United States Professional Tennis Association
2016 Surface Championships Request for Proposals
This request for proposal supplies information needed by a vendor to put forth an application to host and
operate a prize-money tournament during 2016, under the guidelines and restrictions of the United States
Professional Tennis Association (USPTA). The selected vendor(s) will work in cooperation with the USPTA as
an extension of the sports marketing component of the USPTA. The following information should serve as a
template for all tournaments to ensure uniformity among tournament hosts.
Scope of work
The USPTA is a nonprofit organization. Its purpose is to raise the standards of teaching tennis as a
profession; to grow participation and lifetime enthusiasm for the game of tennis; and to do all acts in accordance
with such purposes or to effect any other purposes that may be determined from time to time by the Association.
The USPTA will provide a series of prize money tournaments for USPTA Professionals in good standing
only. These four tournaments will represent an event held on each surface and be represented as a USPTA
National Surface Championship and will be known as: The USPTA Indoor Championships; The USPTA Hard
Court Championships; The USPTA Clay Court Championships; and The USPTA Grass Court Championships.
Vendors may bid as a host site for one of these national championships and be awarded the bid to conduct and
operate a turnkey tournament. USPTA surface championships are open to USPTA Professionals in good
standing only. Vendors may run their respective events to produce revenue as long as the minimum
requirements listed below are met.
Each tournament is required to use USPTA Prince Balls and use USPTAPlayer.com as the tournament
management program. The necessary training to use USPTAPlayer.com is also required and will be provided
by the USPTA. USPTA will provide national advertising for all four tournaments through advertisements in
Tennis Industry/ADDvantage magazine and utilizing member email blasts. The USPTA will not be responsible
for any debts incurred by a surface championship and will only provide the services outlined in this request for
proposal.
Proposal deadline
All requests for proposals should be mailed to: USPTA World Headquarters, 3535 Briarpark Drive, Suite
202, Houston, TX 77042 and sent to the attention of USPTA Tournament & Rankings Committee. In lieu of
mailing the proposal, proposals may be sent electronically (PDF or Word Document) to the current USPTA
Tournament and Rankings Committee Chairman – Dan Moster, USPTA - danmoster@usptapro.com
260-249-9424. All proposals must be received by the USPTA or Committee Chairman by November 30, 2015.
Proposals received after the deadline will be at risk of not having their application accepted.
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Prize money
Each of the national surface championship tournaments must award a minimum of $5,000 in prize monies
to competitors. The Association will provide $2,500 per tournament. The vendor of each tournament will
provide a minimum of $2,500 in prize monies. Each and any tournament may offer more than $5,000 in prize
monies. Prize money for an event that does not make will be awarded to an alternative event that is offered. A
minimum of $5,000 in prize money must be distributed for each tournament.
Venue
The selected venue for a tournament will have a minimum of eight (8) courts of the selected surface at the
home site of the host facility. There must be sufficient viewing areas and seating for spectators and one court
must be designated as a “stadium court.” It is understood that the stadium court will feature the premier matches
of the tournament and be decorated with banners representing USPTA national endorsees. Each venue must
offer locker rooms, shower facilities and hospitality for the competitors of the tournament. There must be an
area to prominently display the event draws of the tournament and each venue must have available a public
address system. A tournament desk/headquarters must be designated. The selected venue must have proximity
to an international airport that is no more than 60 miles from the host site. A sufficient number of practice
courts and practice times must be made available to the competitors at no additional cost to them (practice
courts may be off site).
Hotel
Each vendor must select a host hotel that is no more than 20 minutes from the host site. Tournament
competitors should have a negotiated preferred room rate available to them. Preference will be given to request
for proposals that offer shuttle service from the tournament hotel to the tournament site.
Hospitality/Awards/USPTA Professional Development
Each vendor must include a hospitality package for competitors to include a minimum of tournament favors
and a players’ party(s)/meals. Trophies/Awards should be given as deemed necessary by the vendor.
Trophies/awards should be purchased through NetKnacks. Vendors are strongly encouraged to offer USPTA
Professional Development (Continuing Education) opportunities for those attending and participating in
their tournament.
Tournament dates
Tournaments will be held during the 2016 calendar year. Tournament dates for events not holding
qualifying rounds should not last more than three days and should include a Saturday and/or Sunday. This will
allow competitors to take advantage of a Saturday overnight airfare discount and will facilitate the majority of
players being away from their own work facilities for a single weekend. Tournament play should end by July 3.
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Endorsements and sponsorships
Each tournament will represent the USPTA as the presenting sponsor of the tournament. An example of a
tournament name would be: The “Title Sponsor” USPTA “Surface” Championships presented by the United
States Professional Tennis Association. Title sponsors, banner sponsors or any other type of sponsor or
tournament endorsee must not conflict with the existing USPTA national endorsees and USPTA. USPTA
reserves the right to approve any and all sponsors and endorsees of each tournament. The stadium court must
feature banners of all existing USPTA national endorsees and include banner representation of the USPTA.
Entry fees
A standard entry fee will be charged for all USPTA surface championships. The entry fee should be no
more than $80 and include singles and doubles. All entry fees will be collected by USPTA World Headquarters
and the vendor will be paid the net sum after admin fees are deducted. (This is subject to change).
Tournament draws
Each tournament must offer, at the very least, the following events:
Men’s Singles – Open, 35, 45, 55, 65
Men’s Doubles – Open, 45, 55, 65
Women’s Singles – Open, 35, 45
Women’s Doubles – Open, 45
These events will be offered during the 2016 USPTA Masters Invitational and played during the USPTA
World Conference. *Each Surface Championships may offer additional events, at the tournament
director’s discretion. An event with a minimum of four entries must be held. Round robin play is
encourage, whenever it is an option. Every effort must be made to offer alternative options for players to
play, if the event they have registered for will not make. As much advanced notice as possible should be
given to the players effected.
Vendor proposal packets
Each vendor must submit a proposal packet to include a Fact Sheet (Exhibit I), Title sponsor package
(Exhibit II), Banner sponsor package (Exhibit III), Prize money distribution (Exhibit IV) and a Revenue and
expense sheet (Exhibit V). These exhibits follow as samples.
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Definitions

“Association” refers to the United States Professional Tennis Association.

“Event” refers to one competitive component of a tournament. Those components include: men’s open
singles, men’s open doubles, women’s open singles, women’s open doubles, men’s 45 singles, men’s 45
doubles, women’s 45 singles and women’s 45 doubles.

“Open” refers to eligibility of applicants for that particular event. All age levels are eligible.

“45” refers to the eligibility of applicants for that particular event. Applicants may turn age 45 during the
month of the tournament date or any applicant 45 and older.

“Surface” refers to each of the four tournament surfaces for each national championship: indoor court, hard
court, clay court and grass court.

“Turnkey” refers to the vendor being responsible for all expenses and liabilities associated with the
tournament.

“Tournament” refers to one of the surface tournaments.

“Make” refers to having a minimum of four entries in an event and therefore conducting the event.

“Draw” refers to the number of competitors in the event and their competition schedule.

“Seeds” refers to the players with the best playing records or abilities, as determined by the tournament
seeding committee, placed in predetermined positions in the draw.

“Stadium court” refers to the premier court with the most seating and viewing area available to spectators
and decorated with all tournament sponsor banners.
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Exhibit I – Fact Sheet (sample)
Title:
The Coca-Cola USPTA Hard Court Surface Championships
Date:
Saturday, May 10 thru Monday, May 12, 2015
Site and courts:
Atlanta Country Club Tennis Center – eight hard courts
Address:
500 Atlanta Country Club Dr., Marietta, GA 30067
Site phone:
(770) 153-3008
Practice courts:
Chattahoochee Plantation Club, 1/4 mile, 10 hard courts
Entry fee and balls
$80 standard fee singles and doubles-USPTA Prince
Airport and distance
Hartsfield International Airport – 30 miles
Title sponsor:
Coca-Cola Enterprises
Presenting sponsor:
United States Professional Tennis Association
Prize money distribution:
See Exhibit IV
Sponsorships:
See Exhibit II and Exhibit III
Tournament favors:
Tournament T-shirt, drink cooler and logo towel
Tournament hotel:
Courtyard Marriott, three minutes, $79/night tournament rate
Players’ party
Outdoor cookout, Saturday, May 10, 7 p.m.
Tournament director:
Tom Topspin, phone: (555) 123-4567
Tournament referee:
Larry Lob, phone: (555) 987-6543
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Exhibit II – Title sponsor package (sample)
A. Your company’s name and logo will be displayed courtside throughout the championships on two (2) 4′
x 10′ banners and will be visible for any possible TV coverage and award presentation.
B. Your company will receive eight (8) invitations to the players’ party at the Atlanta Country Club Tennis
Center on Saturday, May 10, 7 p.m.
C. Your company will have eight (8) spots in the pro-am event for executive use or VIP clients.
D. Your company will receive a full-page ad in the tournament brochure and your company name on the
tournament entry applications.
E. Your company’s name and logo will be carefully designed into the tournament T-shirt design.
F. Your company will receive exposure through numerous publications: Net News (Atlanta circulation of
90,000), Tennis (national circulation), Tennis Industry/ADDvantage magazine (national circulation),
USPTA division newsletters (representing 17 divisions covering the United States).
Exhibit III – Banner sponsor package (sample)
A. Your company’s name and logo will be displayed courtside throughout the championships on a 2′ x 8′ or
3′ x 6′ banner.
B. Your company will receive two (2) invitations to the players’ party at the Atlanta Country Club Tennis
Center on Saturday, May 10, 7 p.m.
C. Your company will have one (1) spot in the pro-am event for executive use or VIP clients.
D. Your company will receive a quarter-page ad in the tournament brochure (camera-ready art should be
provided).
E. Your company’s name and logo will be printed on the very visible USPTA Hard Court Championships
T-shirt
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Exhibit IV – Prize money distribution (sample)
Event
Men’s open singles
Women’s open singles
Men’s open doubles
Women’s open doubles
Men’s 45 singles
Women’s 45 singles
Men’s 45 doubles
Women’s 45 doubles
Finish
Prize Money
#
Total Prize
Won
Distributed
Money
Champion
1
Finalist
1
Semi-finalist
2
Champion
1
Finalist
1
Semi-finalist
2
Champion
2
Finalist
2
Champion
2
Finalist
2
Champion
1
Finalist
1
Semi-finalist
2
Champion
1
Finalist
1
Semi-finalist
2
Champion
2
Finalist
2
Champion
2
Finalist
2
Total
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Exhibit V – Revenue and expense sheet (sample)
REVENUES
Booth Reservations
Entry Fees
Food/Beverage Concession
Program Advertisements
Sponsorships
Title
Presenting
Banner
T-shirt sales
Total Revenues
EXPENSES
Advertisement
Awards
Balls
Prince
Banner Expense
Food/Beverage Concession
Players’ Party Cookout
Postage
Printing
Prize Money
Professional Fees
Tournament Favors
Tournament Staff
Operations
Tournament T-shirts
Umpires
Total expenses
PROFIT/LOSS
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