When Will Tennis Break Its Shackles?

Do Tennis NGBs Act Like A Cartel?

Author

Rich Neher
September 23, 2025

A LANDSCAPE WITHOUT TENNIS

Every week, I receive several newsletters about tech developments and sports investments. However, every week goes by without even a mention of our main racquet sport, tennis. That’s a sad state of affairs imo.

Every week, things are happening in the wide world of sports. That is, the wide world of sports
WITHOUT TENNIS.

Below, I picked two examples from the Sep. 19, 2025, issue of Sports TechX Weekly. The first part is all about the news in the world of sports, who is involved in launching new programs, teams, and competitions.

Top News from the World of Sports Tech & Biz - September 19, 2025

👓 Oakley unveiled Meta Vanguard smart glasses with a centered camera design targeting athletes, cyclists, and skiers for sports training and performance analysis.

🚀 Como 1907 launched Como Ventures, an accelerator program built in partnership with The Players Fund to provide founders with global athlete and investor access.

🤖 Google launched its Gemini-powered AI health coach for Fitbit Premium users in the U.S., offering personalized fitness and wellness guidance.

📺 The All Women’s Sports Network (AWSN) launched a 24-hour women’s sports channel in Saudi Arabia in partnership with the Saudi Arabian Football Federation and national broadcaster Saudi Sports Company.

⚽ Amazon Prime Video introduced new Champions League coverage features using video game–style data to provide immersive insights on players during matches.

🏈 Amazon’s Thursday Night Football added new AI-powered features that illustrate potential quarterback threats during live broadcasts.

⚽ Plug and Play teamed up with the San Jose Earthquakes to bring Sportstech and AI innovation to Major League Soccer through its Sportstech program.

⚾ OpenAI partnered with the New York Mets to launch a special Citi Field experience, offering fans exclusive Mets x ChatGPT pins, AI-powered photo booths, and a ChatGPT field guide.

💰 Digital capital-raising platform DealMaker launched DealMaker Sports, a new division pioneering fan-led sports ownership and debuting customers such as Westchester Soccer Club and the Virginia Beach Arena Project.

🏍️ MotoE was suspended at the end of 2025, with MotoGP announcing the all-electric support series would go on “hiatus” after failing to gain sufficient traction with fans.

🎙️ FanCode partnered with CAMB.AI to become the first Indian broadcaster to offer AI-powered multilingual commentary, starting with cricket and expanding to other sports.

🏀 Shaquille O’Neal joined Carvana as brand ambassador, starring in a digitally led campaign and debuting the world’s first AI “Shaqbot.”

🥊 Terence Crawford defeated Saúl “Canelo” Álvarez to win the undisputed super middleweight championship before a sold-out Allegiant Stadium crowd, with the Netflix broadcast averaging 36.6 million viewers and peaking at 41.4 million.

🤼 WWE announced that WrestleMania 2027 will be held in Saudi Arabia, the first outside North America, sparking backlash from fans over tradition and identity.

🏟️ UEFA published its Women’s EURO tournament summary highlighting record-breaking operations, vibrant atmosphere, and significant economic impact on Switzerland.

The second part talks about who invests where and how much in all of sports.

Who’s raising money? Who was acquired by whom?
By the movers & shakers in sports
WITHOUT TENNIS.


MONEY TALKS - September 19, 2025

1💸 CVC Capital formed a $14 billion Global Sports Group fund, marking one of the largest dedicated sports investment vehicles to date.

💸 Next Ventures closed its second fund, Next Ventures II, doubling down on investments in whole-person health.

💸 Former NFL stars John Elway, Tim Tebow, and Blake Bortles teamed up with Chick-fil-A CEO Andrew Cathy and Magnolia Hill Partners to launch Momentous Sports, a new investment firm targeting sports and real estate.

💰 OnTracx, a Ghent University spin-off, raised €1.2 million ($1.4 million) in seed funding to scale its wearable sensor and digital platform that helps runners recover and prevent injuries.

💰 Airsoft Gun India announced plans to raise $10 million to expand its sports tech platform and strengthen India’s shooting ecosystem.

🤝 Genius Sports acquired Sports Innovation Lab for an undisclosed amount to enhance its fan activation platform with data, technology, and broadcast capabilities.

🎥 Paramount Skydance is preparing a bid to acquire Warner Bros. Discovery, according to a Reuters source, potentially reshaping the global entertainment industry.

💸 NWSL expansion team Boston Legacy secured a $100 million loan for its White Stadium redevelopment project, with the team set to debut in 2026 at Gillette Stadium before moving to White Stadium in 2027.

ENCOURAGING USTA NEWS (?)

Desperate to find some tennis news, I saw the article below in ‘Sports Business Journal.’ My first thought: Is there hope for tennis? Could it be that the USTA has its eyes on the ball for a change?

USTA turns to metaverse to draw more fans around U.S. Open

The USTA has been working with gaming platforms like Roblox and Fortnite to bring the U.S. Open into the always-on metaverse.

But then I looked at the two gaming platforms mentioned, Roblox and Fortnite, and became utterly disappointed. This is child’s stuff. You may be able to excite 6-year-olds with this for a while. But turn them into tennis players? Besides, nobody’s being shot and killed. There’s just no way! I don’t even want to bore you with images—a waste of time.

Compare that to Tennis Esports, and you’ll realize what the USTA could have done instead of trivializing children’s play. (More on Tennis Esports in my article “Serious Tennis Competition in the VR Space” this month.)

Tennis is nowhere to be seen, and the USTA, although seemingly swimming in (US Open) money, has neither the expertise nor the success record of planning ahead for the new future in tennis.

I asked noted USTA critic Javier Palenque why there are few outside investments in tennis. Here is his reply.

Rich, the reason is painfully simple: no participation, no investment

Tennis should be a 10-year journey for kids—from age 8 to 18—that draws parents in, creates family habits, and inspires future investors. When kids play, parents see the benefits: discipline, fitness, and community. Naturally, some of those parents, especially the wealthy or entrepreneurial ones, channel that passion into investing back into the sport.

But tennis in America has skipped generations. My generation (Gen X) played. But the Millennials, and now Gen Z, didn’t. They didn’t grow up with it, they don’t feel the passion, and they don’t see it as part of their world. If it isn’t in their experience, it isn’t in their imagination—and if it isn’t in their imagination, it will never be in their investment portfolio.

And this is where the USTA has failed. They control the sport like a monopoly, block entrepreneurship, hoard money, and chase the fantasy of “finding champions” instead of building a base of casual players. What tennis desperately needs is millions of lousy, happy players—not one polished champion. Because participation is the lifeblood. Without it, sponsors, parents, and investors all drift away.

So the paradox is this: Tennis in America has the most money it’s ever had, but the fewest kids on the courts. That’s why there’s no investment. You can’t invest in a ghost town.

As you may recall, ever so often, we ask Javier Palenque to write a guest article or let us repost one of his posts on LinkedIn. The following post from Sep 9 (THE VOICE YOU CANNOT SILENCE, YOUR CONSCIENCE) has a funny/sarcastic feel, but there’s more to it. I regard Javier’s fictional account of a US Open trophy ceremony as one of his best works.

THE STATUS QUO IN INTERNATIONAL TENNIS

Reading sports tech newsletters makes you aware that the overwhelming majority of tech news and investments are all being done with and by sports other than tennis. Nobody is doing big, heroic things. No outsider is investing. No one introduces groundbreaking inventions. 

Big example: Look at the United States Tennis Association. While billions of outsider dollars are spent on NFL, MLB, Golf, Racing, etc, the USTA uses its own funds for the US Open enhancements, $800 million they could spend much better, really growing tennis. And make no mistake about it: the US Open doesn’t grow tennis. It provides funds for six- and seven-figure salaries in Orlando and the 17 USTA field offices. It keeps the world’s richest nonprofit machine going year after year. If the nonprofit USTA asked outside investors to fund projects, it would have to share the profits (Oops, didn’t I say they’re a nonprofit organization?)

THE CULPRIT? ITF, THE NGBs, ATP, WTA, THE GRAND SLAMS. DID THEY CREATE A TENNIS CARTEL?

The Professional Tennis Players Association (PTPA) lawsuit says it best: They are suing the ATP, along with the WTA, the ITF, and the four Grand Slams, alleging antitrust violations and anti-competitive practices that restrict player compensation, control over careers, and participation in outside tournaments. The PTPA argues that these governing bodies work together to form a "cartel" that suppresses wages and limits players' ability to control their own brand and work, preventing them from receiving competitive compensation and opportunities.

The Cambridge Dictionary defines a cartel as a group of similar companies that agree on prices between them to increase profits and limit competition.

DO WE HAVE AN AMERICAN TENNIS CARTEL?

Okay, folks, let’s do a little exercise to find out whether there is a TENNIS CARTEL in the United States. I learned that the components of a CARTEL include

  1. collusion among competitors

  2. anti-competitive actions

  3. the goal of maximizing profits

  4. operating in an oligopolistic market structure

Try to organize a really big tennis tournament with star players and get it on the annual calendar. ITF, ATP, USTA, and WTA would all go bananas and throw gigantic stones your way. (Cartel components 1, 2, 4)

Try to organize a small sanctioned amateur tournament anywhere in the United States and deal with a USTA section to get it on the annual calendar. (Cartel components 2, 4)

Try to renew a tennis club lease in the vicinity of the USTA’s National Campus in Orlando, Florida. They’ll fight you tooth and nail, as happened reportedly this year. (Cartel components 2, 3, 4)

Try to save 16 beautiful Southern California tennis courts from being bulldozed while the USTA section is in a shameful collusion with the bulldozers. (Cartel components 2, 3, 4)

Try to save a small independent tennis club that, according to the owners, the USTA PNW section seems to be hellbent on driving out of business. (Cartel components 2, 3, 4)

Try to save your nice, profitable sanctioned tournament from being confiscated by a USTA section building its own mega facility. (Cartel components 2, 3, 4)

Try to build a competitor to the Laver Cup without the buy-in and investment from the USTA (Cartel components 2, 3, 4)

Try to build a national City League with amateurs and professionals, competing with Grand Slams, ATP. WTA events, Laver Cup, BJK Cup, Davis Cup. (Cartel components 1, 2, 3, 4)

CONCLUSION

If it looks like a cartel, feels like a cartel, sounds like a cartel...

These are the shackles on tennis I was talking about. Anti-competitive, preserving the Cartel’s money. Keeping the status quo. Nice.

Tell me what you think. Do you agree with the PTPA that the USTA and others act like a Cartel?