Thread by @dsenkowski07

Why is the WTA Finals tournament held in Fort Worth? Surprising behind the scenes:

Why surprising? Because there are many circumstances which - it seems - WTA has forgotten, and which could and have influenced the stands.

Dallasnews.com informs that David Machlica from Venue Strategies called the hall's president Matt Homan in late July and early August. It is a company that, together with WTA was looking for a location for the WTA Finals 2022

"Dickies Arena was built to accommodate the varied events, but Homan never considered organizing a professional tennis tournament."

Arena boss, Homan: "My first question was - and I think it was a bit naive - how are we going to build a court there?"

"WTA say Texas has been in their mind from the start because of the great tennis community and the ease of traveling around the state. Most of the players competing in the WTA Finals played in San Diego and / or Guadalajara in early October"

"That made Texas a much more attractive destination than cities in Asia or Europe."

"Great Tennis Community" sounds a bit like a joke when you take see the stands at tennis matches. And true tennis fans wouldn't need a better promotion

The success of Dickies Arena, where olympic teams' wrestling trials took place a year ago (April 2021), was also behind the selection of Fort Worth. City Authority: "In a short time, we organized one of the most famous events in the country, if not the world, during the pandemic"

WTA admits many other hosts for WTA Finals: Chicago, Las Vegas, Washington, locations in Middle East, Eastern Europe (perhaps Poland?) and London. WTA even talked to Singapore, which hosted the event in 2014-2018. There was an idea to build a court on the Formula 1 track

"We were looking for the best solution, and the Fort Worth option is more than we could have imagined" - says Lawler from WTA. Fort Worth agreement with WTA was signed after four weeks of negotiations. That gave roughly two months to prepare for the event

Fort Worth officials hope that the organization of the WTA Finals in their city will lead to a permanent tournament in the Dickies Arena in WTA calendar. Lawler doesn't say no.

I talked with author of article. In his opinion the timing of WTA Finals in Texas is bad. "In Texas, a lot has been going on in sports in recent days. The popular american football team Dallas Cowboys plays their games, the baseball team Houston Astros plays in the World Serie"

“Houston is four hours away, but it's still Texas. In addition, on Saturday, four football games will be played within a 3.5 hour radius of Fort Worth. We have to remember also about Dallas Stars in NHL and Mavericks in NBA"

As if that were not enough, the american journalist adds: "Remember that Halloween was held on the start day of the WTA Finals and elections to the US Congress will be held on the day the tournament ends."

Another journalist in US told me:

"I think the stands are not full because Fort Worth isn’t a place where tennis is very popular. Texas has also been criticized for its harsh new abortion laws, so many WTA fans are not traveling from out of the state to go to the matches."

More:
sport.pl/tenis/7,64987,…

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