Four Cities To Bid For Hosting 2014 WTA Championships

Written by: Staff on 29th October 2012

Four Cities To Bid For Hosting 2014 WTA Championships

epa03450625 Serena Williams (R) of the US holds the trophy after winning the final match against Maria Sharapova (L) of Russia at the WTA Championships tennis tournament in Istanbul, Turkey, 28 October 2012. EPA/STR **TURKEY OUT** |

Women’s tennis will break new ground for the 2014 WTA Championships with the short list for the venue to succeed Istanbul as it revealed Kazan (Russia), Mexico City, Singapore and Tianjin (China) to be the final four candidates. All the cities are said to have facilities large enough to host the Championships.

During her annual State of Women’s Tennis address prior to this year’s Championships’ final between Serena Williams and Maria Sharapova, chief executive Stacey Allaster announced the four cities have been picked following a tender process which began with 43 interested parties.

Allaster added the London-based international sports marketing agency, The Sports Consultancy, is managing bid process on behalf of the WTA and will shortly be visiting all four cities to review their bids. The WTA will announce the final selection in April or May next year.

“We were delighted with the 43 initial expressions of interest we received and in finalizing our candidate cities, we now believe we have an outstanding shortlist from which we will find the next host for the world’s premier sporting event for women,” said Allaster.

“I couldn’t be more excited to have those four cities bidding for the WTA Championships. Four amazing cities, robust economies, growth markets and very much part of our international growth strategy.”

Allaster also revealed this year’s Championships registered the highest attendance in 13 years and set record broadcast and digital audience milestones.

The TEB BNP Paribas WTA Championships broadcast more than 500 hours of coverage in 167 countries through 22 international TV broadcasters, the widest reach of a WTA Championships to date, delivering over $100m of global media value and more than $40m of economic impact to Istanbul, the host city.

The tournament’s three-year contract with Istanbul, Turkey, expires next year and Istanbul did not make a new bid. While the WTA Championships in Istanbul has done very well attendance wise, it’s clear that one of the primary reasons that the city went after the Championships was that it’s bidding to be the host city for the 2020 Olympics. It is currently battling with Madrid and Tokyo for that honor.

The WTA has been trying to spread its international wings by encouraging cities that do not have tournaments to make bids. Of the four candidate cities, only Singapore does not currently have a WTA tournament, but it has hosted big money exhibitions.

Mexico has two WTA tournaments in Acapulco and Monterrey. Daily Tennis has found out that IMG and the Mexican Tennis Federation put the bid for the Championships together.

Tianjin, China is just down the road from Beijing, which annually hosts a WTA Premier Mandatory tournament two weeks before the Championships begin. The Chinese government is thought to be involved in its bid.

In 2009, Kazan was chosen as the “Sports Capital of Russia” and will host the 2013 College Games, the 2015 World Aquatic Championships and will host games during the 2018 FIFA World Cup.

Interestingly, Shamil Tarpishchev, Russia’s Davis and Fed Cup captain as well as the president of the Russian Tennis Federation Russia, said that the federation was not involved in the bid.

Kazan is the capital of the Republic of Tatarstan, which is part of Russia. Tarpishchev is scheduled to meet with President of the Republic Rustam Minnikhanov in the coming weeks. “Winning the bid will be very difficult: it is time-consuming and is acostly affair,” Tarpishchev said.

Allaster concluded: “The bottom line is fans love women’s tennis, and the tournament owners know how to drive people through the gate. The athletes are performing on court, and there is just this worldwide love affair with women’s tennis.”

©Daily Tennis News Wire

Topics: Istanbul tennis news, Kazan tennis news, Maria Sharapova, Mexico City tennis news, Serena Williams, Singapore tennis news, Sports, Tennis News, Tianjin, Wta Championships