Western and Southern Open sold by USTA to Beemok Capital

Open Stance

Open Stance

Professional
Financial services firm Beemok Capital has agreed to acquire Cincinnati’s Western and Southern Open tournament from the United States Tennis Association (USTA).

South Carolina-headquartered Beemok, the family office of billionaire businessman and Sherman Financial Group chief executive Benjamin Navarro, is expected to wrap up the deal in the third quarter of 2022.

For Navarro, the tournament adds to his burgeoning tennis portfolio. In 2018, he bought the WTA Charleston Open and pumped a reported US$50 million to renovate its Credit One Stadium home. His daughter, Emma Navarro, is also a professional player.

I happen to live in Mason less than a mile from the WSO facility. Hearing rumors that Navarro may want to eventually move the WSO to South Carolina which would suck. The WSO has an awesome facility and great attendance attracting fans from all over the *******. Anyone else hear anything about this?

https://www.sportspromedia.com/news...-usta-tennis-beemok-capital-benjamin-navarro/
 
McLovin

McLovin

Legend
Open Stance said:
I happen to live in Mason less than a mile from the WSO facility. Hearing rumors that Navarro may want to eventually move the WSO to South Carolina which would suck.
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Given that I'm planning on retiring to SC in ~ 4 years, I'd be quite happy if he moved it there. A bonus would be into the north-west section, like Greenville or on the Clemson campus, but I suspect he'd probably go w/ Columbia. Having two WTA tournaments in Charleston might not fly, especially since his other WTA event is on Har-Tru. Plus it's balls-hot down there in August. At least the north-west section is in the mountains where it can be a bit cooler.
 
F

fed1

Professional
I was just working in Charleston for the last 4 months, in the tennis industry, and the rumor was that they have a large area of land in a great location that they want to build another tennis complex to house the ATP event.
 
J

jmnk

Hall of Fame
this has been in the news for few days, even before this year's tournament. I do hope it stays in Mason, it is by far the best tennis tournament I've been to.
There are multiple possible paths. I believe they are trying (or decided already) to make it 96 draw (like sunshine double) which would make it 1 1/2 week tournament. So the date would need to change as they cannot have Canada and Cincinnati in the consecutive weeks. And if it is 96 draw then the site needs to support that too - with practice courts/etc, which would hopefully make it difficult to move elsewhere. They already use near-by high school courts for practice at Cinci, but there seem to be enough ground there to built few more courts on site.

I'm afraid new owner will start with how the tickets/court access is handled. Right now you buy a ticket with an assigned seat to main stadium, and that includes access to _anywhere else_. If you buy a ticket for morning session you can stay on grounds till the end of the day. I suppose theoretically they can deny you entry to the main court for the evening session - but I have never seen that happen in practice (although admittedly I always go for first few days, before quarters start.) I was also surprised that food court prices this year were pretty much teh same as last year - that is going to change I'm sure.
 
C

CHIP72

Semi-Pro
Hopefully the Western & Southern Open will stay in the Cincinnati area. It has a very long and rich history, and based on attending it last week for the first time, is an enjoyable, relatively inexpensive tournament to visit. Though some parts of the main stadium could use a little bit of sprucing (like relocating one of the primary water refill stations from immediately outside one of the men's restrooms), it is still in very good shape and you can tell a good chunk of money has been put into the Lindner Family Tennis Center over the years. (On a related side note, the Porsche Court/Court 10, the #4 court and originally the #3 court at the Cincinnati Open, is likely one of the very best courts in pro tennis to watch a match.)
 
J

jmnk

Hall of Fame
CHIP72 said:
Hopefully the Western & Southern Open will stay in the Cincinnati area. It has a very long and rich history, and based on attending it last week for the first time, is an enjoyable, relatively inexpensive tournament to visit. Though some parts of the main stadium could use a little bit of sprucing (like relocating one of the primary water refill stations from immediately outside one of the men's restrooms), it is still in very good shape and you can tell a good chunk of money has been put into the Lindner Family Tennis Center over the years. (On a related side note, the Porsche Court/Court 10, the #4 court and originally the #3 court at the Cincinnati Open, is likely one of the very best courts in pro tennis to watch a match.)
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It is! It is indeed the best, I absolutely love it too. That's where you could watch eventual winner, Garcia, play late Monday evening, along with 10 or so other people..... Just don't tell anyone, it will get crowded :)
 
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