Barcelona, 29th november 2019
The plenary session of the Board of Directors of the Real Club de Tenis Barcelona (RCTB), with its president Jordi Cambra and the CEO of the Tournament, Xavier Pujol, have decided to assign to the company Tennium the tender for the organization of the Barcelona Open Banc Sabadell the next three years from the 2021 edition.
The call for proposals and analysis of the proposals began on May 15 and has lasted for six months. With this tender, the RCTB culminates one of the transformation milestones of the club that the board aspired to elucidate as soon as possible in order to face the future according to the important evolution that the world of tennis and sports competitions is experiencing in the last years.
The tournament that in 2019 had an economic impact of 50 million Euros and received about 100,000 spectators, is one of the competitions on clay that has more history and tradition at an international level and in which the best players of the world participate on this surface.
Initially there have been six candidate companies that have offered very high level projects. To make this important decision for the future of this emblematic tournament, the Board has taken into consideration the curriculums of the candidate companies and their experience in organizing major sporting events, and especially tennis. In addition, it has had a significant weight both the economic proposal to the club and innovative ideas about the business model of the tournament. Additionally, the company’s previous professional links with both the ATP and the Club itself have been taken into account.
However, the most valued aspect by the Board in the proposals of the candidates has been in the interpretation of the future of the tournament, considering the important transformation that society, sport and business is experiencing as a result of the technological innovation that has been seen reflected in an important way in the world of tennis and high competition.
In this sense Xavier Pujol, CEO of the Tournament, commented that “The Board of Directors and the entire Steering Committee of the Barcelona Open Banc Sabadell have the firm determination to work to turn this event into the best international tennis tournament in their segment by offering to the spectator a unique tennis and leisure experience.”
Jordi Cambra, president of the RCTB, only has words of gratitude to the IMG company that has acted as organizer of the event for the last 29 years: “on behalf of the Board of Directors and the members of this club, I want to convey to IMG our most sincere gratitude for the great work displayed year after year, thanks to which, this emblematic competition of the club and the city of Barcelona, has gained international relevance until it became a reference tennis event at a global level.”
Cambra has added “I want to thank as president, but also as a former player and fan all the people and executives of the IMG Company that at some point in their life have participated in the organization of the Barcelona Open Banc Sabadell, for all of them our most heartfelt tribute.”
Likewise, Jordi Cambra has highlighted the professional attitude and predisposition of the winning candidate at all times of the tender, “we have total confidence in the Tennium team that in the course of the long and difficult tender have shown their enthusiasm at all times and intense commitment to the tournament.”
In this sense, Xavier Pujol has added that “their original and solid ideas to take the tournament to higher levels of quality, such as the interesting business model proposed, represent an important transformation in line with the evolution of the highest level tennis competitions.” Pujol concludes by pointing out that “these premises have led us to the conclusion that the new operator will mean a significant improvement of the tournament both in terms of income and benefits, with the view always on getting the best possible tennis tournament for the club and for the city of Barcelona and of maximum international projection.”
Tennium is a global tennis platform that has its headquarters in Barcelona and is present in Argentina, Belgium and the United States. Tennium owns the ATP 250 European Open tournaments in Antwerp, Belgium and the ATP 250 Argentina Open in Buenos Aires, as well as the Senior Masters Cup in Spain. Tennium has its high performance centre for tennis players in Boca Raton, Florida and represents a select group of ATP, WTA players as well as young talent. The Tennium team is led by Kristoff Puelinckx, founder and CEO, former world number 4 and current French Davis Cup Captain, Sebastien Grosjean and partners, Martin Hughes, Joaquín Ríos, Juan De Dios Aguirre and Enric Molina.
The CEO and founder of Tennium, Kristoff Puelinckx, has declared “it is an honour that the RCTB and its board of directors have placed their trust in Tennium as a partner for the organization of the prestigious Barcelona Open Banc Sabadell tournament,” and added “We are very grateful to the club and its members for choosing us among such a select group of candidates and very excited to contribute our knowledge and global vision in the world of tennis to the experienced team of the club, to develop and evolve the tournament so that the Trofeo Conde de Godó continues being an referent in the ATP Tour.”