Every tournament, however big or small, needs a benevolent donor. It is this same owner who is often expected to take a haircut when things go awry.
For example, the Indian Wells Masters is audaciously dubbed the fifth Grand Slam because it has the cash of billionaire Larry Ellison, the co-founder of Oracle Corporation, to burn.
Even national federations like Tennis Australia and United States Tennis Association are known to partly fund lower-level tournaments in the lead-up to the Majors in their respective countries.
Short-changed
The Chennai Open was short-changed in this very aspect. Finance in India for sports other than cricket is always tough. And when it loses the title sponsor, it’s pretty much curtains.
“The title sponsor Aircel, having merged with Reliance Communications, no longer exists,” said Karti Chidambaram, the Tamil Nadu Tennis Association vice-president and head of the organising committee of the Chennai Open.
It is understood that Aircel, the title sponsor, brought in close to 40 per cent of the nearly 14-crore outlay for the event.
Accounting for this shortfall is a tough ask for any State association.
Revenue streams
“Most tournaments in the world have revenue streams from television rights, tickets, hospitality and sponsors.
“We had to run the whole tournament only on revenue from sponsorship. Without a title sponsor, it is very difficult," Karti added.
It is to be noted here that Reliance Communications is an Anil Ambani-led company, while IMG-R, which ran the Chennai Open, is a joint venture between IMG and Mukesh Ambani's Reliance Group.
Now, the Maharashtra Government has agreed to back the tournament in Pune for a period of five years with the promise to bear nearly 75 % of the total cost.
Consortium
For the rest, it will act as an enabling force by forming a consortium and reaching out to various companies through its industry departments, for funds under their CSR programmes.
For the record, the Government of Tamil Nadu had been allotting ₹2 crore each year. But, with no additional backing and pull-outs from prominent public and private sector companies, the tournament had reached a dead-end.