The Making Of The Laver Cup And How Tony Godsick And Roger Federer Plan To Keep It Going

By the time Team8’s Laver Cup painted white lines on a black tennis court inside Prague’s O2 Arena in 2017, the tennis world was already abuzz about an event backed by Roger Federer and created by the agency that represents the Swiss legend. 

But then the Laver Cup drew some of the biggest names in tennis for a three-day team event based of golf’s Ryder Cup. Pitting six “Europe” players against six “world” players, the Laver Cup did it different, giving fans a unique scoring system, top players pairing for doubles and a mix of generations — from the tour’s brightest youngsters playing alongside established stars to legendary captains in Bjorn Borg and John McEnroe — right down to a darkened, sold-out arena. With television markets ablaze, the event was deemed a success. 

Then, in 2018, Team8 president and CEO Tony Godsick, chairman of Laver Cup, and Federer pulled it off again, selling out the United Center in Chicago and creating fascination as Federer and Rafael Nadal paired for doubles. 

Ahead of year three, set for Sept. 20-22 at The Palexa in Geneva, Switzerland, the Laver Cup has signed a partnership with the ATP and shows absolutely no signs of serving as a niche break in the tennis calendar, instead giving fans a completely different take on top-level men’s tennis. 

“What we all wanted,” Godsick says, “was to create an event that could celebrate the men’s game of all the generations.” But creating a long-lasting historical event — naming it after Rod Laver was Federer’s idea of paying tribute to the generations that paved the way for the tour’s current successes — with no history wasn’t simple. “Any time you create something especially in the sport of tennis, it is hard because there are so many competing factions and different people doing different things,” Godsick says. “The biggest challenge from the beginning was getting people to understand the concept, getting the sponsors, fans, television to understand what the platform was and why it was so different. Each year we are getting better at telling the story and creating excitement.” 

The black court — Godsick says they keep experimenting with paint to get it darker and darker — gives an example of the effort. Team8 invests capital in making the court and arena interiors a premium experience. “We wanted people at home to see the black court and know it was the Laver Cup,” he says. “We paid a lot of attention to the experience, for the fans and the players. I think we really modeled ourselves after the Ryder Cup. People love team events, they just do. We didn’t want to compete with Davis Cup or Hopman Cup in country versus country, but Europe versus the rest of the world was not a competition that was already in existence.”

The setting, while mixing singles and doubles in a fast-paced scoring system, brought a unique feel to tennis and allowed rivals to morph into teammates, even for a weekend. For Geneva, Godsick hopes to see Nadal pair on the doubles court with Dominic Thiem. “We are willing to push to the edge without making it a circus,” he says. “We want to make sure it has a semblance of the real game with a big scoop of innovation on top of it.” 

Run in five sessions across three days, the Laver Cup sells event-long tickets, the same seat for all five sessions. “We want the customer to come in and start from the beginning and be part of the story throughout the weekend,” he says. 

Getting off the ground, though, required careful considerations. Team8 partnered with Rolex, its founding partner, and Mercedes, both companies that bring value but also best practices in working on tennis events across the globe. Laver Cup has since added Credit Suisse. “These are global brands,” he says. “We really want to have brands people recognize as we travel around the world, to the biggest cities, the biggest markets, we want to have brands relevant globally.” 

With premium sponsorships lined up, giving the event credibility from the start, Godsick says, they partnered with co-owners Tennis Australia and let them work the television deals. Early on the event didn’t focus on money in the deals, simply building trust and getting as much coverage as possible. “We have great deals in place but are continuing to add our global reach and bringing Amazon Prime Video on as a global streaming partner,” Godsick says. “In the beginning it was harder to convince them, but now people understand.” 

The Laver Cup has also grown up so much in its two-plus years that this year it announced an agreement with the ATP on collaboration, giving Laver Cup access to ATP recourses, advice, chair umpires, marketing and physios. From the beginning, Godsick and Federer talked to all the Grand Slam events to help shape the plan and Federer wanted the ATP involved from the start. “Having them as partners now is wonderful for us,” Godsick says. “It is a stamp of approval from the men’s game. We didn’t need them but are much better off with them. We are getting everybody in the tent, ultimately what we are trying to do is promote the game of tennis and to have the ATP Tour on board and collaborate with is great.” 

There’s no denying the fact, though, that Federer’s creative mind and involvement helped turn what could have been another event lost in the already busy tennis calendar into a mega-star. “Roger is one of the biggest names in the history of the sport,” Godsick says. “Wherever Roger goes he attract a crowd, sponsors, fans, television.” 

It was Federer’s idea to honor Rod Laver as a nod to an entire generation, giving them a legacy. “Every big event in whatever sport it might be, there is always a catalyst that actually helped it get off the ground and having Roger be the lead and not only playing in it but believing in it and having passion about it to get better and better every year, his involvement is paramount.” 

Of course, Roger alone wouldn’t have worked. Having a strong cast of 12 athletes, two captains and Laver all on hand has proven distinctive. “Hopefully this is something players will look forward to and qualify for and be part of this homage to the generations past that helped pave the way,” Godsick says. 

Players, who receive an appearance fee and additional money for winning, are chosen based on rankings and captains, with three members to each team selected based on singles rankings following Roland-Garros and three more selected by the team captain. 

Where they travel each year changes, alternating between a European location and then one across the rest of the world. “We try not to go where there is already an event around the same time, we do not want to step on toes,” Godsick says. Instead they look to visit major markets around the world, cities that haven’t seen tennis for a long time. Or ever. Laver Cup wants to select cities that sponsors enjoy, fans can make a destination and works for the players’ travel schedule. 

“One of the great things about the event is we move around the world, but it is also one of the tough things,” Godsick says. “We look for cities who want to embrace us. It is a challenge to move, but it is exciting to become part of the fabric of each city for the eight months.” 

Each year, the event starts with a list of 10 cities, narrows it to five and then short-lists that to three, always looking for a mature city — with an indoor arena that seats a minimum of 15,000 available two weeks following the US Open — to support the young event. 

Laver Cup hasn’t officially announced its 2020 location, but Godsick says that will come this summer, although with the Tokyo Olympics already on the docket, he says they will return to North America (Boston and Montreal have both been linked as cities that made the short list). 

No matter where the Laver Cup lands in 2020, it will feature its unique brand of fan and player experience, team design and, of, of course, that black court. 

Source: Forbes.com

Powered by NewsAPI.org

Keywords:

Rod Laver • Roger Federer • Rod Laver • Tennis court • Prague • O2 Arena (Prague) • Roger Federer • Switzerland • Rod Laver • Tennis • Golf • Ryder Cup • Europe • Björn Borg • John McEnroe • Rod Laver • United Center • Chicago • Roger Federer • Rafael Nadal • Types of tennis match • Geneva • Rod Laver • Association of Tennis Professionals • Tennis • Tennis • Rod Laver • Tennis • Ryder Cup • Davis Cup • Hopman Cup • Europe • Tennis • Shapeshifting • Geneva • Dominic Thiem • Rolex • Tennis • Credit Suisse • Company • Tennis Australia • Sport • Amazon Video • Association of Tennis Professionals • Association of Tennis Professionals • Marketing • Roger Federer • Grand Slam (tennis) • Association of Tennis Professionals • Tennis • Association of Tennis Professionals • Tennis • Calendar • Sport • Television • Rod Laver • French Open • Tennis • Arena • US Open (tennis) • 2020 Summer Olympics • North America • Boston • Montreal •