The Davis Cup, which Gerard Piqué came up with after an old partner gave him the idea of catching up on an ATP tournament in Spain, lasted five years. “Why don’t we make it big?” he replied after seeing the project. And it soon occurred to him to compress Davis, a tournament that was declining with each course and showing little interest until the last two rounds were reached. The new format attracted viewers, money and sponsors. But now, according to Kosmos Tennis, the calculations have been made wrong. The former Barça player’s company thought that the tournament would generate more, and although it was a lot, the high fees (fixed funds to run each edition) of the International Tennis Federation (ITF) were, according to the company, insurmountable on the organization give up the event.
However, the ITF say they are the ones who broke the agreement, according to the Associated Press news agency, although they do not give details on the reasons behind the decision and confirm they will organize the tournament this year. “The ITF can confirm that the contract with Kosmos Tennis for the Davis Cup will be terminated. The ITF has ensured that financial contingencies are in place and as administrators of the competition we will run the 2023 qualifiers and finals as planned, with Final 8 taking place in Malaga, Spain this November,” the press release read.
From Piqué’s company, they explain that although the fees have been renegotiated with the pandemic, the numbers have been huge. This year it would pay 32 million, the following 36, and one later it would reach 44 plus the CPI. So the company would start the course with that million in the red, although without the fees the tournament would have been positive from the first edition. “Expectations weren’t met,” they concede to Kosmos, hurt because Davis was the starting point for founding the company and the philosopher’s stone for years. It happens that times change and now they have many other aspects such as cosmos management, representation of tennis players including Andrey Rublev – sixth in the world – and Dominic Thiem in boys; and Elina Svitolina and Daria Kasatkina -eighth- among the girls. Kosmos Fútbol, who own Andorra, is also kept in the second tier; Kosmos Studio, dedicated to documentaries; and the noisy Kings League that has so much media noise and supporters. There are also collaborations with Ibai Llanos, with the World Cup of Balloons and the eSports world.
It remains to be seen what the new Davis will look like – despite having a 123-year history – as the ITF must decide whether to keep the format or change it. But that will no longer be the task of Kosmos, which has promised to invest almost 3,000 million euros over 25 years. Eventually, the agreement was broken in just five years.
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