5 Comments
User's avatar
Tennis Sweet Spot's avatar

Great piece! Very curious about that statement though, "it’s also a pretty risk-free space in terms of the likelihood of scandals that could throw off a brand." Obviously good for sports that some of these brands don't know a lot about sports ah ah! Why do you think tennis is (again) being left out now? Are the players too expensive or is it the slump I think tennis is getting into? Even more eye-catching was that "e.l.f. was represented by Billie Jean King Enterprises in negotiations with the NWSL".

Expand full comment
Daniel-Yaw Miller's avatar

Thank you Carole!!

It's such an interesting point you make on tennis, and I frequently wonder the same thing. Like you say, I think tennis players are very expensive to work with — there is only a small handful on each tour that brands who don't know all that much about the sport would consider worthwhile to work with, which in turn means those select few players get all the sponsorship attention, driving their prices up. If brands took a little more time to research the sport they would find so many great people outside of the usual names they could partner with. But I also think it's an institutional issue that tennis is yet to solve in terms of opening the sport up a bit more, to facilitate wider appreciation for its athletes.

Expand full comment
Tennis Sweet Spot's avatar

Very fair point, indeed. Tennis is a bubble, and most of the time, it's happy to be one, yet I think I agree that now is the time to get out of it. Especially because today's names aren't ever gonna be as big as those of the past decades. Tennis needs to make some effort, for once ah ah! Thanks!

Expand full comment
Daniel-Yaw Miller's avatar

Haha I totally agree!!! Your frustrations are my frustrations!

Expand full comment
Raziq Rauf's avatar

Let's go for a run in Brooklyn next month

Expand full comment