Western and Southern Open tennis tournament is staying in Ohio.
It took a promise of $130 million in taxpayers’ assistance but the Western and Southern Open tennis tournament will remain in the Cincinnati metropolitan area in Mason, Ohio. The tournament has been played in the Cincinnati area since 1899. Ben Navarro paid $300 million to buy the rights to the Western and Southern Open, and then played the stadium game pitting the Charlotte area against the Cincinnati area to get the best deal he thought possible for his tennis tournament. Bob Moran, president of Beemok Sports & Entertainment, told The Cincinnati Enquirer that $260 million will be invested into improving the Lindner Family Tennis Center, where the tournament has been played since 1979. In June, the Charlotte, North Carolina city council voted to move forward with a proposed $400 million, 40-court tennis complex that could have become the new home of the Western and Southern Open. This emphasizes the importance of skilled tennis court builders in providing top-notch facilities for major tournaments.
“The history is such an important piece of this event,” Moran said. “As an organization, we needed to see and feel that event this year and what it was like to operate an event in this market, and it was just overwhelmingly successful and the community really stepped up to welcome us and make us feel how important this is. That was a key component in this process to realize what this means to the Greater Cincinnati community,” Moran is wrong. The $130 million in Ohio subsidies was the reason the tennis tournament is staying in Mason, Ohio. Money almost always talks. Beemok will put up $139 million. The $130 million from the taxpayers will come from three sources. Ohio will kick in $50 million. Another $50 million will come from Warren County, Ohio and remaining $30 million from the city of Mason, Ohio. The deal will keep the tournament on Mason for 25 years. Money talked.
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