THE SCOOP: TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 4

Tennis Channel delayed, won't broadcast San Jose, Memphis
Indian Wells' Simon not contacted about WTA job; Championships changes to round robin

By Matthew Cronin
tennisreporters.net

The much ballyhooed launch of The Tennis Channel has been delayed again, this time at least until April.

As a result, The Tennis Channel will not broadcast coverage from two February tournaments it owns rights to – San Jose and Memphis. The Tennis Channel is also unlikely to broadcast from two March tournaments it owns rights to – Scottsdale and Delay Beach.

"While we wanted to get the channel up in San Jose, we never pinpointed an exact date. Although I don't want to give an exact date, broadcasting Monte Carlo (April 14-40) seems pretty doable," Tennis Channel president Steve Bellamy told tennisreporters.net, even though that he told Tennisweek.com last summer, "We're going to launch in December [2002]."

The Tennis Channel owns the rights to '03 Tennis Masters Series tournaments in Europe, including Monte Carlo, Rome (May 5-11), Hamburg (May 12-18), Madrid (Oct. 13-19) and Paris (Oct. 27-Nov. 2).

Rumors have been circulating that the proposed 24-hour-a-day Tennis Channel is having funding problems, but Bellamy said that things are going swimmingly.

"We have significant investors in the Tennis Channel who are stratospherically wealthy. They release money based on certain benchmarks. Once we hit those benchmarks, the floodgates open."

The Tennis Channel, which already has deals with cable operators AOL Time Warner and NCTC, is currently negotiating with other companies such as San Diego and Orange County's Cox Cable and AT&T. Bellamy also said the company is fine-tuning satellite deals.

"From the beginning, people told me launching this winter was very optimistic, so I'm not upset about it," Bellamy said. "There are a lot of hurdles we have to jump over."

The Tennis Channel also owns rights to the WTA tournaments in Sarasota at the end of March, the Family Circle Cup in Charleston, S.C. in early April and the men's clay court tournament in Houston, Texas, at the end of April. Whether the company gets on the air and manages to send crews to broadcast those tournaments is in question.

The Tennis Channel plans to devote 40 percent of its content to live tournament tennis, 40 percent to instructional tennis, resorts and equipment telecasts and 20 percent to tennis news and player profiles.

Indian Wells' Simon not contacted about WTA job
Despite a rumor published on the Internet that he's the leading candidate for the WTA's CEO position, Pacific Life Open COO Steve Simon told tennisreporters.net that he has not been contacted by anyone about interviewing for the spot.

"I'm flattered that someone put my name out there, but I have not spoken to anyone from the WTA, nor have I been contacted about it," said Simon, who helps run the 12-day combined men's and women's tournament in Indian Wells, March 5-14. "It's just a rumor."

Simon, who is a Tier 1 tournament representative to the WTA, said that a search committee for Kevin Wulff's successor just recently completed a profile of the desired candidate. "If someone calls me, I'd be happy to have a conversation, but at this point I'm not looking for a job and am happy with where I am," said Simon, who has lived in the California desert since 1989.

After Wulff announced her departure at the Australian Open (which came just on the heels of COO Josh Ripple's departure), one published report alleged that Wulff had conflicts with tournament directors over whether the tour should be pursuing major sponsors that the tournaments were also after. Simon said that was an overstatement.

"That's always been a challenge for the tournaments and the tour because of the way the business models are constructed, but it's always been that way. The issue with Kevin was more one of control of the process and communication. There's needs to be a balancing act."

Simon added that given the perceived popularity of the tour now, that it hasn't cashed in enough financially. He wouldn't fault Wulff for the way he ran the tour, but did say that the tour's board of directors "needs to take a hard look on as to whether tour is being run correctly. … The WTA CEO position would be a great challenge for anyone. It has to be exciting to head the largest international women's sport."

On another matter, Simon said that Serena and Venus Williams decision to skip Indian Wells again will hurt the tournament, but won't kill it. The Williamses are still upset with the negative reception they received from fans in 2001 after Venus pulled out of her semifinal with Serena with an injury.

"Its not fair to say that it wont hurt us, because we are a Tier 1 tournament and they are the top two players in the world and fans want to see them. But will we see a severe drop-off off in attendance? No, because this is an established tournament that people also come to because it's an event, not just a tennis tournament. But would we see a spike in attendance or TV ratings if they played, sure."
Simon said that tournament officials have discussed the matter with the Williamses and he believes that they may return to play in the future.

"The fans were rough with them because they we're disappointed they didn't get to see them play each other," Simon said. "Hopefully time will heal and they will come back because fans would like to see them again."

WTA Championships changes to round robin
Heeding the advice of many insiders who attended the Home Depot Championships last November at L.A. Staples Center, the WTA will change its format from a 16-player single-elimination singles event to an eight-player round robin singles tournament at the '03 event, November 5-10.

The singles winner will earn a record $1 million, which is the most lucrative prize in women's sports history.

The doubles draw of the championships will go from an eight-team single elimination format to a four-team single elimination event with the winning team sharing $250,000.

"I think the format is good for a few reasons. Even if you lose a really tight, tough match, you'll be able to stay in the tournament with this format. It should be better for the fans, too, with seeing some of the top players in more matches," Jennifer Capriati said. "As for the prize money, it's a pretty awesome amount. It just shows how strong women's tennis is and how it just keeps getting better."

The top eight singles players in the WTA Tour Porsche Race to the Championships Point Standings will qualify for the championships. These competitors will be divided into two groups of four players. Each player will face the other three players in her group, guaranteeing that fans will see each player compete at least three times. The two competitors from each group with the best record will advance to a single-elimination semifinal round, and the winners will face each other in the final. For instance, the winner from Group A would face the runner-up from Group B in one semifinal, while the winner from Group B would face the runner-up from Group A.