegates tournaments to the point of near extinction is automatically regarded as fundamentally flawed.
A cohesive strategy for the USTA must necessarily include how Leagues, Community Tennis Associations, and tournaments work synergistically “to promote and develop the growth of tennis.” The key for the organization is to articulate how those delivery mechanisms work in concert for the benefit of the overall tennis ecosystem.
There is a lot of opportunity to do better in that regard.
- Cattle to Courts: A History of Tennis in Texas, Ken McAllister, 2019, pages 16-18.
The photo for today was from the USTA Texas 40+ Mixed Sectionals yesterday morning. It was taken by Stephanie Rodriguez.
You have been doing so well lately, I thought you had hired a proof reader. But in the next to last paragraph, you begin a quote but there is no close quote: “to promote and develop the growth of tennis.
Fun fact, I was also wondering if I had been doing better or had lost you as a reader. The change I made is having my computer read my posts back to me using voice-to-text. It significantly improves my personal editing, but isn’t effective on this type of error.