Fiend at Court Unplugged
Televised tennis in the United States is not at all viewer friendly. Fragmented coverage is spread across whatever network happens to own the rights to the sport in any given week. It is a is a real problem for the overall tennis ecosystem. In order to increase participation in any sport, prospective players have to be exposed to it. Television broadcasts are an effective way to raise awareness and attract participation. All sports are filled with stories of how a player watched it in their youth that sparked their dreams to play at the highest level.
In May of this year, the “No Challenges Remaining” podcast ran an interview with Donald Dell, one of the founding fathers of the ATP tour and a former player. Among his many sporting accomplishments, Dell wrote two books that are considered seminal sports marketing resources. His sports management firm was one of the first in the industry. Dell remains a critical thought leader for the business side of professional tennis and is still active in contract negotiations for tennis broadcast rights.
A central theme from Dell’s interview is the fragmented nature of professional tennis. For example, the four Grand Slam tournaments are each independent business organizations that separately negotiate television rights to their events. ATP and WTA tournaments are negotiated independently from the Grand Slams and each other. That is how tennis winds up on an amalgamation of channels resulting in a disjointed television viewing experience. Ultimately that lowers viewership and ratings.
When ESPN broadcasts a Grand Slam such as Wimbledon, there is no concern for building interest in next week’s professional tour events or tennis in general. It is all about maximizing viewership in the present moment. If tennis becomes less popular in the future, which it certainly will when Roger Federer retires, it is actually good for the media networks. The pricing for broadcast rights will inevitably plummet. That is a problem for tennis.
In the most recently concluded fortnight, with a live men’s doubles match playing on a stadium court at Wimbledon, ESPN chose to rerun the ouster of Federer that occurred earlier in the week. It is a decision that makes perfect business sense for ESPN. A casual fan flipping channels is more likely to pause on a Federer match than on one between relatively unknown players. Unfortunately, that decision keeps tennis from elevating the profiles of the future stars of the game.
According to Dell, in the United States tennis is at best the 9th most popular televised sport. In the rest of the world, tennis fares much better typically ranking 2nd or 3rd. That fact is the answer to the question of why tennis isn’t attracting the best male athletes in the United States. With many male sports dominating the domestic airspace, it should shock no one that tennis isn’t attracting the most talented men.
Currently the American women tennis players are a significantly stronger cohort than the men. The television rankings also explain why that is the case. Tennis is one of the best opportunities for women to play professional sports. When the media rankings are adjusted to remove male only playing opportunities, tennis arguably enjoys the highest media exposure for women competing in sports. Women are indeed flocking to the sports that are most visible and available to them.
I plan to examine some of the hurdles facing tennis viewership in the United States. Spoiler alert! There are no easy solutions. It is a real problem for tennis.
- Donald Dell, No Challenges Remaining Podcast, Episode 299b, May 13, 2021.
