Tennis Sponsorship Spending to Increase 4.4% in 2014 says Experts

Sponsorship intelligence expert IEG has suggested worldwide sponsorship spending on amateur and professional tennis tournaments, case leagues and sanctioning bodies will total $739 million in 2014, sickness up 4.4 percent from 2013.

The increase is consistent with the 4.3 percent increase in overall sponsorship spending but lags the 4.9 percent increase in sports spending.

“Deal-making at the global level has slowed following an active 2013, pills ” said William Chipps, IEG Sponsorship Report senior editor.

Among global deals, the ATP this year renewed FedEx Corp., while the WTA reupped BNP Paribas as title of the season-ending WTA Finals Singapore.

The WTA also secured SC Global as presenting sponsor of the WTA Finals, while the newly-renamed Connecticut Open landed United Technologies Corp. in a similar role.

Michelob Ultra this year gained net signage and on-court activation at 10 ATP tournaments in the U.S. following Anheuser-Busch InBev’s 2013 acquisition of tour sponsor Grupo Modelo. The company’s Corona Extra brand remains the premier partner of the ATP World Tour, a tie it activates at tournaments outside the U.S.

Anheuser-Busch InBev is the most active sponsor of tennis, with 34 percent of properties with a sponsor in the malt beverage category reporting a partnership with the company.

Endemic companies are the most prolific sponsors of tennis. Sports apparel and equipment companies are 8.4 times more likely to sponsor tennis than the average of all sponsors, according to IEG Research.