Connecticut's professional tennis tournament is looking for a new title sponsor starting in 2011.
Pilot Pen Corporation of America announced Tuesday it will no longer sponsor the New Haven event after the 2010 tournament. Pilot Pen, whose U.S. headquarters are in Trumbull, has been the title sponsor since 1996, when it was a men's-only event.
The news leaves the tournament, which has become a traditional warm-up event for the U.S. Open, in search of a new sponsor as companies watch their bottom lines closely. But tournament director Anne Worcester said she is confident the event will secure a sponsor before the 2011 tournament.
"Having one consistent brand creates such a solid foundation," Worcester said. "This will be a tremendous amount of work, but we do have time on our side."
Worcester said Pilot Pen's relationship with the tournament was the fifth longest in tennis worldwide, costing the company about $1.4 million a year. The consistency is what Worcester will be pitching to potential sponsors.
"Branding is all about consistent messaging," Worcester said. "Having one brand has really helped us grow the sport of tennis. It really puts us in a solid position to attract a new title sponsor. ... Because this tournament has developed into so much more than a tennis tournament — it's an entertainment event — and because it's a combined men's and women's tournament, all of those things make this tournament a very desirable sports property which will appeal to not just regional but national sponsors."
The event first came to Connecticut from Vermont in 1991 as the Volvo International after the state constructed a 15,000-seat, $18 million stadium.
Pilot Pen, which sponsored a tournament in California in the 1980s and a challenger event in New Haven in the late '80s and early '90s, became the sponsor five years later.
The event became a women's only-tournament in 1999 before the men's tour returned six years later. The presence of Fairfield's James Blake (2005 and 2007 champion) helped boost interest.
Worcester said Pilot Pen's decision was "100 percent the economy." And in a statement, Pilot Pen Corporation of America president and CEO Dennis Burleigh cited finances.
"We have enjoyed being the title sponsor," Burleigh said. "Unfortunately, the economic recession has severely impacted our consumers and the office products industry in particular, necessitating this difficult decision."
Burleigh told The Courant's Jeff Jacobs in August that the company has been hit hard as families cut back-to-school items and corporations scale back office supplies.
"We have no other [sporting events]," said Burleigh, who told The Courant in August the final decision about sponsorship was going to be made at the parent company's board of directors meeting in Japan in October.
"This is the primary focus of our marketing efforts. We've been involved with this for 14 years. Personally, I love this. But in the end it's a financial decision."
Pilot Pen Corporation of America announced Tuesday it will no longer sponsor the New Haven event after the 2010 tournament. Pilot Pen, whose U.S. headquarters are in Trumbull, has been the title sponsor since 1996, when it was a men's-only event.
The news leaves the tournament, which has become a traditional warm-up event for the U.S. Open, in search of a new sponsor as companies watch their bottom lines closely. But tournament director Anne Worcester said she is confident the event will secure a sponsor before the 2011 tournament.
"Having one consistent brand creates such a solid foundation," Worcester said. "This will be a tremendous amount of work, but we do have time on our side."
Worcester said Pilot Pen's relationship with the tournament was the fifth longest in tennis worldwide, costing the company about $1.4 million a year. The consistency is what Worcester will be pitching to potential sponsors.
"Branding is all about consistent messaging," Worcester said. "Having one brand has really helped us grow the sport of tennis. It really puts us in a solid position to attract a new title sponsor. ... Because this tournament has developed into so much more than a tennis tournament — it's an entertainment event — and because it's a combined men's and women's tournament, all of those things make this tournament a very desirable sports property which will appeal to not just regional but national sponsors."
The event first came to Connecticut from Vermont in 1991 as the Volvo International after the state constructed a 15,000-seat, $18 million stadium.
Pilot Pen, which sponsored a tournament in California in the 1980s and a challenger event in New Haven in the late '80s and early '90s, became the sponsor five years later.
The event became a women's only-tournament in 1999 before the men's tour returned six years later. The presence of Fairfield's James Blake (2005 and 2007 champion) helped boost interest.
Worcester said Pilot Pen's decision was "100 percent the economy." And in a statement, Pilot Pen Corporation of America president and CEO Dennis Burleigh cited finances.
"We have enjoyed being the title sponsor," Burleigh said. "Unfortunately, the economic recession has severely impacted our consumers and the office products industry in particular, necessitating this difficult decision."
Burleigh told The Courant's Jeff Jacobs in August that the company has been hit hard as families cut back-to-school items and corporations scale back office supplies.
"We have no other [sporting events]," said Burleigh, who told The Courant in August the final decision about sponsorship was going to be made at the parent company's board of directors meeting in Japan in October.
"This is the primary focus of our marketing efforts. We've been involved with this for 14 years. Personally, I love this. But in the end it's a financial decision."
Here are a few potential sponsors in waiting:
The Goldman Sachs/AIG International Tennis Tournament
Or, more locally:
The Webster Bank International Tennis Tournament
Either way, it'll be named after us, the taxpayer.
stewielouie (11/11/2009, 12:52 PM )