McGuire to Leave Women's Tennis Tour
Bart McGuire, Chief Executive Officer of the Sanex WTA Tour, announced today that he would resign his post at the end of this year. The Board of Directors has asked him to chair its search committee for a new CEO. McGuire also announced that the Tour is in advanced discussions to consolidate its Connecticut and Florida offices into one location in the southeastern United States.
The office consolidation is expected to take place during the year 2002. Leading sites and cities being considered include, among others, the City of Charleston and Daniel Island, South Carolina, the Saddlebrook Resort in Tampa, Florida and St. Petersburg, Florida - current home of the Tour's Florida office. For personal and family reasons, McGuire will not relocate to the new headquarters.
His resignation will permit his successor to oversee the management and staffing of the new office and the latter stages of the move.
'The plan to relocate is the final step in the transformation of the Tour during my tenure,' said McGuire. 'Women's tennis is thriving as never before, and it is poised for further progress. Bringing our U.S. staff together, in an attractive location that provides significant benefits to us all, will help to assure the continued, positive development of the Tour and our staff.
'We have already brought the Players' Association and the Tour into one organization; restructured our operations, our management and our Board; and recruited outside directors for the first time,' added McGuire.
'We have also negotiated the largest sponsorship and television contracts in the history of women's sport -- more than doubling our revenues from those sources -- and have dramatically expanded our television coverage and set yearly records for attendance worldwide. We have increased prize money and player amenities each year since 1998. The highlight of this effort was an increase at the 2001 Australian Open to equal prize money with the men.
'With these achievements in hand, with the recent signing of Nasdaq as our North American presenting sponsor, and with the quality of match play at the highest level in history, I am confident that by year-end we will negotiate some additional major partnerships,' said McGuire.
'At that point, I believe that it will be time for a successor to take over the job of bringing women's tennis to an even higher level of promotion, coverage and revenues. I will work closely with the Board and our new Chief Operating Officer, Josh Ripple, to effect a smooth transition.'
Billie Jean King, founder of the WTA and winner of 39 Grand Slam titles, said in response to the announcement: 'Bart was instrumental in pulling the Tour out of a very difficult situation in his first years in office. In many areas, he has helped to break new ground for the Tour and more generally for women's sports, and he has positioned the Tour for another series of advances in the next few years. His professionalism and passion for the sport have served us very well.'
Arnon Milchan, who purchased the Tour's international television rights in 1999, said that he and Eurosport 'invested in women's tennis for strategic reasons and because of Bart McGuire.'
'He is an excellent partner, businessman and friend,' added Milchan, producer of movies including L.A. Confidential and Pretty Woman and television shows including Malcolm in the Middle. 'Together, we have almost doubled U.S. coverage, with Tour events seen nationally during 29 weeks of the year. On Eurosport, we have added over 150 matches each year to the limited coverage of women's tennis that existed in 1998.'
McGuire became CEO of the Tour in January 1998, at a time when prize money was flat, the title sponsor Corel had decided not to renew, and the players were part of a separate organization that was hampered by disputes and litigation.
McGuire quickly resolved the controversies and brought in new partners, drawing on his experience in a legal career that included 18 years as a partner at the international law firm of Davis Polk & Wardwell, six years as a law professor, and 12 years advising the women's tennis Tour on a part-time basis. He and his wife Cindy have homes in Wilton, Connecticut and in Bend, Oregon, where they had been living full-time before he took the job as CEO of the Tour.
The Sanex WTA Tour is the world's premier professional sport for women with more than 1,000 players representing 76 nations competing for more than $50 million in prize money at 64 events in 33 countries worldwide in 2001. The Tour's season concludes with the Tour Championships of the Sanex WTA Tour at the Olympia Halle in Munich Germany October 30-November 4, 2001.
Sanex WTA Tour events are viewed across the globe, reaching hundreds of millions of households, and are immensely popular in person, attracting more than four million spectators in 2000.
For further information please contact:
Veronique Beaujardin
Communications Manager
Sanex WTA Tour
Tel: +44 20 8392 4760
Fax: +44 20 8392 4765
E mail: vbeaujardin@sanexwta.com
The office consolidation is expected to take place during the year 2002. Leading sites and cities being considered include, among others, the City of Charleston and Daniel Island, South Carolina, the Saddlebrook Resort in Tampa, Florida and St. Petersburg, Florida - current home of the Tour's Florida office. For personal and family reasons, McGuire will not relocate to the new headquarters.
His resignation will permit his successor to oversee the management and staffing of the new office and the latter stages of the move.
'The plan to relocate is the final step in the transformation of the Tour during my tenure,' said McGuire. 'Women's tennis is thriving as never before, and it is poised for further progress. Bringing our U.S. staff together, in an attractive location that provides significant benefits to us all, will help to assure the continued, positive development of the Tour and our staff.
'We have already brought the Players' Association and the Tour into one organization; restructured our operations, our management and our Board; and recruited outside directors for the first time,' added McGuire.
'We have also negotiated the largest sponsorship and television contracts in the history of women's sport -- more than doubling our revenues from those sources -- and have dramatically expanded our television coverage and set yearly records for attendance worldwide. We have increased prize money and player amenities each year since 1998. The highlight of this effort was an increase at the 2001 Australian Open to equal prize money with the men.
'With these achievements in hand, with the recent signing of Nasdaq as our North American presenting sponsor, and with the quality of match play at the highest level in history, I am confident that by year-end we will negotiate some additional major partnerships,' said McGuire.
'At that point, I believe that it will be time for a successor to take over the job of bringing women's tennis to an even higher level of promotion, coverage and revenues. I will work closely with the Board and our new Chief Operating Officer, Josh Ripple, to effect a smooth transition.'
Billie Jean King, founder of the WTA and winner of 39 Grand Slam titles, said in response to the announcement: 'Bart was instrumental in pulling the Tour out of a very difficult situation in his first years in office. In many areas, he has helped to break new ground for the Tour and more generally for women's sports, and he has positioned the Tour for another series of advances in the next few years. His professionalism and passion for the sport have served us very well.'
Arnon Milchan, who purchased the Tour's international television rights in 1999, said that he and Eurosport 'invested in women's tennis for strategic reasons and because of Bart McGuire.'
'He is an excellent partner, businessman and friend,' added Milchan, producer of movies including L.A. Confidential and Pretty Woman and television shows including Malcolm in the Middle. 'Together, we have almost doubled U.S. coverage, with Tour events seen nationally during 29 weeks of the year. On Eurosport, we have added over 150 matches each year to the limited coverage of women's tennis that existed in 1998.'
McGuire became CEO of the Tour in January 1998, at a time when prize money was flat, the title sponsor Corel had decided not to renew, and the players were part of a separate organization that was hampered by disputes and litigation.
McGuire quickly resolved the controversies and brought in new partners, drawing on his experience in a legal career that included 18 years as a partner at the international law firm of Davis Polk & Wardwell, six years as a law professor, and 12 years advising the women's tennis Tour on a part-time basis. He and his wife Cindy have homes in Wilton, Connecticut and in Bend, Oregon, where they had been living full-time before he took the job as CEO of the Tour.
The Sanex WTA Tour is the world's premier professional sport for women with more than 1,000 players representing 76 nations competing for more than $50 million in prize money at 64 events in 33 countries worldwide in 2001. The Tour's season concludes with the Tour Championships of the Sanex WTA Tour at the Olympia Halle in Munich Germany October 30-November 4, 2001.
Sanex WTA Tour events are viewed across the globe, reaching hundreds of millions of households, and are immensely popular in person, attracting more than four million spectators in 2000.
For further information please contact:
Veronique Beaujardin
Communications Manager
Sanex WTA Tour
Tel: +44 20 8392 4760
Fax: +44 20 8392 4765
E mail: vbeaujardin@sanexwta.com