The ESPN Slam

We have the Grand Slam, we've had Martina Slams and Serena Slams, and now we have the ESPN Slam.
In what might have been the worst kept secret since Jose Canseco fessed up to using steriods, the USTA today unveiled a new broadcasting line-up for 2009 featuring ESPN and Tennis Channel as partners. USA Network, the USTA's able and faithful partner for two decades, will be the lame-duck cable provider this year, while CBS will continue as the broadcast network for high profile matches on either weekend of play. Here's the breakdown: in 2009, ESPN2 will broadcast 100 hours, Tennis Channel will air 60 hours tennis, and CBS has the rights to 40 hours.

The announcement was made jointly this afternoon at the "21" club in New York by Arlen Kantarian, CEO of Pro Tennis for the USTA, Ken Solomon, chairman and CEO of Tennis Channel, and John Skipper, executive vice-president for content at ESPN.

I think this was a terrific deal for tennis fans, as well as the USTA, and a very welcome vote of confidence for tennis at a time when the US domestic game is struggling to develop champions, and a large part of tennis's viability as a spectator sport here will be determined by how willing the non-captive tennis audience is to accept the international face of the game. As Kantarian said in a private aside, "We really wanted to have ESPN. We need to capture the typical ESPN viewer to keep advancing the game in the United States."

In retrospect, as good a job as USA Network did annually over its 10-days of U.S. Open coverage, it was all I can remember the network doing to promote or advance the game. Fair enough. But it seems to me that the ESPN commitment is far more hefty and potentially far-reaching for a dozen reasons, starting with ESPN's role as a news provider and reputation as perhaps the premium institution on the sporting scene.

Which brings us to the second worst kept secret in tennis broadcasting: ESPN made a strategic decision some time ago to become the "Grand Slam" network, a move that helps explain the recent broadcast woes of Indian Wells and Key Biscayne. It was a brilliant stroke,  even though some good people in the desert and in Miami got thrown under the bus because of it. Reading between the lines, it seems to me that ESPN has thrown in with tennis partly because the sport is international (as is ESPN), and because ESPN is at the forefront of digital innovation. On both counts, tennis is an ideal vehicle for the network.

ESPN 360 technology means that in 2009 you'll be able to watch a "mosaic" of six different matches on the same television screen, or reduce the mosaic to two matches or even the one of greatest interest. "We felt fan interest in tennis starts with the Slams," Skipper said. "This is a crowning achievment for us, because no other US television network has ever had the broadcast right to all four majors."

But there's more to it than that.

I think you have to really savor and appreciate the entrepreneurial and strategic thinking that resulted in Tennis Channel being included in the mix here. Full disclosure: the USTA is an equity partner in Tennis Channel, which is bait that a cynic will rise to with the appetite of a trout. But the fact that they're partners doesn't mean they can't work together for the common good, right? It's an important principle, often forgotten by those who go looking for unsavory collusion, intrigue, or empire-building  behind every decision.

Keep in mind that ESPN and TC have been partnering for a few Slams now, and as far as I know they've only done it because some geniuses figured out that it's a win-win for both networks. As Solomon remarked at one point, "It's very different approach than you had in the past, with networks aggressively competing with each other. Here, we saw that together we can make one plus add up to three. It's potentially a great way to grow the sport."

It wasn't so long ago that almost nobody in the U.S. actually got Tennis Channel, now almost everybody does, or can. And now that TC Channel has, according to Solomon, "twenty-four/seven high definition capablility", as well as a stake at all four Grand Slams, it becomes harder and harder for cable distributors to resist TC's pitch.

So a typical weekday during the first week of the 2009 Open will likely feature live Tennis Channel coverage starting at 11 a.m. and ending at 6 p.m. (outer courts only from 2 to 6 in the afternoon), live ESPN2 coverage from 1 p.m. until 11 p.m., TC overlapping with ESPN2 in the evening hours and then running highlights, replays etc. until 11 a.m. - when it starts all over again.  In effect, the traditional networks will continue to preen and prance on the big stage at peak moments, but the heavy - and perhaps most interesting - lifting will be done by the cable guys. And their biggest challenge may lie in just how they're going to divvy up the pie daily, coverage-wise.

In light of all the discussion these days about the flawed calendar (I'll have more on that in the next day or two, and it could lead to a most lively discussion), the increasing regionalism of the game, the continuing emergence of a truly international cast of characters that further dilutes the tradition of U.S. domination on a daily basis, a deal of this magnitude is an extraordinarily impressive show of can-do entrepreneurship.

I've said before that in the long term, the collapse of the American game may be the best thing to have happened to tennis because, among other things, it provides some very dedicated and smart people with a chance - and an enormous incentive -  to overcome signature American isolationism and mild xenophobia. We now have a rare opportunity to create a generation of spectators into fans of the international game and players, not just of the U.S. Open and American champions.

Looking at recent history, the absolute collapse of German tennis following the Graf/Becker bonanza represented a depressive and wasteful destruction of years of effort and investment (imagine how a loyal tennis fan in Germany might feel these days). Here, the story is almost the reverse. The game may not be producing American pros, but the community is working harder than ever. Guys like Kantarian, Skipper and Solomon throw around phrases like "best way to grow the game", and I think they mean every word of it. They deserve a lot of credit.

P.S. - This new alignment will also impact the U.S. Open Series, but more about that at an appropriate time.