WTA's Financial Reality & the Future of Women's Tennis | Valerie Camillo Full Interview

Andy Roddick (0:06)

Hey, everyone, welcome to Served. Normally, this is the day where we go into some Q&A that is not important at all.

Today is very different, Producer Mike. Today is very different, JW. We have a very special guest in studio, Valerie Camillo, the chair of the WTA here in studio in Charlotte. Thank you for joining Served.

Valerie Camillo (0:27)

Thanks for having me. Delighted to be in Charlotte.

Andy Roddick (0:29)

And listen, it's not just coincidence that you were in the neighborhood in Charlotte. Obviously, I think we're all still reacting to the massive news of the WTA finals being moved to Charlotte. How do you feel when you are now in this city knowing that in the offing, there is a massive event here in your future and for the future of the WTA?

Valerie Camillo (0:54)

Well, I am so excited to be here. Thanks for having me. So excited to be in Charlotte. Now that the news is officially that we're coming, and we're going to have our WTA finals here for three years, 27, 28, 29, couldn't be more delighted with what we've been able to pull together for the women for the future of this sport and what a great city to do it in. I mean, it has all the elements, all the pieces that we were looking for, credible tennis connectivity, more tennis courts per capita in Charlotte than anywhere in the country.

Andy Roddick (1:27)

Is that true?

Valerie Camillo (1:27)

Yes, yes.

Andy Roddick (1:28)

Wow.

Valerie Camillo (1:29)

Yes.

Andy Roddick (1:29)

Who knew? There you go.

Valerie Camillo (1:31)

Great factoid. And for USTA Play, one of the top markets as well. So this is a market that's going to have a lot of fans and they're going to come out and they're going to love what they see.

Andy Roddick (1:41)

Well, I'll tell you, we've had an exhibition here the last couple of years, the appetite for pro sports and for tennis and specifically these amazing women athletes, just from my friend groups and being in Charlotte since the news has been announced has been has been unbelievable. I fully expect Charlotte to support this event in a way that it deserves.

And also JW, one other factoid is that Valerie has now been in studio one more time than you.

Jon Wertheim (2:12)

We got to change that. It's on. It's early innings. We're early in the first set. Nice to see you, Valerie.

It's more than an event too, right? I mean, it's not just we're coming here for our finals. Charlotte's going to figure more prominently throughout the years, I understand.

Valerie Camillo (2:25)

Yeah, and it's going to go across the state of North Carolina as well. This is a true public partnership with the state, the city, with the business community, and that was what made this deal so special. It was a really unique offering that we put together, and it's going to unlock all sorts of potential. I've been out there saying, you've probably heard me say we're going to build a Super Bowl of women's sports, and we're going to start building it here in Charlotte, North Carolina. That's because of everything it has to offer, and we're ready to go.

Andy Roddick (2:51)

We see a news release, right? We're coming to Charlotte.

I'm sure it's not as easy as just saying, this is where we're going. Can you walk our fans who are just super nerds about the working parts of tennis? How does this come together? What are the processes to land this massive event here in Charlotte?

Valerie Camillo (3:11)

Well, the first thing to understand about how we came to Charlotte is that we changed the ambition for how we wanted to host the finals.

Many of your listeners probably know that the way the finals has been operated for a few decades now is that we have licensed the finals to third-party operators who have promoted the event for us and largely shaped the event. And yes, the WTA had a role in it.

But our ambition here was to say, okay, we're coming out of this moment. Our deal in Saudi Arabia was wrapping up a three-year deal. And could we rethink how we were approaching our championships? To raise the profile of it, to make it bigger, to make it matter more, which benefits the whole tour. Because if your championships matter more than how you make the championships matter more, it benefits the players to have a championship that's world class. And so the first step in that was how do we get it in markets where we're gonna have rabid fans and they're gonna be passionate for what we're bringing. And how do we get creative about our broadcast reach and all these different elements that go into making the biggest events in sports what they are. And so the first step in that was to say we need to take control of this event. And so that began the journey. And my first call came from someone you probably know, Max Eisenbud and IMG. And he called and he said, hey, I know you guys are thinking about this. And there's a few markets out there that are probably of interest. We were talking to some and he said, have you looked and thought about Charlotte? And that began the journey.