Sony Ericsson WTA Tour Chairman Larry Scott Given Five Year Extension
Posted by Aaress Lawless on Jan 9, 2007 | Print
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Sony Ericsson WTA Tour Chairman and CEO Larry Scott has been given five more years to fix the problems embattling the WTA Tour and lead women’s professional tennis into the next decade of the twenty-first century.
The Tour announced yesterday that Scott, whose contract will now run until 2011, was re-elected unanimously by the Board of Directors.
Overall, I believe Scott has done a fine job of increasing tennis’ popularity worldwide by successfully crafting the Tour into a global marketing venture. He has helped expand women’s tennis into new parts of Asia and Europe, and most notably, brought more financial backing and sponsors.
He has helped make tennis more fan-friendly by adding the enormously popular Hawk-Eye instant replay system, but I do believe he is still headed in the wrong direction with on-court coaching. When most of your players talk against it or flat-out refuse to try it, something is wrong with the picture.
The real test that is hanging over Scott’s head right now is to see how well his Roadmap 2010 plan is adopted by players, tournament directors, and fans alike.
Many of his goals for the Roadmap (reduce injuries, harsher fines, and shorter calendar) are well in theory, but the main question that is at stake will be regarding who will come first when enacting the new plans.
Will what is best for the players matter first or will the financial investors and tournament backers be the driving force behind his decisions?
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