NEW YORK, NY (April 24, 2012)—InsideOut Sports + Entertainment announced today that the Champions Series tennis circuit has been renamed the PowerShares Series. As the marketing agent for PowerShares QQQ Trust, an ETF based on the NASDAQ 100 index, Invesco PowerShares signed a multi-year agreement in 2011 to become the title sponsor of the InsideOut owned tennis tour.
To commemorate the renaming, InsideOut Sports + Entertainment Founding Partners Jon Venison and Jim Courier were joined this morning by Invesco PowerShares Managing Director of Global ETF’s Ben Fulton at The Opening Bell ceremonies at the NASDAQ MarketSite in New York’s Times Square.
The PowerShares Series will feature Andre Agassi, Pete Sampras, John McEnroe, Jim Courier and other Grand Slam winners competing in twelve one-night tournaments across the United States this fall. Each PowerShares Series tournament will showcase four of the legendary players playing in two, 1-set semifinals followed by a 1-set championship match.
The champions will compete for a prize pool totaling $1 million to be shared by the top three finishers at the conclusion of the season. Pete Sampras finished the 2011 season as the #1 ranked player, followed by Jim Courier and Andre Agassi.
Event details, including ticket information, player fields, dates and venues, will be announced this summer.
“We look forward to a fantastic season of PowerShares Series tennis,” said Jon Venison, founding partner of InsideOut Sports + Entertainment. “With legendary players competing across the United States this fall, PowerShares Series events will bring top flight tournament tennis and star power to the greatest sporting arenas in the country.”
“The name change to PowerShares Series tennis reflects our ongoing support for this highly successful tour which has garnered valuable exposure for PowerShares QQQ,” said Jason Schoepke, Chief Marketing Officer at Invesco PowerShares. “We are confident the 2012 PowerShares Series tennis circuit will continue to advance the PowerShares brand with our core audiences and look forward to this year’s events.”
The PowerShares Series is a tennis circuit for champion tennis players over the age of 30, created in 2005 by InsideOut Sports + Entertainment, the New York based firm which is co-owned and operated by former SFX executive Jon Venison and former world No. 1 Jim Courier.