National media coverage of last month’s Liverpool Hope International Tennis Tournament was worth an estimated £2.1m, organisers say.
The event, which took place at Aigburth Cricket Club received coverage in national newspapers, including the Daily Mirror, as well as the ECHO, ESPN, TalkSport, Granada and BBC, as part of a campaign orchestrated by Liverpool PR firm, Kenyon Fraser.
Key sponsors for the tournament this year were Liverpool John Lennon Airport, the Liverpool BID Company and Merseyrail, and organiser Northern Vision is keen to attract more support for the 2016 event.
The firm’s Anders Borg told ECHO Business: “We also had the longest and most extensive marketing period exposing all our sponsors to more than 300,000 people through the Festival of Tennis in Chevasse Park, mini tennis at Liverpool John Lennon Airport, Central Station and Exchange Flags.
“The new philosophy of the Lawn Tennis Asociation (LTA) is to reach out to the community to get the grass roots to play and pick up tennis as their sport which is exactly what we have done in Liverpool.
“Participation figures in Liverpool are up more than 300% in the past year which in part is part of our work in the community. I would like to think the LTA should support our efforts in the region in a big manner going forward.”
However, ECHO Business also understands that the tournament organisers are disappointed the LTA is continuing to cut its funding despite the success of the grassroots programme.
This, along with dwindling public sector support for the tournament, means Northern Vision needs to work as hard as ever to ensure it continues next year.
Staging the event costs up to £400,000 and so the company relies heavily on corporate sponsorship and it is looking for more major sponsors in 2016.
Next year’s tournament will be the 16th and will take place during Liverpool’s second International Festival for Business.
In 2014 it switched from its original home in Calderstones Park to Aigburth Cricket Club, which is now its permanent home.
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