TENNIS CHANNEL OPENS LANDS IN LAS VEGAS By Tennis Week 10/18/2005 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- One of the gaming capitals of the country is turning to tennis. The Tennis Channel Open has landed in Las Vegas. The Tennis Channel will officially announce the news on a conference call on Tuesday that will include Tennis Channel founder and president Steve Bellamy, Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman and Chris Clouser, CEO, ATP Properties. The 32-player draw ATP hard-court tournament, which had been staged at the Fairmont Scottsdale Princess in Scottsdale, Arizona, for the past 16 years, will be staged in Vegas starting on February 27th, 2006. The tournament is expected to be staged at Summerlin Park, which features a 24 courts, including a stadium court. Tennis Channel executives have told Tennis Week in the past the Channel is interested in acquiring a WTA event and staging a combined men's and women's Tennis Channel Open. The Channel envisions establishing a multi-faceted event that could conceivably grow in scope and size, featuring junior and senior tournaments, wheelchair tournaments and other sports, including beach volleyball, clinics, concerts and entertainment that would present players and fans with an abundance of activities and The Tennis Channel with hours of potential programming as well as new revenue streams from advertisers and potential sponsors. Las Vegas' most notable tennis personality, Tennis Channel investor Andre Agassi, is not expected to play the tournament in his hometown next February. Agassi is entered into the Dubai Tennis Championships, contested the same week as The Tennis Channel Open. _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ***ANOTHER ARTICLE ABOUT THE NEW LAS VEGAS TOURNAMENT (SOURCE UNKNOWN)*** LAS VEGAS TO HOST THE TENNIS CHANNEL OPEN IN 2006 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The ATP announced Tuesday that Las Vegas would host The Tennis Channel Open beginning 2006. The tournament will move from Scottsdale, Arizona. The 2006 Tennis Channel Open will take place at the newly christened Darling Memorial Tennis Center, which features a 40-acre complex with 23 courts. The tournament is scheduled for the week of Feb. 27. The announcement was made Tuesday by Steve Bellamy, president and founder, The Tennis Channel; Ken Solomon, chairman and CEO, The Tennis Channel; Oscar B. Goodman, Mayor of Las Vegas; Larry Brown, Las Vegas City Councilman; and Chris Clouser, Chairman, ATP Properties. “We are extremely excited that ATP tennis is coming to the entertainment capital of the world – Las Vegas,” said Clouser. “The Tennis Channel has done incredible things for tennis, and given viewers ways to consume this sport like never before.” “The vision is to create a sort of ‘tennispalooza,’ an annual tennis destination with tournament action and other tennis-related entertainment activities, and televise the heck out of it,” said Bellamy. “Las Vegas is providing resources and efforts toward this end, and after an exhaustive selection process we’ve decided that the city presents the best opportunity to build something spectacular that people are going to travel to experience each year.” The Tennis Channel Open Tournament Profile Page The Tennis Channel, which purchased the tournament from IMG in February, intends to expand the men’s competition into a multifaceted gathering unique to the tennis and sports-venue calendars. Plans currently entail an annual, 10-day event with men’s, women’s and juniors tournaments, surrounded by ancillary events that center on tennis and the lifestyle of its enthusiasts. This in turn would be supported by a number of entertainment offshoots, including other sports events. Las Vegas has not hosted a top-level tennis tournament since the Alan King Tennis Classic in 1985. The region does have significant tennis history, however. In 1995 the U.S. Davis Cup team competed against Sweden at Caesars Palace, and featured city native and resident Andre Agassi. The city has also played host to U.S. women’s Fed Cup competitions. “We couldn’t be more thrilled to welcome the Tennis Channel Open to the best city in the world,” said Mayor Goodman. “Las Vegas is a place like no other, and together with The Tennis Channel we’re going to create a new standard for sports and entertainment destination events. Founded in 1986, the ATP tournament had been held at the Fairmont Scottsdale Princess Hotel near Phoenix, and has played host to most of the game’s greatest stars, including Agassi, John McEnroe, Jimmy Connors, Arthur Ashe, Pete Sampras, Jim Courier, Ivan Lendl, Stefan Edberg, Stan Smith, Patrick Rafter, Lleyton Hewitt and Andy Roddick.