Eurosport has agreed media-rights deals for two European tennis tournaments, bett1Aces in Berlin on July 13-19, and Thiems7, which got underway in Kitzbühel yesterday (Tuesday) and runs until July 11.
The pay-television broadcaster’s rights for bett1Aces cover Europe and are exclusive in all territories except Germany, Austria and Switzerland, where there is also coverage by local broadcasters. The rights for Thiems7 cover Europe, Asia and the Pacific region, and again are exclusive in all territories except Germany, Austria and Switzerland.
bett1Aces is a singles tournament featuring six ATP and six WTA players, including Dominic Thiem, Alexander Zverev, Tommy Haas, Nick Kyrgios, Elina Svitolina, Kiki Bertens and Petra Kvitova. It is being organised by Austrian sports marketing agency Emotion Group. The players are competing for a shared prize purse of €200,000 ($225,000).
The Stockholm-based Commercial Sports Media agency was appointed last month as the adviser on global media-rights distribution for the tournament.
Matches will be played at the Steffi Graf Stadium at the LTTC Rot-Weiss tennis club in Berlin on July 13-15, before moving to a specially-built arena in a hangar at Tempelhof Airport on July 17-19.
Spectator numbers will be limited to 800 at the Steffi Graf Stadium and 200 at Tempelhof Airport as part of measures to minimise the risk of Covid-19 infection. All players and staff will also be tested for the virus on arrival, and everyone entering the venues will have their temperatures checked and be encouraged to wear facemasks when not in seats.
The Eurosport 1 linear television channel will show live coverage of all four daily matches, from 12pm to 6pm (CET). There will also be live streaming and on-demand coverage on the Eurosport app.
Welcoming the deal, Andrew Georgiou, president of Eurosport, said: “We are incredibly excited to be showcasing some of the world’s top tennis talent by bringing fans live grass court action for the first time this year.
“By leveraging the full portfolio of channels and platforms the Eurosport network has to offer, we are able to seamlessly scale world-class coverage and expert analysis to serve more than 50 markets and territories any way our customers choose to watch.”
Edwin Weindorfer, CEO of Emotion Group, said: “We are…looking forward to present the bett1Aaces tennis event with a state-of-the-art broadcast product with some novelties such as the integration of a drone and the HawkEye Live technology for line calling at both tournaments.”
Thiems7 is a men’s tournament organised by Austrian tennis star Dominic Thiem and his coach and father Wolfgang. It will feature five current top 20 players – Thiem, Matteo Berrettini, Roberto Bautista Agut, Andrey Rublev and Karen Khachanov – and several young, up-and-coming Austrian players.
Live coverage will be broadcast on Eurosport 1, and live streaming and on-demand coverage will be available on the Eurosport app.
