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PILOT PEN TENNIS PRESENTED BY SCHICKAugust 23, 2008Mike DaviesAnne WorcesterNEW HAVEN, CONNECTICUT MATT VAN TUINEN: I'll start by saying thanks to Anne and Mike. I think it's a nice way to wrap up at the end, informally discuss whatever in a relaxed setting. ANNE WORCESTER: Instead of sweating under the lights (laughter). MATT VAN TUINEN: I'll let Anne and Mike start with an opening statement about the event. ANNE WORCESTER: I'll let my boss start off. MIKE DAVIES: Well, what the focus has been this week has been a lot on the fact that the attendance is down from last year. And we all know, basically at least what I contribute to those numbers being down, are two major things: obviously the Olympics, and secondly the economy. I, quite frankly, think that the economy almost outweighs the Olympic situation a little bit. So having said that, you know, we have had some great matches and great tennis and we've had the best weather since -- I think Dr. Mel has been telling me he's never seen a week like this since '91 when I started here. So that has been very fortunate, great for us. On top of that, I think it's quite amazing that we had like 50 people that were at the Olympics come here before the US Open. That's a pretty good number of players who have made that huge trek to get here. We think the word in the locker room, which we've tried to do since we began here, is trying to make this a tournament that is player friendly so that the guys and the girls in the locker room feel that New Haven is a great spot to come to, it's a great week, they have the same courts, they have the same balls, they have the stadium, they can practice, and it's a hop, skip and a jump away from the US Open, Flushing Meadows. I think we are getting the benefit of the years that we put in trying to get that done. We certainly are very happy that going into 2009 we will not be affected by the Olympics. So we certainly are anticipating a better field of players as far as the "ticket sellers, name attractions," et cetera. I can only keep my fingers crossed, although I'm not at all superstitious, about the fact that the economy's going to do something, and hopefully it's not going to be a worse economy in 2009 than it has been right at this present moment. That's a big thing, I think. I think probably the US Open Series, a lot of tournaments on there have suffered because of the Olympics. It's one of those years that artistically we have done a good job in presenting the best tennis that we could get to New Haven. After that it's up to the tennis players to put on the competitive matches, which they certainly have. Some of the women's matches have been great, great three-setters. Getting Mardy Fish into the final once again, after having been in the final last year, is terrific. All in all we could have been a lot worse hit by those two major factors. The Olympics still going on, it's hard to believe they're still going on. I mean, I thought this thing would be over. But it's taking eyeballs away from us. That's all there is to it. So having said that, we'll take questions. Q. Mike, knowing what was coming up with the Olympics and so forth, what kind of a hit did you expect you might take at the gate? Did you think it might be down 10, 20, 30%? What were you looking at realistically that you thought you might get? MIKE DAVIES: I was looking personally at like a 10% drop in attendance. I was being cautious about it and saying 10%. But having said that, it was like my number is in my head, not on a piece of paper, because frankly at the last minute, with somebody losing early in the Olympics that wanted to play, that number could have changed dramatically. So we were hoping for James Blake. But how can we hope for James Blake when we're hoping he's going to win the tournament? We're going against ourselves. He had a great Olympics as far as beating Federer is concerned. ANNE WORCESTER: Just to put it in perspective, last night I spoke to the guests of Yale University Investments, and the guests that invest in the $23 billion endowment. They always like to hear about the business side of the tournament. And I talked about these two challenges of the economy and the Olympics, and the Olympics not being just players but consumers as well. When I said we were probably going to be about 15% down in attendance, they reminded me over and over again that if you have a look at how the economy has impacted other businesses, 15% is a real success, especially given the added challenge of the Olympics. So I was sort of reminded to look at things much more holistically and keep it in perspective. I guess I want to add to what Mike was saying. You guys have lived this Olympics player situation with us. We probably had too much reporting on it because I think everyone thought we were really going to be negatively impacted. At the end of the day, we got very lucky. With the exception of James Blake, Elena Dementieva and maybe David Ferrer and a couple of other people you guys have never written about, we actually wound up with a very, very respectable and decent field. Last minute we had a lot of surprises on the women's side. Vaidisova, Schnyder, Hantuchova, Lindsay Davenport. Amélie Mauresmo didn't enter till a few weeks ago. Anna Chakvetadze didn't enter till a few weeks ago. So the player field came together late, not just because of the Olympics but because of player behavior. But it really did in the end come together quite nicely. And on the men's side there were no real big names, but it sure is nice to have so many Americans in men's tennis, because on the women's side we only had Bethanie Mattek. It was nice to certainly have names like Jesse Levine, Donald Young, John Isner, Mardy Fish in the main draw. And it's always fantastic for your seeds to get through and/or Americans to get through. The Olympics is what it is. The economy is what it is. And if we all take a step back and look at this as a dispassionate observer sitting here today, it turned out the best it could be. The weather was fantastic. The matches were very competitive. And if you look at, we have Anna Chakvetadze, our No. 1 seed, in the women's final, versus Caroline Wozniacki, who we've all been talking about all summer as one of these hot up-and-coming rising stars on the WTA Tour. She won Stockholm this summer. I told both Caroline and Alizé Cornet that they made me look good by getting to the semis and the finals because we've been talking about them being not just the stars of tomorrow but really already arriving. I explained to the players how this market loves to discover talent. Everybody loves to go to the US Open and see Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal. But Connecticut fans, there's something special, it's some cognoscenti interest that Connecticut fans love to discover players who are going to jump into the top 10 or who are going to jump into the top five. I told the girls about Justine Henin, other top players who have played here in outer courts when people didn't recognize them. You know, the Pilot Pen continues to be a breakthrough tournament for young players. I mean, many of you have written about it. Alizé Cornet said to me yesterday, I am definitely coming back. This is a fantastic tournament. I am definitely coming back. Caroline Wozniacki is having a great week. This could be her breakthrough event. It would be nice to see her do well at the US Open, similar to what Agnes Szavay did last year. It's nice to see top seeds get through. It's nice to see your risings stars get through. Of course, it's always nice to have an American like Mardy Fish get in the final. We've had friendly barbs going back and forth between James and Mardy. Mardy said, James, thanks for not playing this year so somebody else could be on the billboard. When Mardy comes into my office, he can't believe he's on the ticket brochure, the Market New Haven campaign, direct mail pieces. I don't think he's used to that. I think it's kind of making him stand up a little taller, and I think he really feels comfortable here. He was quoted in the press widely this week saying how accommodating this tournament is, how terrific this tournament is. So it's nice to have him in the final and against another teenager we've all been talking about all summer, Marin Cilic, who upset Roddick in Toronto, and is also having a very, very good summer. He's going to jump into the top 25. So, you know, here we are with this really nice combination of veterans, top seeds and Americans and teenagers having reached the semis and the finals. So it's good as it could have been. I guess on behalf of our team, there's never been so much off-court entertainment, because six months ago we didn't know we were going to get all these good players. A child 12 and under singing America the Beautiful every single night I think adds to the experience. That's a result of the kids casting call we did at the Shubert Theater. Text messaging promotions in the stadium are getting all kinds of response from fans. There's the new stage in the picnic area that we programmed every day with live chats, radio stations, music at night. People are sitting in the picnic area and eating and drinking, having a great time enjoying the entertainment. You know, we have our signature special events like Kids Day, Ladies Day Luncheon and Fashion Show. This year we also put on the biggest special event I have ever seen subsumed within a tennis tournament and that was the New Haven Food and Wine Festival, which for the first time in New Haven history aggregated the best restaurants, the most unique restaurants in one place. It was in this tent actually, to a sellout crowd. The response from media and consumers was extraordinary. We sold out three weeks prior to the event. There was a tremendous amount of buzz in here on Wednesday night. The fire marshal was standing at the door making sure we didn't let one extra person in. It was hosted by legendary Jacques Pepin. We brought players up. I was the one with the micropiece in my ear listening to, This player is coming up next, coordinating with media interviews, introducing to guests, and the players wouldn't leave. They came for their 15-minute appearance, and then they wanted to stay because they really love New Haven restaurants. So many of them have been enjoying New Haven restaurants for years. So, you know, the New Haven Food and Wine Festival was sort of one of those mini events within the tournament that turned out to be wildly successful. A lot of good stories. A lot of magical moments. The players I think are enjoying the restaurants more than ever. There were 192 player visits to downtown restaurants this week. Matt can give you the restaurants that were most visited. Funny story. We left here Thursday night with Marin Cilic waiting for a courtesy car. I said, Jump in my car. He didn't know who I was. I said, Don't worry, I'm the tournament director. He says to me, I'm hungry. Is there anyplace I can eat at 11:30 at night? I said, I don't think so. Kitchens close around 10. He said, Well, I was hoping to get some steak. I was reading about Central Steakhouse. Turns out, I knew Central Steakhouse was having a party for Yale University. Called over, got the owner on the line. He threw three steaks on the grill for Marin Cilic and his group. We took them there at midnight and Marin Cilic was so happy and so sort of impressed that New Haven was really kind of putting out the welcome matt. I think the players, like Mike said, are really, really happy and appreciative of what we try and do here. So those are just some of the highlights for me. Q. You talked about how you did a lot of this off-the-court stuff because you weren't sure who you were going to have. Will you continue to do the same things next year even though you have more people? ANNE WORCESTER: If we do, we need some more staff members because it's a lot of orchestration and coordination. The Food and Wine Festival was having a tournament within a tournament. Our staff did such a fantastic job. So I think most of it was -- it was so well-received that I think we will continue, but we would have to add a staff member or three because I think we've all run ourselves a little bit ragged this week with all the extra promotion, and then getting all these players, media requests, sponsor requests, fan requests. But everything is so much easier when the sun shines. Q. Do you remember the weather ever being this good? ANNE WORCESTER: No. You know, last year was the first time we had to cancel a bona fide session, and certainly two sessions. It cannot rain and still be humid and sticky. Our television coverage is so outstanding that it's easy to sit home and watch it on TV. So I've never remembered the weather being so lovely and so comfortable and so ideal for an outdoor sports and entertainment event. It really complements everything we've promoted about this event for 11 years, and that is that it's this family-friendly entertainment event, it's more than just tennis, and there's something for everyone. I don't know if you guys know, but New Haven, It All Happens Here, the tag line, was actually borrowed from the Pilot Pen because we used to say, Pilot Pen, It All Happens Here. I think the good weather really complements that. Q. You always say that players are creatures of habit. Do you worry because a lot of big-name players took this week off because of the Olympics, didn't play before the final, that all of a sudden, Yeah, that was pretty nice, being able to relax? Or do you think they're going to rely on their old habits and come back here? ANNE WORCESTER: Well, I think when you really look at it, a lot of big-name players didn't stay away. I really think it's James Blake, Elena Dementieva, and David Ferrer, Tommy Robredo. But, no, because the Spaniards don't have anywhere else to go. All the Europeans that come over for the American events, they don't want to pay their hotel room this week, especially not at New York prices. So this is quite comfortable for them. So I feel very certain that we'll get the Almagros, Ferrers, Robredos, those guys will come back again, because they did come for three years. You heard James Blake say in the press conference the other day, you know, so they gave the men the bigger locker room this year. Figures they give the men the bigger locker room the year I take off. So in his mind it was a year off. What I think is that while we hope all of our regulars come back again, it was nice to have Lindsay, it was nice to have Amélie, it was nice to have Daniela Hantuchova, those players we affectionately refer to as our regulars. I'm thrilled that Elena Dementieva won the gold. I mean, assuming she comes back, that will help us sell more tickets. So I can't just focus on those players. I've got to really focus on the players of tomorrow. That's where I'm trying to spend as much time as I can with Agnes Szavay, Cibulkova, Caroline Wozniacki, Alizé Cornet, Marlin Cilic, taking Marin Cilic out for steak at midnight. This is our future. Tennis is very international. We all wish we had more Americans. But we have to take a page from the Olympics and build all those personalities. So it's nice when they get through the final, especially against a veteran like Mardy Fish or Anna Chakvetadze, who is 10 in the world. But I'll go to the Open next week and I will not work any less hard in talking to every single top 20 player, including Venus, including Serena. Maria won't be there. But I know that this job doesn't get any easier as a result of this year. But I think Mike's right. I think the buzz in the locker room is better than ever. Like I've never had so many compliments from tennis players before. Q. Is that buzz enough to get Venus back, to get Maria back? ANNE WORCESTER: That buzz won't do anything to change their behavior. It will be that they need the matches before the US Open. I mean, our relationships with those players couldn't be any better, you know. I mean, we keep in touch all year long. Great friendships. But they have to make a business decision. They don't play any tournaments. If you look at those three players who clearly are superstars, clearly sell tickets, they play the four Grand Slams and a handful of non-Grand Slam tournaments. It's like Steffi Graf all over again. It's not good for women's tennis. So we got to either, you know, sit back and feel sorry for ourselves. No, we got to build the other names. We've got to build the other names and stars. MIKE DAVIES: The thing we've got to realize is, which maybe it comes back to haunt us, is that we've had a certain amount of success. And the success has been that we've had some Venus Williams winning this event four times, we've had James Blake here a few times. We've had, you know, over the years some very good great names in women's tennis, Steffi Graf, Capriati, Davenport, this kind of stuff. Then all of a sudden we have this year. The thing is, what we're all forgetting, guys, this is a Tier II women's event, and an International Series men's event. You know, we are not a Masters Series men's event, in which the players get designated and have to play, like the eight events, like Cincinnati and Canada. And we're not a Tier I women's event. We're a Tier II. We happen to be in a week that we know is bad in terms of the week before the last Grand Slam. But it's also been good sometimes when players need that extra match practice. But we've got to remember we are not a Masters Series event and a Tier I women's event. We're an International Series. So we don't put up as much prize money as the Masters Series. We don't put up as much prize money as Tier I's. I think we are probably, as far as the USTA is concerned, as far as the summer, we're the most successful Tier II event and International Series event in America. I would say, and I'm not sure how many of the similar events in the world are more successful than this. What are the other events that are more successful or as successful as us in our category? Craig probably knows. CRAIG GABRIEL: Sydney would be. ANNE WORCESTER: Sydney is very similar. We share a lot of information. Sydney is the New Haven of the Australian Open. It's just fully funded by the Australian Tennis Association. MATT VAN TUINEN: If you look at the tournaments this summer, Los Angeles went out and got Roddick, D.C. went out and got Roddick. Didn't make it to the finals of either. They poured their eggs into one basket, necessarily, which these two have always been against that theory. You think about what that means. If you go down that road, you say, Would it be better off if we went and got Roddick? I don't know that it changes things necessarily because what if he loses in the first round. It's too hard from that standpoint. MIKE DAVIES: There's no doubt there are certain business benefits out of getting a name up early. We get to use the guy's name or the girl's name, the tennis player's name. We get to be able to put a picture on our brochures, on our ticket packages, everything like that, we get to use it. But you also stand a chance that here she is up there featured, that after a last-minute injury, pulls out of the tournament, or they play the tournament and lose in the first or second round. So, I mean, there's lots of dangers out there with that kind of approach. ANNE WORCESTER: You know, the L.A. tournament director said to me, This is just a year I have to accept that this tournament is like a challenger. If you look at the L.A. field and the D.C. field, minus Roddick, our field was much more competitive and much deeper because the Olympics were still going on, but the tennis event, thank goodness, ended the weekend of our qualifying. That's why we got 50 Olympians. MIKE DAVIES: I remember distinctly a few years ago when somebody said to me, Boy, you know, you've got to be very happy, you got seven of the top 10 players. I shook my head and said, Yeah, well, how are we going to live up to that in the years to come? Q. Do you think the new calendar, the streamlining of it, will have any effect on how players look at their schedule? MIKE DAVIES: I mean, more than anything else on the calendar, everybody in tennis, any tennis tournaments, are looking for what week do I have. There's no change for us in the week. ANNE WORCESTER: To your point, in the new world of women's tennis, other than being a mandatory event, which costs millions of dollars, I wouldn't want to be anywhere else but in a preGrand Slam week because we can have an unlimited number of top 10 players, whereas everybody else is now restricted because the tour, to their credit, is trying to control player movement, so that Maria Sharapova is not playing in Surabaya because she's been paid to do so. The top players should play on the largest stages of the sport, and that's the way you create rivalries, and that's the way you create excitement. Sounds great on paper. But as a practical matter, if Justine Henin has a virus all summer long and misses every tournament, you can't tell her she's not going to play in New Haven. So I think some of those rules will be tested, especially as it relates to a player being able to earn their livelihood. But, you know, we're paying a lot of attention to them, and clearly need to sort of better understand how they're going to work as a practical matter. But it may make our field more last-minute than it's been in a typical non-Olympic year. Q. Cincinnati is going to be both the week before. Will that make your life easier? ANNE WORCESTER: It's not the week before. You're the only person in the world that would notice that. Cincinnati has a Tier III that's been sold back to the WTA. They're finalizing the negotiations over the past two weeks. They didn't have a place for it on the '09 calendar because Cincinnati's also negotiating to bring Zurich, a Tier I, to combine it with its men's Tier I. So until the Tier III deal is done to give it back to the tour, and I think the tour is going to take it off the calendar, they had to put it in the only week that needed jobs, and that was the New Haven week. So they sent me an official email saying, Don't freak out, this is just a place holder, Cincinnati will not be played against New Haven. Because there's also some negotiation going on between the WTA and the USTA as it relates to Forest Hills. So I'm letting everybody else do their politicking and saying there is no way we're going to have any kind of an event, except a Forest Hills, against us. I have an email confirming from the WTA that it's just a place holder. Paul Flory from Cincinnati called me 15 times because he was so nervous about it. Q. Mike, is it just the difference in prize money between a Tier I and Tier II, International Series? MIKE DAVIES: No. ANNE WORCESTER: There's a whole list of standards. MIKE DAVIES: We meet the standards in terms of the size of the stadium. That's for sure. Q. Has there been any thought to trying to inch up? MIKE DAVIES: They wouldn't do it. ANNE WORCESTER: They would never do it the week before a slam because they couldn't promise 10 of the top 10 players. MIKE DAVIES: This is why the week is the key thing on the calendar where it's the week really, you know, what you can do with it. We can't have a Masters Series event the week before the US Open. ANNE WORCESTER: There was one WTA meeting along the way of this new Road Map. At one point they had us on the minor series. They had the major leagues and the minor leagues. In the beginning they had everybody preGrand Slam in the minor leagues, because they were really separating the major from the minor leagues. They had all these standards for the mandatory events. So I stood up in the meeting and said, We'd like to apply for a mandatory event. We meet stadium capacity. We meet and exceed stadium capacity. We meet and exceed attendance. We meet and exceed television. We meet and exceed marketing. We qualified in every way for a mandatory event. My point was, you know, don't downgrade a tournament that's good for tennis. And we didn't get downgraded. MIKE DAVIES: What other tournament, Craig, after Sydney is out there that is comparable in either women's or men's? There's no week before a Grand Slam that has the men and women, is there? CRAIG GABRIEL: Not that I can remember the week before a Grand Slam, no. It will be interesting to see what the LTA is going to do, and that is Nottingham goes, and Eastbourne and Queen's become one. MIKE DAVIES: At Queen's? CRAIG GABRIEL: Yes. ANNE WORCESTER: He's reached out to us for help. We're sharing a lot of information, Gavin Fletcher. CRAIG GABRIEL: That would be the next closest one. MIKE DAVIES: One of the major problems that tennis has is that, again, we've said this before, is that it is such an international sport that there are so many countries out there that want tennis tournaments. I talked to an ATP person the other day who says that they get calls from places around the world that the money is no object if they can get, you know, a big-time tournament. I mean, they're supported by the government. They're supported by oil. They're supported by other things, et cetera. So, you know, it's very hard for the USTA. They have lost a lot of tournaments over the last 20 years, 25 years. They've lost half of the tournaments that were in the United States. The competition for tennis is huge out there. Let's face it, tennis is a bigger sport in other parts of the world than it is in the United States. Q. You talked about 15%. How does that translate into dollars and cents? MIKE DAVIES: You mean 15% drop in attendance? How does it translate to actual money, in dollars? Q. Yes. MIKE DAVIES: Probably a couple hundred thousand. But, you know, as I was saying, I think tennis fans in New Haven should be proud of the fact that they've got an event this size, that New Haven has got a men's and women's event, when there's so many cities in the world that would love to have this. I wish we owned the event; we might sell it (laughter). Q. That $200,000 loss, does that mean the tournament is going to lose money this year, break even, a little bit ahead? MIKE DAVIES: No, we're probably going to lose a little money this year. But we've done okay in the past few years. We've got a little reserve in there. We've got a cushion. So, you know. Q. It's not like you weren't expecting it? MIKE DAVIES: No, it's not like we weren't expecting it. ANNE WORCESTER: We're lucky to be in the middle of multiple-term sponsorship deals so that we didn't have any big impacts. The impact was really the small company who spends $2500 on box seats and said, I got to cut my entertainment budget. I just have to skip this year. So that's really where we got hit long before players were announced. It's understandable. But thank goodness, and really thanks to the US Open Series, we have blue chip companies like American Express and Evian, Mass Mutual, in addition to Pilot Pen Corporation and Schick. MIKE DAVIES: Olympus. ANNE WORCESTER: AT&T is a Connecticut sponsor headquartered in New Haven. They're a very big sponsor here. Yale New Haven Hospital is another local, but most of them are national, and it's because of our television. It's all driven by television. Because our television is so strong - again thanks to the US Open Series - we're really lucky to have national sponsors and multiple-term sponsorships so that we got hit at the lower levels but not at the bigger levels, because that would be a big hit. A $50,000 sponsorship is a lot of tickets to sell. MATT VAN TUINEN: The TV thing is massive. I go to Indian Wells. These guys have been to Miami. They're working with FOX Sports this year. They're not even on ESPN. They weren't even on network TV. Those are two of the largest tournaments in the entire world. Since they're not part of the US Open Series... MIKE DAVIES: We have probably a better television package than any tournament, apart from the US Open, in America. ANNE WORCESTER: I mean, don't tell anybody, but we've kind of made a much bigger deal out of these Tier II events. The head of marketing for Sony Ericsson globally says to me, Anne Worcester, I don't know how you do it, you've taken this Tier II and made it into something much bigger. MIKE DAVIES: What accent is that, Anne (laughter)? ANNE WORCESTER: I don't know. Your continent. The television, the buzz, the entertainment, we're just doing the best we can. Q. Is there a particular player that you got feedback on from the fans that they were excited to see, among the relative unknowns, or were they generally excited to see all the young players? MIKE DAVIES: You have a better feel for that than me. ANNE WORCESTER: First of all, Mauresmo had like an even bigger following than I really knew she did. I think she felt so good here. Thursday night, after her match, she said, Anne, I have not played this well in a full year. This is the best I've played in a full year. For the younger players, I think Alizé Cornet has some charisma. I think women's tennis would be lucky if she got into the top 10. I think Wozniacki is very outgoing, very friendly, very approachable. Loved the story on her nail polish today. Can't remember who wrote that. MATT VAN TUINEN: Agnes Szavay. ANNE WORCESTER: She was devastated to lose because she was feeling so good. So I think she's going to work on her fitness. I don't know, how would you answer that question? And Mardy Fish. Q. Luka Gregorc. ANNE WORCESTER: He was the Cinderella story of 2008. He's the Agnes Szavay of 2008. Getting through three matches of qualifying, getting into the semifinals. Q. He didn't get the steak? ANNE WORCESTER: You know what, I feel I've been partial. Q. What are your thoughts on the ATP with Etienne stepping down? Do you have any concerns as far as what direction they're going to go? MIKE DAVIES: Well, obviously I have no idea. I mean, I know one of the major things is branding. That is still being fought over as far as branding is concerned. You know, it really depends on who they bring in and what the philosophy of the players are, the philosophy of the person that they bring in as to which way they go forward. I mean, I have my own personal opinions about which way and what they should be doing, which is not what is happening. But that's a very political thing. It's up for grabs now as to who is going to end up the head of the ATP and what is his background knowledge, what does he see. And the players have to sort of decide what they want to be. Are they going to be a business or are they going to be a player organization, a service organization, that's there to help the sport and not a business. I just see that the ATP in the past, in the last 10 years, 15 years, has been chasing the sponsorship and the money. CRAIG GABRIEL: Do you think it's maybe about time the tour looks back and puts somebody in that position from inside, somebody like a Brad Drewett? MIKE DAVIES: I've always found it dangerous to bring somebody from outside. I tell you what, this game is complicated. It is so international. It's so complicated. You've got to know what's going on in this sport, I believe. Bringing a business guy from another world, as it were, into it, is very, very dangerous. I mean, it's fraught with problems. I would prefer that they have somebody who, you know, has played, been around, knows the politics, been a player, knows what it's like, not necessarily been a "top player," but somebody that knows what this game is about. ANNE WORCESTER: A perfect example is Larry Scott on the women's side. I mean, he's a former player. He understands the politics. He spent an inordinate amount of time communicating with players. Everybody doesn't always agree with what he does, but he's transparent, fair. That's really a good example of somebody from inside the game with very strong business acumen who has done a good job. MIKE DAVIES: Exactly. You're never going to please -- it's the same old thing. He's never going to be able to please everybody. You're going to be fighting with the players, you're going to be fighting with the tournaments, one or the other, at whatever stage. ANNE WORCESTER: It's a very hard job. I can tell you firsthand. When I was appointed CEO, they wanted to find David Stern. Then they realized maybe they didn't want to find David Stern. The sport has done different things at different times in history. It would be nice if we could find somebody from within with really strong business skills and consensus building skills, not consensus decision making, but somebody who really understands what tournaments think and what players think is critical to the success of the future of the tour. MATT VAN TUINEN: I think we need to wrap it up. ANNE WORCESTER: Thank you, everybody. MIKE DAVIES: Thank you. End of FastScripts |
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