[Info for Indian Players] - ITF Tournaments in Portugal

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[Info for Indian Players] - ITF Tournaments in Portugal

Post by VReddy »

During a brief conversation with Felner earlier in the week (Felner Academy incharge), he shared this program and recommended sharing with any Indian players. Couple of Swiss players know it already but Indian players will find it more valuable I think.

Amongst Indian Players, I only really know Nandini / Rishika - Rishika found this super useful and shared amongst her network then itself. I think many of our players who play in Egypt will find it a better alternative from all perspectives. Vatsal has kindly agreed to share with Nitin.

Posting here incase any of SI members find it useful enough to share with the player they know. I will do bit of blind outreach anyway - I feel I should anyway if I have spent enjoyed/wasted so much time of my life following Indian Tennis.

Details: https://photos.app.goo.gl/S1ZqLu4foBNGsLS73

Note: To call out - I am not monetarily gaining anything. Max I will gain some brownie points from Felner Academy but given that its based in Portugal (and not in India or Switzerland), doesn't matter. Additionally, I will have the few indian players who end up reading, think am part of the academy BD team
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Re: [Info for Indian Players] - ITF Tournaments in Portugal

Post by sameerph »

How do the nations such as Portugal,Egypt, Turkey and Tunisia manage to host tournaments week after week. Why we cannot do so ? I am sure Tennis is not a priority sports in those countries too and there is no government support for hosting the tournaments.
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Re: [Info for Indian Players] - ITF Tournaments in Portugal

Post by Saniapower »

Tourism is the answer
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Re: [Info for Indian Players] - ITF Tournaments in Portugal

Post by VReddy »

Egypt events are player-funded events in terms of business model. These events in a big resort, the players in the entry list are expected to stay in the same resort with a certain premium fee attached to their accommodation. If the player is not staying there, then the treatment is not great I believe and so all the players end up staying there.

So we can do our own math here on how it works by taking the assumption of $80.00 per person/night. Assume around $20,000 for organization given that they have the scale to minimize the costs.

I think the players appreciate it a bit as well as its like a self-running Tennis non-profit (or minimalistic profit which is fair). Requires a big tennis nut with huge bank balance to get things going but kudos to him for getting it into auto-pilot mode.

Other countries - I am not sure. Felner's program is a cheaper version of the above with coaching /logistics / peer network support but obviously they are not organizing the event themselves.
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Re: [Info for Indian Players] - ITF Tournaments in Portugal

Post by sameerph »

VReddy wrote: Sun Feb 25, 2018 10:16 am
So we can do our own math here on how it works by taking the assumption of $80.00 per person/night. Assume around $20,000 for organization given that they have the scale to minimize the costs.
Yes, if one consideres about 35 players ( including those in qualifying) then weekly revenue would be in the range of $20,000. However, I think the total cost for organising a $15K prize money tournament would be more in the range of $25K. It is possible that they may be getting funding for the balance amount ($5-$10K) either from some sponsors or from the national association.

I guess it could be the same model for Turkey and Tunisia. All these 3 nations are this week hosting 7th/8th futures for the year and similar number of tournaments on womens side while other nations have just about hosted 1 or 2 or just starting out like we are doing this week with Bhubaneswar futures.

So, surely something which we can try to emulate here in India so that our players get to play a lot more tournaments at home.
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Re: [Info for Indian Players] - ITF Tournaments in Portugal

Post by VReddy »

sameerph wrote: Mon Feb 26, 2018 5:27 am
VReddy wrote: Sun Feb 25, 2018 10:16 am
So we can do our own math here on how it works by taking the assumption of $80.00 per person/night. Assume around $20,000 for organization given that they have the scale to minimize the costs.
Yes, if one consideres about 35 players ( including those in qualifying) then weekly revenue would be in the range of $20,000. However, I think the total cost for organising a $15K prize money tournament would be more in the range of $25K. It is possible that they may be getting funding for the balance amount ($5-$10K) either from some sponsors or from the national association.

I guess it could be the same model for Turkey and Tunisia. All these 3 nations are this week hosting 7th/8th futures for the year and similar number of tournaments on womens side while other nations have just about hosted 1 or 2 or just starting out like we are doing this week with Bhubaneswar futures.

So, surely something which we can try to emulate here in India so that our players get to play a lot more tournaments at home.
Yes agree. This thought keeps hitting me - if somebody is enterprising enough, has the right contacts (in the local tennis/political circles), is in the right place (India - Goa or semi-tourstic destination), comes up with a business plan to make it self-sustainable and so on, this is very much do-able. Again involves a big IF and a lot of luck to make it happen.
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Re: [Info for Indian Players] - ITF Tournaments in Portugal

Post by jayakris »

sameerph wrote: Mon Feb 26, 2018 5:27 amYes, if one consideres about 35 players ( including those in qualifying) then weekly revenue would be in the range of $20,000.
But there is no way that the players will get 250 room nights. Most would only stay 3 or 4 nights, and many/most would share rooms. In many places, the local fans sometimes host players, especially the local who come to play qualies etc. So what the players buy would be More like 100 room nights, for some $8K revenue. In resort type settings, I suppose there could be some 20-30 fans who might book rooms because of a tennis event going on. They typically come only for the weekends. If the hotel/resort is offering their own courts, then the hotel's court rental income will get affected too. So basically, I don't think there is anything more than a $5K benefit for a hotel, in running a futures event. They may be willing to sponsor some $5K or so, but the rest needs to come from sponsorship. I assume that at least some $20K is still needed, to add up to a $25K to run a $15K event.

It is not easy, but not impossible to raise that kid of money, if some enthusiastic guys run around. Tennis clubs and academies often have a vested interest in running around raising funds though. It gives the club exposure and name recognition.
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Re: [Info for Indian Players] - ITF Tournaments in Portugal

Post by VReddy »

jayakris wrote: Mon Feb 26, 2018 1:44 pm
sameerph wrote: Mon Feb 26, 2018 5:27 amYes, if one consideres about 35 players ( including those in qualifying) then weekly revenue would be in the range of $20,000.
But there is no way that the players will get 250 room nights. Most would only stay 3 or 4 nights, and many/most would share rooms. In many places, the local fans sometimes host players, especially the local who come to play qualies etc. So what the players buy would be More like 100 room nights, for some $8K revenue. In resort type settings, I suppose there could be some 20-30 fans who might book rooms because of a tennis event going on. They typically come only for the weekends. If the hotel/resort is offering their own courts, then the hotel's court rental income will get affected too. So basically, I don't think there is anything more than a $5K benefit for a hotel, in running a futures event. They may be willing to sponsor some $5K or so, but the rest needs to come from sponsorship. I assume that at least some $20K is still needed, to add up to a $25K to run a $15K event.

It is not easy, but not impossible to raise that kid of money, if some enthusiastic guys run around. Tennis clubs and academies often have a vested interest in running around raising funds though. It gives the club exposure and name recognition.
Jay - In this case, I believe they push/force you to stay in the same hotel. If not, there is some administrative fee which is almost equal to the accommodation. I had discussed this topic in the past with 3 players (Rishika / Leonie's mother (swiss player) / Nandini) - they all mentioned the same. Some do not like the model / differential treatment if they stayed else-where but they are like, atleast these folks are organizing tournaments.

After those conversations, I do remember seeing the same conversation on some UK Lawn Tennis forum which collaborated the same. Obviously there would be some pitfalls that exist in the calculations and so the owner needs to set bankroll it for some amount, so it could be a mix - will try to find the UK LTA thread
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Re: [Info for Indian Players] - ITF Tournaments in Portugal

Post by VReddy »

Some discussion around the same (3 yrs back - relevant for 10k events): http://britishtennis.activeboard.com/t6 ... t-60283179
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Re: [Info for Indian Players] - ITF Tournaments in Portugal

Post by prasen9 »

In some countries, due to the exchange rate and the surplus of hotels, you could go a long way because rooms can be $50/night. Decent 3-star rooms. But, in those cases, I suppose, the country being poor, raising $5k or $10k would be tougher because it means "more" money.

Well, by now, the Portuguese site is not accessible. So, this is a general tennis discussion thread of sorts for hosting tournaments at little profit but enabling the game.

Good reading the whole thread to avoid CV coverage.
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