Gerard Piqué and a millionaire claim the International Tennis Federation for the organization of the Davis Cup

Away from the fieldsGerard Piqué he dedicates himself full time to the businesses that he raised in his football days. In this way, after breaking the link between your company Kosmosdedicated to sports management and Davis cupThe Spaniard demands 50 million dollars from the International Tennis Federation (ITF).

Five years after reaching a historic agreement, which modified the format of one of the most emblematic tennis tournaments, Pique announced in an interview with the newspaper brand that your company claims said sum from the ITF.

“We believe that what we did with the Davis Cup is a resounding success story.. We arrived with a competition that was decadent, it was in low hours. And, at a sporting, economic level, above all, and audiences, we turned the tournament around. That is evident and verifiable with numbers, ”explained the former soccer player.

“We multiplied revenue by four in one year. We went from three to 15 sponsors. What happens is that in 2020 COVID-19 arrives and disrupts everything in all sports. We had an agreement with the ITF, that we paid them a very significant amount of money, I would say out of the market, 40 million a year. In a similar competition, like the ATP Cup, which was the same, Tennis Australia paid 10 million to the ATP. So we were paying four times as much“, he commented.

Piquemember of the famous Barcelona directed by guardiola and a reference for the club in subsequent cycles, explained that the litigation began after the ITF decided to terminate the contract.

“In 2020 there was no Davis Cup, during a part of 2021 it was played behind closed doors… the fixed price we were paying for was off the market. After the termination by the ITF there is now a dispute between us in which we claim up to 50 million dollars. We cannot say more due to confidentiality restrictions. But I feel very proud of everything we achieved,” he expressed.

In his defense, he argued that the pandemic was impossible to forecast and that the ITF He did not want to have another negotiation to balance the conditions in the middle of the coronavirus, which led to the end of his alliance.

“Many leagues and federations adapted to that situation and the ITF decided not to want to renegotiate those terms. Then the agreement ended from one day to the next and we had to adapt as a company. We invested more than 100 million in the Davis Cup in four years and that is outrageous. And we wanted to invest more”, he pointed out.

The former defender of Manchester United and Saragossa also took the opportunity to respond to the criticisms received from Dietloff of Arnimpresident of the German Tennis Federation and candidate for the presidency of the ITFwho classified the management of Kosmos.

“I think that people are not informed, or they do not know, or it is that they want to use us for a political, electoral issue, because they have the elections in August. The president of the German federation had a good relationship with us, ”he assured.

Along the same lines, he added:The ITF, with our agreement, has benefited. Right now he has contracts that we signed for a value of USD 75 million. The Billie Jean King Cup was closed in Andalusia thanks to us. What we have given them compared to what we have received is outrageous,” Piqué replied.

The future of the Davis Cup

According to his vision, Pique He believes that the tournament can be sustained for a few seasons with the agreements reached at the time, but another revolution will probably have to take place for the tournament to be able to stand.

“I believe that the Davis Cup will last two or three years with the contracts that we closed at the time, but I see a complicated future for it”confessed.

“In four or five years I think the Davis Cup will no longer be from the ITF. It will be either from the ATP or from a third party that is going to buy it, because the money is not going to find the management. President David Haggerty promised to distribute an amount of money to the federations that it will be impossible to give because the competition does not generate it ”, he analyzed.

Piqué does not regret his foray into tennis at all and considers that he could return to doing business in this sport, which, in his opinion, needs to continue evolving to be as profitable as other disciplines in the long term.

“I look back and when we took on the competition, BNP Paribas fell and we generated from 8 million to 50 million in one year. The problem was the fixed one, which was very high, and more compared to the ATP Cup. We reached an agreement with the ATP , something very good for tennis”, he commented.

“But there were things that were not valued because it was not interesting. I could return if I had an opportunity that suited me, because tennis is a sport that I love, and it is the third most popular sport in the world after soccer and basketball. But there is a risk that if it is not modernized it will cost him in the future”, he concluded.