How the ATP Courts Worldwide Support
If you're a fan of individual sports, you've probably noticed that player are globe hopper. Take tennis. No single country boasts enough interested fans to keep [layers at home for year-round competition, yet today's top-flight tennis pros come from every continent except Antarctica. For 2013, the Association of Tennis Professional (ATP) sanctioned 64 tournaments in 31 countries. It also requires member pros to play in a certain number of events---and thus stop over in a number of countries ---to maintain international rankings.
Because no tennis pro can possibly play in every tournament, organizers must attract enough top draws to fill stadium seats and land lucrative TV contracts. So tournaments compete for top-billed stars, not only with other tournaments but also with such regular international showcases as the Olympics and the Davis Cup. Prizes for two weeks' worth of expert serving and volleying can be extremely generous (about US$2.55 million for the 2013 single champions of the Australian Open).
Remember, too, that tournaments earn money through ticket sales, corporate sponsorship agreements, television contracts, and leasing of advertising space. The more people in the stadium and TV audience, the more sponsors and advertisers will pay to get their attention. Moreover, international broadcasts attract sponsorship from international companies. The partner and sponsor list for the 2013 Australian Open tennis tournament included a South Korea automaker(Kia), a Dutch brewer (Heineken), a Swiss watchmaker (Rolex), a French clothing company (Lacoste), and a U.S. sporting goods firm (Wilson). Such sponsorship of world watched sporting events generally pays off in higher market growth rate.