Tennis News You Can Use
The USPTA released preliminary financial data for 2020 in the April edition of ADDVantage magazine. In a summary introduction of the information, USPTA CEO John R Embree indicated that it was shared in an effort to be fully transparent about the financial performance of the organization. This same data will eventually be publicly available once the USPTA’s IRS Form 990 goes on record. It is commendable that the USPTA is has delivered a summary of the organization’s finances in a reader friendly format directly to its membership. Most people are not aware that IRS 990s are public data and even fewer ever bother to take a look at them.
The information from the USPTA is generally encouraging. The cynic in me can’t suppress the observation that it is a lot easier to be transparent when the news reflects relatively strong financial performance. Additionally, the USPTA is the first tennis related organization that has publicly released 2020 financial information. It may be a bellwether for how the rest of the industry is likely to also come in.
In 2020, the USPTA had anticipated revenues of slightly less than $5.1 million. That number was forecasted and budgeted lone before the COVID-19 pandemic started. The actual revenues came in at $4.3 million. That is a drop of slightly more than $800 thousand dollars which is 16% less than originally expected.
On the expenses side, the USPTA had budgeted $5.1 million 2020. It is interesting that the organization had apparently budgeted to run at a slight deficit in 2020. However, the organization was able to reduce expenses throughout the year by about $971 thousand. Consequently, the organization achieved a positive cash flow in 2020. Embree touted the fact that it was the 8th consecutive year that the USPTA had been cash flow positive. However, it is more noteworthy that the streak was maintained in 2020.
For the sake of transparency, I am a USPTA member. I do not have a lengthy history with the organization to make long term comparisons, but I did not perceive a drop off in services provided by the organization to the members that it serves in 2020.
The IRS has extended 2020 filing deadlines this year as a concession to the disruption of the COVID-19 pandemic. As a result, tennis industry financial data is likely to trickle in at a slower rate than usual over the coming months. It will be some time before the extent of the financial impacts are fully known.
- USPTA 2020 Financials, John R Embree, AADVantage Magazine, April 2021.
