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Done deal? Report: WTA Tour lands new sponsor
Posted: Tuesday November 02, 1999 05:11 PM
NEW YORK (AP) -- The women's professional tennis circuit reportedly has ended an 18-month search for a new title sponsor. The WTA Tour is close to completing a five-year contract with Sanex, a subsidiary of the Sara Lee Corp., worth more than $40 million, according to Brandweek magazine. The tour has been without a title sponsor since its three-year deal with Corel, a Canadian computer software firm, ended in 1998. The WTA Tour refused to comment on the report, which was published Monday. Sanex will "also sign a commitment to use WTA Tour players in its marketing." Sanex is a manufacturer of shampoos, skin creams, shower gels, deodorants, toothpastes and sun care products that is well-known in Europe, Japan and Australia, but is not distributed in the United States. The company already is the title sponsor of a tournament in Belgium, but the WTA Tour deal would represent a vast increase in its participation in the sport. Sara Lee could move the brand into the United States within several years or possibly connect with other Sara Lee-owned brands, like Coach leather products and L'eggs and Hanes hosiery. The lack of a title sponsor had become somewhat of an embarrassment for the sport, considering that the WTA Tour has produced young stars such as Martina Hingis, sisters Venus and Serena Williams, Lindsay Davenport, Anna Kournikova and Amelie Mauresmo. "The sale of the biggest-ticket women's sponsorship available should help change the mind set of the many mainstream marketers who claim to support women's athletics, but who actually do nothing more than buy a table at the annual Women's Sports Foundation dinner," Brandweek said.
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