A multi-million-pound deal to keep the ATP Finals in Italy for another five years is reportedly on the verge of getting approval as long as certain requirements have been met.
Financial newspaper Il Sole 24 Ore has reported that the head of the Italian Tennis Federation (FIT), Angelo Binaghi, is working with the government to secure an agreement. Part of the proposed deal will see the event relocated to another city in the future but not right away.
The ATP Finals has been held at the Inalpi Arena (previously known as the Pala Arena) in Turin since 2021. However, the reported plan is to move the event to Milan’s new Santa Giulia Arena at some stage which has a bigger capacity (16,000 seats compared to 12,000 in Turin). The Santa Giulia Arena is being built for the 2026 Winter Olympics and will stage the men’s ice hockey event. It is expected to be fully built by the end of next year.
As for the financial side, it is claimed that the ATP is requesting a fee of around $30M which is a big increase on the current fee of $18M. Furthermore, the prize money pool is set to receive a massive increase to more than $25M in the near future. However, these figures are yet to be confirmed by an official source.
It is understood that the FIT is waiting for the government to formally give its financial guarantee to the event before an agreement is made. The event sold 166,000 tickets last year which generated a revenue of $20M and it is expected that the numbers will be better this year. Furthermore, the 2023 tournament had an economic impact of 306.3 million (euros).
Should the reported plan get the green light, the ATP Finals will be held on Italian soil for at least nine years which will be the third-longest period the event has been continuously staged in one country. America held it so for 13 years between 1976 and 1989 and the UK was host for 11 years (2009-2020).
There has yet to be any comment from the FIT or government on the report from Il Sole 24 Ore.
