The International Tennis Federation introduced Thursday that it’s ending its Davis Cup partnership with Gerard Pique’s funding group Cosmos in a 25-year, $3 billion deal for simply 5 years.
In 2018, the ITF revealed a take care of former Barcelona footballer Pique’s funding group, which promised to take a position $120 million a 12 months amid a lot fanfare.
The ITF mentioned on the time that the package deal to reform the Davis Cup competitors would shield the way forward for the sport as it could “provide long-term benefits for players, nations, fans, sponsors and broadcasters”.
However, after lower than 5 years the deal – which additionally had the backing of Wimbledon, French and US Open officers – has come to an finish.
“The ITF can confirm that its partnership with Cosmos Tennis for Davis Cup is coming to an end in its fifth year,” the ITF mentioned in a press release.
“The ITF negotiated a strong deal for tennis in 2018. The partnership increased participation, prize money and interest in Davis Cup and generated funds to support the global growth of our sport.”
Reached by Reuters, Cosmos couldn’t be reached for remark.
The males’s workforce competitors was reformed by an settlement with the Cosmos, which had been established in 1900.
The common home-and-away ties, performed on sure weekends through the 12 months, have been abolished.
That format was modified in 2019 with just one home-and-away tie, after which 18-teams competed in a single metropolis for a week-long climax.
Despite the take care of the Cosmos being terminated, tennis’s governing physique mentioned: “The ITF has ensured that the monetary contingencies are in place and as patrons of the competitors we are going to conduct the 2023 qualifiers and finals as scheduled, with the finals being 8 Málaga, Spain, this November.
“As well as focusing on another great edition of the Men’s World Cup of Tennis, we are focused on developing the future of the biggest annual international team competition in sport.”
After the 2020 version was postponed because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the 2021 finale ran for 11 days in three cities – Madrid, Turin and Innsbruck.
The format was modified once more final 12 months, when groups competed in a bunch stage in September, with the highest eight advancing to the ultimate.
With inputs from TheIndianEXPRESS
