YOU ARE OUT OF PLACE MR. CEO; THIS IS A CLUE! By Javier Palenque

One of the problems that the USTA never cares to discuss or confront is the poor governance model it has and how Lake Nona is a problem financially, strategically, and for the organization overall. Like the pink rose above, the salesman / CEO is at the wrong place, at the wrong time with the wrong people. For years I learned much about growing flowers (tulips/roses) for the world’s largest farm while advising them on how to penetrate the global markets. I would occasionally visit the farms in South America and inevitably one would find a rose out of place from the variety being grown.

The solution is of course to get rid of the outlier as the production and color of the given variety need to be perfect. As I saw this picture I thought about the new salesman in his role as the CEO of the empty courts at Lake Nona and thought to share my views on the dysfunctional organization that is the USTA, hopefully, you can be enlightened by the correct point of view.

Having two office centers, one in Lake Nona and one in White plains makes no sense. NYC is of course the capital of the world and where most of the sponsors' headquarters are; Chase, JP Morgan, Rolex, Emirates, Ralph Lauren, IBM, NYT, Evian, Chubb, etc. Of course, if you are a salesman and are trying to get more money out of fewer corporations, you need fancy shoes, a submariner (too stuffy for me), knowledge of non-American foods, and probably it is a good idea to learn how to eat with chopsticks. This way you can schmooze and entertain at the company’s expense who may be a potential client or not. So, the first error that no one sees, not even the board members is, to acknowledge that the US Open is one business and it should be for profit and that tennis is another and it should be a charitable one.

Charitable does not mean it loses money as the US Open does, charitable means it has a mission, and it breaks even year in and year out. But since these brilliant men have no understanding of tennis other than to count the score and play occasionally, they cannot question themselves into thinking that one must be for-profit and pay market wages and one must be a charity and be driven by its mission.?So, they hire a salesperson from NJ and tell him, Mr. Sheer, now you must run the charity part in Orlando next to the airport (understand the low price of land, that they lease rather than own) and you will oversee the tennis part, a sport you do not understand locally and the one that you do the selling and eating out and showcasing a Rolex, remotely.

So, when you must make a sales call to the handful of sponsors, you might as well be in the woods in Alabama somewhere and all the skills you learned on how to pick from a Lebanese restaurant menu are completely useless for Orlando as you need to know what is available at Sizzler or Ponderosa (yes, they still have them there for the pesky foreigners).

The price that the USTA pays for the absurd idea of tying together a 14-day show with mostly non-Americans and tennis in the nation as a pretend-to-be Charity is ridiculous. Poor Mr. Salesman does not understand tennis or the lingo of the departments in Orlando, he does not know the language of tennis and for what he is good at, he must get on a Zoom call or spend more of the mission’s money on trips back and forth from NYC. This of course makes sense only to the USTA.

To make matters worse, he needs to rely on the people that have caused the problems that he is supposed to fix. Mr. Salesman, if you have problems, you need to find out who created them, then you need to find out how they came to create them, and lastly, you need to conclude that you do not have the brightest bunch. So, relying on the very people that caused the problem is, well absurd. Yet that is exactly what he does. In case it is not clear still, you need to get rid of the bad advice that tennis has received and yes they are the people you pay the most. This does not seem intelligent if you asked me. We need intelligent decisions as a sport this is not very hard to understand for most. Is it clearer now Mr. Salesperson?

From a financial point of view, we must remind the salesman that the CEO of Lake Nona (Kamperman) made $1M as a salary and a few miles from Lake Nona there is a huge Tennis Facility in Altamonte Springs where the head makes $25.00 per hour. Compare that to what the board authorized to pay Mr. Kamperman per hour $480.00 (can you understand how absurd this is?). Please also remember that they hired poor Mr. Dowse and paid him less than Kamperman and the salesman who now has to work remotely in a facility where understanding tennis would be useful, but he figured it's OK. This is more proof of the dysfunction and lack of intelligence of the organization and in case it is not clear, no it is not OK.

?The last point, from a strategy point of view, nothing that the board is doing makes sense.

1)?????Allowing pickleball to encroach is a death wish.

2)?????Allowing censorship of dissent is a death wish.

3)?????Losing money year after year is a death wish.

4)?????Having debts of $726M is a death wish.

5)?????Making a salesperson who does not know tennis and having him work at a tennis facility to manage customers in NYC remotely is not very smart.

6)?????Keeping the people that caused the problems and losses is insanity.

7)?????Not buying insurance is not intelligent.

8)?????Not investing in the kids is not smart.

9)?????Having the PR department pretend to care about equality and race and access while funding nothing is not intelligent.

10)??So many non-intelligent choices do not add up to an intelligent one. Life and business do not work this way. Heck, I learned this in first grade.

Mr. Salesman today is a good day to realize that you are at the wrong place (Orlando) at the wrong time (the most important decade for the sport) and with the wrong people (they caused the problems). It is abundantly better for you to submit your resignation for the benefit of the sport for all. You can go back to NY, though I will change your salary structure, base, and high commission. I want to know how many new clients you brought in as the list of sponsors tells me there are no new ones, I may be incorrect. We will also not pay residuals and a higher commission on new businesses only. This does make sense to the sport and the mission and no you will not make more than the CEO. Just to tell you how much you dislike this idea, the person you are considering for the CRO role will make way less than you did, basically only managing the accounts and of course, having zero influence. Your strategy of having fewer partners and getting more for fewer of them, only clearly explains how you do not understand the sport. Amex, Cadillac, and JP Morgan are all great customers for a very established and old demographic. exactly what tennis does not need if it is to grow.

The last point, when the WTA final in DC is bumped from live TV for pickleball, you will realize that for Amex, Polo, Emirates, Rolex, Cadillac, Deloitte, etc, it tells you you are on the losing end of the broadcasting business as well. Maybe moving to Orlando was just not such a good idea. Just got an email from my USTA insider, Mercedes just dumped you, and you replaced them with Cadillac. FYI no young person buys a Cadillac, no one. Ask your gut, I can assure you you are out of place, be honest and submit your resignation today.

I say NO to ineptitude and YES to growing the game.

I can be reached at [email protected]