MADRID, 30 Nov. (EUROPA PRESS) –
The director of the Mutua Madrid Open, Feliciano López, believes that tennis “has a problem” with the average age of fans who enjoy the sport on television, because it is “very high”, and that is why he considers that one of the “important challenges” is to try to attract young audiences” to the sport.
“Tennis has a problem, which is the average age of the fans who watch it is very high. Therefore, a lot of work is being done to try to attract young audiences to watch tennis matches, especially on television. Today in day, young people cannot spend three hours in front of the television on a sofa watching a tennis match because it takes too long,” analyzed Feliciano López at the ‘Business Sport Forum’ event held this Thursday by Marca y Expansión.
The former tennis player explained that there are supporters of “changing the rules of tennis and shortening the matches.” “That is a very big debate, but it is evident that the forces of the sponsors and the union make us have more possibilities of bringing tennis closer to the people who watch it. But it is evident that there is a problem and the audiences clearly demonstrate it” , he added.
The Toledo native, who participated in the discussion panel on ‘Sponsorships, technology and trends’, commented that the history of the tournament “is curious” because it has been going on for “more than 20 years” and until the arrival of the tournament in Madrid, “Spain only had the Count of Godó”. “The city is one of our main sponsors. The environment of Madrid together with the most important sponsorship which is that of the company (Mutua Madrileña), added to the fact that there has been a very close relationship with the City Council, has allowed us 80 % of sponsors are very loyal,” he noted.
Regarding the loyalty of sponsors, Feliciano López pointed out that the key is “to take great care of them.” “Each sponsorship is highly personalized and a lot of care is taken, both at the event and throughout the year. There are some companies that are interested in having more visibility or being on the track, and others are interested in being close to the client, being able to bring them to the event,” he said.
“We are a ‘premium’ tournament and the brands that come are sometimes surprised by the price, but we try to be very faithful in terms of what we promise with them. They are given exactly what has been talked about, what has been promised , and for this reason the sponsor is very happy, and this allows us to gain a lot of customer loyalty,” he continued.
In addition, the former tennis player stressed that they try to “do things with the sponsors during the year”, and since it is also “a social event”, it allows them to be close to them and “have ‘meets and greets’ during the week of the tournament.” “Many things are also done through social networks, which have changed the world of sponsorship a lot, and in that sense the proximity to us has helped us a lot,” he remarked.
The recent director of the Davis Cup Finals analyzed the changes that sponsorships have experienced in the world of tennis. “Tennis tournaments 40 years ago were sponsored by tobacco brands, even alcohol brands. All that has changed a lot. For example, Manolo Santana was an ambassador for Philip Morris, and that today would be unthinkable for an athlete of that level,” he remembered.
Finally, he explained that the profile of the sponsor has also changed, and that before “he liked to have his time with the athlete in private”, and now “many more things are done.” “The city of Madrid is dressed throughout the year with the advertising of the Mutua Madrid Open tournament, and the players are also much more involved thanks to the work of the ATP and the WTA who try to make the players understand what is important which are the sponsorships for the tournaments,” he concluded.