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ROGERS CUP PRESENTED BY AMERICAN EXPRESSAugust 19, 2007Karl HaleTORONTO, ONTARIO THE MODERATOR: Thank you everybody for attending. Brief opening statement for Karl Hale, and we'll open up the floor to questions. KARL HALE: Thank you all for coming and giving us the great coverage this week. We're very happy with how the tournament went. The players are very happy. While walking the grounds, the fans are very happy with the experience here. We had great weather this week that helped out a lot. And our finals, the first one, the doubles was great and we have No. 1 and No. 2 in both singles and doubles, so we're really happy with how the tournament went this week. THE MODERATOR: Go ahead, please. Q. Karl, first of all, do you have an attendance figure yet - a final attendance figure? KARL HALE: We don't have a final attendance figure, but we're ahead of 2005. We're roughly around the 137 mark, around that area. But we'll have that probably tomorrow or next week. Q. I know you're going to rectify it for 2009 with the new rules. But how would you characterize what the pullouts and early retirements have done to the tournament this year? KARL HALE: Well, I guess the pullouts that sincerely we feel that all of them were legitimate. For example, Mauresmo has skipped the US Open as well. And Serena didn't play Pilot Pen this week. So all of the player pullouts are legitimate. So we have no issues with them. Injuries are just a part of sport, you know. There's nothing you can do about them. Katarina was talking about her problem with illness. A lot of the players were ill in San Diego where they got a virus. I mean, it's just part of sport. Q. Do you believe the women are playing too many tournaments leading up to this one? KARL HALE: It's a case-by-case thing. I think it's a good idea what the Tour's doing in 2009 to cut the tournament, so that won't be a problem for those players that do play too much. But, like I said earlier, there were some other factors here that in San Diego, a lot of them got really that virus, so... Q. Is it true that the organizers offered Sharapova a guaranteed appearance money? KARL HALE: No. Q. Not at all? KARL HALE: No, not at all. Q. Is it an idea you might consider to make sure the big stars come? KARL HALE: As a Masters Series, we don't offer guarantees. Q. Is this something you might consider in the future? KARL HALE: As far as I know with this level of tournament, guarantees are not allowed. Q. Personally, how was your first experience as the director of this tournament? KARL HALE: It was great. I mean I'm from Toronto, so I knew a lot of the fans that were out there, so they were giving me a lot of feedback. And all of them were very positive. They really enjoyed the tournament, they enjoyed the new fashion shows, the fashion boutique, and all of the new things we're doing. So me, personally, I was very happy with how everything went. The team here at Tennis Canada is nothing but first class, and putting in a lot of hours until 2:00 or 3:00 in the morning, so I was extremely happy. Q. Many tickets sold, but do you regret a little bit that, even if the attendance is good on paper, in the stadium it's just half empty or half full, depending? KARL HALE: Yeah, I mean as Tier 1 events weeks go, we're roughly this week will end up 137-ish. The next one is Charleston at 91,000. So we're way ahead of the next tournament. Obviously, we would like to see more attendance, and that's what we're working towards. So, absolutely, we want to see -- we have much higher expectations for the future. Q. Has there ever been any thought to moving the tournament away from Toronto and Montreal, and perhaps including a Vancouver in the future? KARL HALE: I haven't been told of anything like that, no. Q. In terms of attendance, Karl, you don't have official data about like who is attending and who is not? And is it like more a corporate -- the corporate sales that maybe companies they buy the tickets, but they don't always use them? Is that kind of the problem - or not the problem, but the issue here? KARL HALE: What do you mean specifically? Q. Because there's a lot of tickets sold. KARL HALE: Yeah. Q. But in terms of attendance, sometimes the stadium is half empty depending on when it is in the week. So I guess -- KARL HALE: Do you mean purchased tickets who is not? Q. Yeah, purchased. KARL HALE: Who is not coming? Yeah, I don't have any figures on that. I mean, I can look into it, but I don't know specifically. Q. My question is more like what is the plan to maybe have more attendance? And why is there more attendance since you have really good, as you said, ticket sales? KARL HALE: Yeah, the plan there is just the road map for 2009. All of those things are to bring in more people. That is the plan. Q. Isn't it a bit of a concern for the health of the event? Because as far as I think anyone I've talked to knows, there's never been that kind of half-empty stadium for a semifinal in this tournament. It's always been one of the healthier stops on the tour. So isn't that a concern? KARL HALE: I mean, obviously. We don't want to see that, you know. That's why we're working towards growing the tournament with the tour. I mean, it is an issue. So we'll continue to work with the tour to make sure the 2009 road map is achieved. Q. Have you been given any assurances from the WTA that this will remain a truly upper tier event in terms of its importance and in terms of its incentives? KARL HALE: Yeah, we're a Tier 1 event and we'll be a Tier 1 event from 2009 on. And we're about the biggest Tier 1 event on the tour. Q. When does planning and work start happening for the next event? How soon after this do you take on the next event? KARL HALE: Next week we start. We have our notes from this week on what things to improve. Q. So it's constant, there is no break and you're getting ready? KARL HALE: No, next week we get the ideas down, and roughly in three weeks or so we'll start working through them and get working on the plan for 2008. Q. You just said you were starting on what things you need to improve. What do you believe needs to be improved in this tournament? KARL HALE: It's nothing major. I mean, it's just minor things. Things that the fans want to see, as far as entertainment value outside of the tournament outside of the matches that are being played. So we'll have a meeting on what can we do to give added value to the fans. One of the things that you saw today that we started three years ago is having the doubles match before the singles match. And as you can see out there today, it was a huge success. There are a lot of people watching the matches. So some scheduling things and stuff like that is what we'll look at. Q. Last year when you had the men's event, one of the things I noticed during the week that I was here last year was that you had no competition from the Blue Jays, didn't have any home games and the football team, the Argos didn't play. Whereas this week -- I'm not saying that's the reason for the poor attendance. You were competing with a couple of Blue Jays home games. No, no, the Argo s were on Friday, so you didn't compete with that. But you were competing with baseball. I just want to know when you're planning your schedule, do you take into account when the baseball team's on the road? KARL HALE: We can't schedule it like that. But we're fully aware that in Toronto the market is getting much more competitive. There is Toronto FC now as well, so we're fully aware that we have to deliver a great product to the fans. And we're continuing, as I said, to work with the fans to make sure we deliver great products for the people. Q. Can I ask a follow up? Next year you're going to be competing head-to-head with the Canadian Open Golf Championship, And on top of that you have a tournament that's going to start two weeks after Wimbledon. So despite the ATP's mandatory attendance rules. You're going to have your own sort of challenges. What sort of thoughts have you given to those things? KARL HALE: We're fully aware of all of those issues. So we'll get into those in the next month about what our strategies are for 2008. As a mandatory event, we think we'll be okay with the lineup for next year. It's two weeks after Wimbledon, and I think that's enough time for most of the players to be okay. Q. In terms of perks for the players, have you heard feedback from them? Have many of them used the spa treatments that were offered to them? And have they maybe not talked to you about it personally, but was that made use of? KARL HALE: Yeah, a lot of them talked to me personally. It was open from Monday noon till 5:00. Monday to Friday, noon to 5:00. And it was actually open till 6:30 on Friday. It was fully subscribed, I think it was Cara Black said in her runner's up speech, she said it was the best tournament. We spoil them and treat them great. They loved it. It was a huge, huge hit for the players. Q. So that's worth investing in again, I guess? KARL HALE: Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. Q. Karl is there any conversation with the WTA people about the number of players who pulled out during the tournament in match? The number of retired matches you had? It was a pretty high number. KARL HALE: Yeah, I think it was five or six. Q. I guess the most bothersome one was somebody pulled out and played the next day? KARL HALE: Yes, Srebotnik. We haven't had any conversation with them about the pullouts during the tournament. As, you know, like I said earlier and I played a little bit as well, a lot of the players were ill from San Diego and L.A. I talked to Eleni Danilidou on Monday, she couldn't even speak. A lot of them were really sick, And I'm surprised we didn't have more of a problem. The players really stepped up. Q. For next year, what would be a goal for you in terms of ticket sales for next year with the men's? KARL HALE: Well, Montreal did, I think it was 180,000 I think it was. THE MODERATOR: 185.000. KARL HALE: So right now, we want to beat our goal from last year. So that would be our objective from 2006. Q. Which is how much? KARL HALE: What was it? 155. Q. Outside of attendance, do you have an idea where your revenue figures are in terms of just how much you guys have generated as oppose d to expectations or budget? KARL HALE: I don't know specifically, no. End of FastScripts |
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