Men's and women's tennis tours advance talks to merge commercial rights, sources say

LONDON : The ATP Tour and Women's Tennis Association (WTA) are pushing ahead with efforts to merge the commercial and media rights of the men's and women's tennis tours, bringing in an external adviser to study options, three people familiar with the situation said.

The groups, which are run by representatives of the players and tournaments, have hired consultancy McKinsey & Company, one of the people said. A second person said the appointment happened earlier this year.

A deal could value the emerging entity at around 3 billion pounds ($3.84 billion), two of the people said.

The ATP and WTA said in a statement that they are "exploring discussions that would enable us to leverage assets across both Tours via the creation of a new joint commercial entity, delivering more value to players, tournaments, and fans, while remaining as separate Tours".

The talks are still in the preliminary stages, they added.

The move would bring all the commercial ventures into one entity, with the aim of completing a merger in 2025, the first person added, speaking on condition of anonymity because the matter is private.

A deal would allow the two groups to reduce duplication in their organisations and to more effectively market themselves to broadcasters and sponsors, the person added.

It would build on a deal done last year between the WTA and private equity fund CVC, which gave CVC 20 per cent of a new company overseeing the broadcasting and marketing operations of the women's tennis association called WTA Ventures, they said.

CVC and McKinsey both declined to comment.

More financial investment could be required as part of the merger, two of the people said. The sport has also drawn interest from Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund (PIF),