WTA CEO Supports ATP Merger With 2

The WTA Finals ends on Sunday, while the ATP Finals kick off on the same day. The tournaments mark the end of another thrilling and equally consequential year for tennis. Both the men's and women's leagues are transforming, largely to meet a changing media landscape and maximize their value.

In this week's CNBC Sport videocast, CNBC Media & Sports Reporter Alex Sherman spoke with WTA CEO Portia Archer on topics ranging from prize money to sports gambling to its PIF partnership to a potential merger with the ATP.

While a merger between the WTA and ATP does not seem imminent, Archer seems very open to the idea of combining the leagues in the future. She sees it as a two-step process, with the first step being the most important.

Merging Commercial Assets

"I think the first part, and it is what we are pursuing now, is the merger of the commercial assets that make up the two tours. And I think that aggregation in that case is a great idea.

I think if we can go to the marketplace and position ourselves to acquire sponsorships, or to acquire media or broadcast rights, or to acquire data rights — doing that with those commercial assets combined, so that we're selling tennis and those buyers don't have to make a choice between Coco (Gauff) or Carlos (Alcaraz)— is a great thing. And I think that's really, really healthy for the sport. So that's one part of it."

Archer continued, "I think that combining or merging the two tours — the competitive, the sporting aspect — would be the second step, and I'm actually a fan of that as well over time. But I think the commercial assets is the first step. Then I think the tours can look at what are the differences that we need to keep the same, because the WTA athletes are different from the ATP athletes, what the needs are are different."

Collaborate and Coordinate Very Closely

Archer concluded, "But I think once we complete that first step, we can look at sort of that second step. In the meantime, we can still collaborate and coordinate very closely, as we do today, around rules, for example.

They should be coordinated, they should be largely the same, unless there are instances where there needs to be distinction. For example, rankings protection for women athletes wouldn't be a rule or something that exists for the ATP. So there should be differences where they are necessary — but I'm a fan of aggregation or combining at that level, at the sporting co competition level as well."

Media Deals

Archer also spoke on the WTA's media deals, "We believe, and believed at that time, that women's sports — tennis in particular — has been undervalued in the marketplace. And so, one of the primary things that we were looking for in a television partner was a partner that was willing to invest, that believed in providing us with the value that we have earned and that our fans demand.

So, I think Tennis Channel came to the table, and they were really ready to invest at a very high level relative to some of the other bidders that we were talking to. They had a really good strategy and alignment with our vision of how we wanted to elevate the sport.

There was not just investment in terms of the license fee that we received, but also investment in marketing resources and storytelling and content. And so those were really important values and aspirations for us."

Equal Prize Money

Archer also tackled one of the most debated topics: equal prize money. "We continue to be undervalued, but I think we're going to continue to work, we're going to continue to demand, we're going to continue to position ourselves so we can go out and we can acquire and earn the fees — whether that's in media rights, whether that's in sponsorship, whether that's in data — that we believe we have earned. So we're on our way.

It's going to take us some time to get there. What we're committing to as a part of our pathway to equal prize money at our top-level events is we're committing to the revenue and the monetization that we earn, we're going to pour that back into the tournaments at a high level to then help fund equal prize money. And our tournaments are also going to make an increased investment."

Fans should expect to hear more about this issue in the future. Stay locked into Sports Illustrated's Serve On SI for all of your tennis news from the court and beyond.

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