Prince Tennis Creditors Listed – IMG, Sharapova, The Bryans, and more…

Written by: Staff on 9th May 2012

Prince Tennis Creditors Listed - IMG, Sharapova, The Bryans, and more... |

Prince’s bankruptcy filing last week didn’t spare much of the tennis industry, with dozens of players, coaches, consultants, media and other tennis business being listed as creditors

Primary among them was Price’s once primary endorsee, Maria Sharapova, who opted out of her lifetime endorsement deal with Prince in December 2010 after complaining to her camp that the frame she was using was causing pain in her surgically repaired right shoulder.

Prince tried to convince Sharapova to stay with the company and even threatened to sue her, but later let her walk. She eventually signed a slightly less lucrative five-year contract with HEAD, which is in the range of $2 million per annum.

The Sports Business Journal reported that about two dozen players have endorsement contracts with Prince, which listed liabilities of between $50 million and $100 million.

Prince and its debt have been acquired by Authentic Brands Group, which is headed by turnaround specialist James Salter.

Prince’s tennis unit recorded $59 million in sales in 2011, accounting for 83% of the company’s revenue, but it has admittedly seen its market share decline.

Lagardère’s John Tobias told the SBJ that Prince had been late with payments in the past, but in the first quarter of this year paid up.

The company told him that his clients can expect to continue receiving their rackets as part of their deals, but did not mention whether endorsement fees would continue to be paid. Top doubles player Bob and Mike Bryan, as well as their father Wayne, are part of Tobias stable and are listed as Prince creditors.

Other notable players are listed as creditors include Daniela Hantuchova, Mona Barthel , Shahar Peer, Lisa Raymond, Gael Monfils, Viktor Troicki, Alex Bogomolov and Juan Carlos Ferrero.

The biggest creditor overall amongst companies is to be IMG, which is owed $273,090. Risk Point Consulting, which insures athlete endorsement deals, is owed $152,500.

Media outlets ESPN, Inside Tennis, Tennis Magazine and Tennis Channel are listed as creditors, as are organizations such as the USTA, the Arthur Ashe Youth Tennis and Education, the Junior Orange Bowl Committee and Kalamazoo College USTA National Championships.

Consultants Doug MacCurdy and Steve Solomon are named, as is former player Stan Smith and Paul Annacone, the coach of Roger Federer.

Topics: 10sballs.com, Bob Bryan, Espn, HEAD, IMG financial, Inside Tennis, James Salter, John Tobias, Juan Carlos Ferrero, Maria Sharapova, Mike Bryan, Prince bankruptcy, Roger Federer, Sports, Tennis, Tennis Coaches, Tennis Magazine and Tennis Channel, Tennis News, Usta, Wayne Bryan