Chairman and CEO of the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour Larry Scott resigns after six years

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The Sony Ericsson WTA Tour has announced that Larry Scott will step down as its Chairman and CEO to become Commissioner of the NCAA’s (National Collegiate Athletic Association) PAC-10 Conference, effective July 1, 2009. Scott will work with the Tour Board on the selection process for the next Chairman and CEO.

“With women’s professional tennis more popular than ever, the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour in the strongest business position in its history and with a fantastic senior management team in place, now is the right time for me to embrace a new challenge consistent with my family and personal goals, and leave room for the next generation of Tour leadership to take on new responsibilities,” Scott said.

Recapitulation of Scott’s post important moves:

  1. historic changes to women’s tennis calendar
  2. achievement of equal prize money at Roland Garros and Wimbledon, with the top 10 events in women’s professional tennis now featuring equal pay
  3. signing with Sony Ericsson – the largest sponsorship deal in the history of women’s sport and professional tennis
  4. signing of the largest TV deal in the history of the Tour with Eurosport
  5. signing of the largest year-end Tour Championships deals in Tour history
  6. expansion of the sport into new markets, including establishment of the Tour’s Asia-Pacific headquarters in Beijing
  7. launch of the Tour’s largest ever global marketing campaign, “Looking for a Hero?”
  8. introduction of more innovations to the sport than in its prior history, including electronic line calling, on-court coaching, pre-match players interviews, interviews with coaches during matches and a new doubles scoring format
  9. unprecedented lifestyle and fashion coverage of the Tour’s players
  10. establishment of the Tour on its strongest financial footing in history, including a 500% increase in sponsorship revenues and two and a half times increase in overall revenues, a 40% increase in prize money and $710 million in new stadium investments

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