Tennis Officials Make Changes to Influence Fans, Add Prestige

Organizers are making some big changes in the $680,000 World Championship Tennis Finals in a bid to bolster the tournament’s attendance and prestige.

Not that the Dallas tournament is suffering--it could gross $3 million this year. It’s just that officials thought changes were needed to ensure the event’s success because of a slumping Dallas economy and competition from other spectator sports.

Among the changes for this year’s tournament, which runs Tuesday through April 2 at Reunion Arena, are live network television coverage for Saturday’s final, the addition of Nabisco Grand Prix bonus points and increased marketing and advertising to attract fans.

Perhaps the most significant change will be new dates for next year’s event--Feb. 28-March 4--that will make it the season’s final indoor tournament. The new dates won’t conflict with the Virginia Slims of Dallas, tentatively scheduled for November.

Owen Williams, WCT Finals chief executive officer, fought to change the dates because they were not popular with players who had already begun playing outdoor tournaments.

Many who qualified for Dallas have been competing in outdoor tournaments since Feb. 29. The two-week Lipton International Players Championship in Key Biscayne, Fla.--an outdoor tournament--ends two days before Dallas begins.

“I had to bang heads from Timbuktu to Tokyo to get it through,” Williams said. “I felt the tournament needed it because you want the players to come happy. They said it’s crazy playing a two-week outdoor tournament then coming into Dallas. The 1989 date will kill that conflict.”