The Sports Industry is challenging to comprehend. To take a look at the current situations, the revamped Davis Cup partnering with the LaLiga has raised a lot of appraisals as well as concerns within the sporting ecosystem.
LaLiga has agreed on terms to partner with the Davis Cup, the reformatted men’s Tennis competition. The new-look season is set to kickstart in November at Madrid, Spain.
The Davis Cup dates back since 1900. It is the largest annual International team sport in the World. Unfortunately, the game suffered as a spectacle, owing to the top names of world Tennis opting out to play.
To refurbish the tournament, LaLiga will assist in broadcasting the Davis Cup via international broadcasts in 200 countries. The games will start in October 2019. They have also partnered up for the Davis Cup qualifiers. Starting this weekend, the 12 winners will book their spot at the finals in Madrid. Croatia, France, the United States, Spain, Argentina and Great Britain are already qualified. “The cross-sport partnership with La Liga is innovative for the Davis Cup,” International Tennis Federation President David Haggarty said of the new sponsorship arrangement. “This will widen our reach to not only tennis fans but other sports enthusiasts.”
In a recent Interview, Oscar Mayo, LaLiga’s international business developer said: “La Liga is pleased to partner with Kosmos Tennis as it represents a great opportunity to link our brand and those of our clubs with a worldwide sport and entertainment icon.” Kosmos, an investment group led by the Barcelona Centre-back Gerrard Pique has also partnered with the brand to uplift the historic tournament.
But, on the other side of the coin, the Tennis superstars are still not convinced. They rather seem to be upset with the contemporary situation.
The 119-year-old tournament was structured traditionally as a 16-nation World Group, contested over four weekends during the year. But, with the new tie-ups, the authorities changed it to 18 team finals, whose inaugural edition is scheduled to take place in Madrid.
Lleyton Hewis, the Australian Davis Cup captain on Wednesday criticised Pique. His investment group Kosmos proposed the planned changes. He said, “ I haven’t been a supporter since they flagged the possible changes. I think the idea of playing the finals in one place is ridiculous. I personally don’t think all the top players will play.” He also explained how absurd it feels to be dictated by a Spanish footballer, who has less knowledge about the sport.
Other players, including the likes of current world no.1 Novak Djokovic, French Doubles specialist, Pierre-Hugues Herbert are set to boycott the tournament as they look forward to participating in the ATP World Cup in Melbourne, starting from January 2020.
With the hefty investments coming in, the tournament will have a higher reach to the spectators, which will assist in growing the game and increasing mass participation globally. But having two world cups, with the likes of the inaugural ATP World cup next year and the Davis Cup this year, the plan seems less viable to look forward to. Also, with the current complications, it would be a tough task in accumulating the stalwarts of the game to play the revamped version of the momentous competition.
