Prince Relocating Corporate Headquarters To Atlanta

Written by: Bob Larson Tennis on 28th February 2014

Prince Relocating Corporate Headquarters To Atlanta

epa04029955 David Ferrer of Spain celebrates after winning against Florian Mayer of Germany during their fourth round match at the Australian Open Grand Slam tennis tournament in Melbourne, Australia, 19 January 2014. EPA/NARENDRA SHRESTHA |

In a bold move, Prince Global Sports is relocating its corporate headquarters to Atlanta. One of tennis leading manufacturers and distributor of racquets, equipment, footwear and apparel, Prince is finalizing a lease agreement to move into commercial property in suburban Buckhead.

Prince is one of the world’s oldest tennis and squash brands and will relocate from corporate offices in New Jersey.

Chief Executive Officer Mike Ballardie said Prince has been an iconic brand in the tennis industry more than 40 years and feels Atlanta is a natural location for Prince Tennis’ headquarters.

“As we continue our growth as a global company, we see Atlanta and its vast resources as a perfect fit for our management, sales and marketing teams,” Ballardie said. “Atlanta has a thriving tennis community with more men, women and children playing tennis than any other U.S. city, making it a great home base for Prince. As a global brand we are involved at all levels of the sport from juniors to supporting key professionals in tennis and squash tournaments all over the world. Leveraging our assets with Atlanta’s location, talented workforce and the travel options offered by Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport will be a tremendous benefit to the company.”

Atlanta boasts the largest city tennis league in the world with more than 80,000 members of the Atlanta Lawn Tennis Association (ALTA), which was established in 1934.

Ballardie said the company is relocating its product research, development and player servicing activities to the IMG Academy in Florida, alongside the recently opened Prince Innovation Center.

Prince went into bankruptcy in 2012 after accumulating more debt than its book value and didn’t spare much of the tennis industry, with dozens of players, coaches, consultants, media and other tennis businesses being listed as creditors.

At the time it listed liabilities of between $50 million and $100 million.

It lost Maria Sharapova as its main endorser, who went to Head.

Prince is now owned by Waitt Company of Omaha, Nebraska.

”The real issue over the past 18 months was to regain the trust, support and commitment from the U.S. tennis dealers,” Ballardie said last fall.” ”I think we’ve been doing that through a lot of talking, listening and understanding about where Prince went wrong and proving that we are financially sound after the reorganization, and can provide all of the tools they require on an ongoing basis. It has not been easy, but we are very much back in a situation where we are operating on a normal basis.”

Ballardie has also said that he hopes the company’s “ESP” (extreme string pattern) racquet technology, along with new racquets and bags, shoes and performance Prince Tour eye-wear will generate global revenues somewhere around $25-30 million.”

Prince still has some of the world’s top players promoting the its brand including David Ferrer, John Isner, Bob & Mike Bryan and Daniela Hantuchova.

Topics: 10sballs, ATLTA, Bob Bryan, Bryan Brothers, Daniela Hantuchova, David Ferrer, IMG, John Isner, Maria Sharapova, Mike Bryan, prince global sports, Sports, Tennis

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February 28, 2014 at 8:06 am

Prince Relocating Corporate Headquarters To Atlanta- http://t.co/MxqrvSQ649 @Prince_Tennis #tennis #news #Prince #relocates