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by Paul Bass | May 14, 2010 2:26 pm

(9) Comments | Commenting has been closed | E-mail the Author

Posted to: Business/Labor/ Economic Development, Sports

Paul Bass Photo Anne Worcester was on the highway up to Albany, working two pitches at once.

Worcester was preparing a pitch to a large insurer to sign on beginning in 2011 as name sponsor of the New Haven tennis tournament she runs—and rescue professional tennis in town.

Meanwhile, she fielded (from the passenger seat of the car) seven phone calls from reporters to spread news about this year’s very-much-alive tournament. The world’s number-two women’s tennis star, Caroline Wozniacki, had just agreed to return to New Haven this August to play the tournament, which she has won twice in the past. Worcester was working the story hard in order to get the word out that the tournament indeed is taking place.

“The sales pitch was all about 2011. The interviews were about 2010,” she said.

Worcester took that car ride on Monday. It reflected the tricky terrain she is navigating these days.

Worcester has been racing to find a new sponsor for the 19-year-old annual USTA tournament at the 13,000-seat Connecticut Tennis Stadium next to the Yale Bowl. Pilot Pen, the tournament’s name sponsor for the last 15 years, notified Worcester last November that it will drop out after the 2010 tournament. If Worcester can’t find a new name sponsor—generally responsible for a third to a half of the tournament’s $4.5 million annual cost—this will be the tournament’s last year. New Haven will lose one of its showcase annual events, a major regional draw.

Meanwhile, ticket sales for this year’s Aug. 20-28 tournament are down 25 percent. That’s partly because of the down economy. (During the recession more fans have tended to wait until the last minute to purchase seats.) It’s partly because Pilot Pen had to eat $186,000 worth of ticket sales when it gave refunds from matches canceled last year during Hurricane Danny.

But a third factor has eaten into sales: confusion. Pilot Pen’s announcement last November left many people thinking the sponsor was pulling out right away, not in 2011. They didn’t realize that tournament sponsorships are lined up 18 to 36 months in advance.

“We called box holders and said, ‘You missed the deadline for renewal.’ They said, ‘We don’t want to renew until we know there’s a tournament,’” an exasperated Worcester said in an interview over a house salad with feta and tabouli at Claire’s Thursday.

So Worcester’s staff has had to work doubly hard not only to convince people to come to New Haven for tennis this year, but also just to know the tournament exists. For instance, it’s asking some of its larger sponsors, such as AT&T and Webster and NewAlliance banks, to email-blast tournament promotional messages to their customers. And they’re pumping major news about the tournament as it breaks, such as the Wozniak return, an example of how Pilot Pen offers fans the chance to discover once-unknown “rising stars” on their path to the big time.

A “Love” Crusade

Meanwhile, Worcester is scrambling to corporate offices of larger financial companies, insurers, and consumer products makers to try to land a replacement for Pilot Pen. (Monday’s meeting in Albany was promising, she reported, fingers crossed.)

Worcester joins a growing list of execs in this recession who are chasing receding private and public dollars in order to save valued local industries, from homeless shelters and print newspapers to tourism and the summer arts festival.

Worcester was CEO of the Women’s Tennis Association before taking over Pilot Pen 13 years ago (and subsequently taking on a second simultaneous gig as chief of Market New Haven). She sees rescuing the tennis tournament as not just a business proposition. It’s a cause.

She doesn’t argue that it’s a more important cause than, say, feeding hungry families or housing evicted families. She doesn’t make an either-or pitch. “I sit in on these public finance meetings. I hear firsthand how people don’t have money to put on their families’ plates. This is hard; I totally respect that that has to come first,” she said

Leveraging corporate money that wouldn’t otherwise come here, she sees the tournament as supporting the local economy, building community, giving young people opportunities, and making New Haven a fun destination. Feeding the city’s soul.

“Pilot Pen makes New Haven a more interesting place to live, work and play,” she said.

The nine-day men’s and women’s tournaments pump $26 million into the local economy, including business for hotels and restaurants, she claimed. She has helped boost that number by creating a players’ dining program. The tournament also puts the city in the national media spotlight, she said.

When she first came to town some politicians told her, “Tennis is an elite sport. It has no place in New Haven.”

“Thank you for letting me know,” Worcester remembers responding. “I’m going to change your minds. I’m going to break down the barriers.”

Since then, Worcester has made it a personal mission to use the tournament to help spawn community tennis programs in New Haven. Her now year-round programs have introduced tennis to 4,000 city kids since 2004. She raised part of the money to fix up public courts in Westville and the East Shore.

“The Pilot Pen has been good for the city. It’s been good to introduce tennis to inner-city kids who would not have been exposed to it,” said Hill Alderman Jorge Perez. “As a banker downtown, I hear it from the business community. I have a lot of customers who own restaurants who say to me how great Pilot Pen is for business; it brings people to the city. People do see it as a benefit.”

Worcester worked with the school system to get the first girls’ tennis team started this year, at Career High. The team includes graduates of the Pilot Pen programs.

“We should have a girls team at Wilbur Cross and Hillhouse,” too, she said. “A goal for next year.”

Make that one more pitch.

Comments

posted by: Thomas on May 14, 2010 7:59pm

I have all the confidence that Anne will have a sponsor to announce on the tournaments championship Saturday.

“When she first came to town some politicians told her, “Tennis is an elite sport. It has no place in New Haven.”

This statement is so typical of the stupidity of many in New Haven’s political class.

Tennis is second only to soccer in participation world-wide. The “diversification” in the sport succeeds beyond anything New Haven’s City Hall or school system can achieve.

posted by: Hood Rebel on May 15, 2010 4:29pm

Thomas..sorry, but tennis does remain a sport that does not broadly attract people of color. This, despite the success of the Williams sisters, Arthur Ashe, Zina Garrison etc.

And even though on any given afternoon you will find plenty of brothers and sisters who playing at Edgewood Courts and at courts in DC, Harlem and Compton, there remains a lingering lack of diversity from the spectator perspective and from the (minority) player perspective.

Next tournament you attend..take a look around you and get real!

posted by: Who Cares on May 16, 2010 11:12pm

When we are all in dire straits trying to pay our taxes, our credit cards, our parking tickets, and trying to get our kids to read and write is this interesting. No No No. Just another one of Johnny Boys subsidys to the rich and famous on the backs of working people. Who built the tennis stadium. Right. Good old John DeStefano before he was elected Mayor. Guess What. There will always be a tennis tourney.

posted by: John Pirtel on May 17, 2010 1:59pm

@Hood Rebel - In New Haven, Pilot Pen Tennis, New Haven Youth Tennis, New Haven Parks and many others have worked tirelessly to increase the diversity of tennis. The growth of the game amongst youth ages 8-18 has spawned kids, adults and families of all colors to go out and play the game. As far as tennis as a spectator sport, as we grow numbers in diversity, the numbers of diverse spectators will grow too.
As far as the minority player perspective you couldn’t be further from the truth… while you may not see it on the top tier level,yet,there is plenty of diversity in tennis from James Blake, Donald Young, Blake Strode all the way down to Ryan, Teal and Brandon Howard who play in our Junior Team Tennis program here In New Haven.
Along with the Howards, NINE players, all from diverse backgrounds,on New Haven Youth Tennis’ 18 and under Advanced team all play the #1 or #2 position on their high school teams…The Tennis future is totally multi-cultural, diverse and SMART.

posted by: Hood Rebel on May 17, 2010 4:41pm

Even with all the great names you have thrown out, and the fact that there is great pride in seeing those players on the courts, it still does not represent true diversity in the sport. The percent of ranked African American pros ranked in a field of 1500 players or so are tiny, less than 5-percent. Keeping it real, black folks would not consider that any degree of real diversity.

posted by: Thomas on May 18, 2010 7:35pm

@Hood Rebel, your self segregation is so old and tired its sad. Added to the names John listed you might want to watch the athleticism of Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Gael Monfils both top 20 players and though not African-American they are “Men of Color.” The adult volunteers and ball-kids are a true mix. Perhaps more kids and adults would be involved or attend The Pilot Pen or get what the rest of the world has discovered that Tennis is a great sport one that has thrived without false engineering.

posted by: Hood Rebel on May 18, 2010 10:24pm

Thomas reality is reality. Even though you find it tiring to deal with, and regardless of the spin you attempt to put on it, tennis remains a sport that is not well integrated. Even as a BIG fan, I can deal with that reality.

posted by: John Pirtel on May 20, 2010 8:46am

@ HOOD REBEL
If you want more proof of diversity and role models how about:

Chanda Rubin,Dally Randriantefy,Jamea Jackson, Jewel Peterson,Milagros Sequera, Serena Williams, Venus Williams,Shenay Perry, Stephanie Foretz, Angela Haynes, Alexandra Stevenson, Mashona Washington, Jennifer Elie, Megan Moulton-Levy, Asia Muhammed, Raquel Kops-Jones, Danielle Mills, Brittany Augustine, Sloane Stephens, Chloe Babet, Tiya Rolle , Aba Omodele, Ajoni Bason, Anwar Bason, Boris Obama, Damar Johnson, Damion Johnson, Devin Mullings, Evan King, Hasheem Bason, Henry Adjei-Darko, Jarmaine Jenkins, Jeff Coetzee, John Hoyes, Lesley Joseph, Mashiska Washington, Younes El Aynaoui, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga,Gael Monfils, James Blake, Josselin Ouanna, Dustin Brown, Julio Silva, Donald Young, Scoville Jenkins,Raven Klaasen, Nicholas Monroe, Valentin Sanon, Todd Paul, Nathan Thompson,Marcus Fugate,Komlavi Loglo,Phillip Simmonds, Timothy Neilly, Alain Ntamag, Jarmere Jenkins, Levar Harper-Griffith, Mathieu Goven, Mal Washington, Yannick Noah, (both playing on senior tour), Althea Gibson, Arthur Ashe, Thomas Blake(who coaches a WTT team), Traci Green(Harvard Tennis Coach)

I won’t bore you continuing the list…. but there is diversity in the sport, you just have to look past the grand slam tour and look at colleges and the pro tour’s Challengers and Futures events which happen weekly across the country.

posted by: oyun indir on June 8, 2010 11:40am

good write perfect archive

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